How to find Good Forwarder?

How to find and distinguish “Good Forwarder”?

There are so many freight Forwarders in Thailand market. Each of them have strong points and weak points on their job. Today, I would like to explain 4 points of how to distinguish good Forwarder to choose for your logistics.

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1. The most important job as a Forwarder

What means “Good” on Forwarder job? Is it Price? Service?Company Brand? I understand it depends on the people to decide what’s point is the important for Forwarder job.

However, there is the point that all shipper/customer accept as “Good” on the Forwarder job. It is “Reserving Space”.

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No space No delivery

“Space” means the cargo loading space on the vessel and airplane. Every day, Every week, there are so many cargo delivered to all over the world.

For example, the vessel which can load 20,000TEU(about 40’container x 10,000) will be full of container. Airplane is the same. There is “Limit of the Space” on the vessel and airplane.[br num=“2”]

Most of customers have to send the cargo on schedule by using this Limited Space. And if they cannot get the space, they have to find the other vessel/airplane space on the same week or next week, which mean it’s getting difficult to send the cargo on schedule.

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Behind schedule problem

Manufacturing and Trading, everyone follows the designated schedule. For example, the production line in the factory will stop if the raw material is out of stock.

In this case, the workers have to stop working, also the company cannot sell the product on planned schedule. [br num=“2”]

In the case of Wholesales job, the company loses the selling opportunity if the cargo is not delivered on schedule. If the cargo is the season item such as Christmas and Halloween, the selling term will be shorter, which is a big loss of the sales chance.

If the above problem happens, it becomes a matter of compensation.

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Why the Space is not available?

As I explained above, the Space is very important for Forwarder and Customer. But why it occurs that the Forwarder cannot get the space? It is related to the cargo volume that Forwarder handles.

The Forwarder which makes regular and big volume booking is the good customer for the Carriers(Shipping Line/Air Line) who provide the vessel/airplane space. [br num=“2”]

It is rather easier for the above Forwarder to get the Space than the Forwarder which does not have regular and big volume booking.

*Of course, even the above forwarder cannot get the space any time like a couple day before the closing date.

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2. Competitive Ocean & Air Freight

Logistics is just a “Cost” for the customer as long as the cargo is delivered safely and on schedule. If the cargo is small and valuable like a jewelry, the cost of logistics does not effect a lot on the total cost.

But if the cargo is big and light like Foam and Powder raw material, or Not high value and heavy like Rice, logistics cost effects a lot on the cost. Customers need to reduce the logistics cost as much as possible to make their profit.

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Different Cost from the Carriers

All forwarder does not get the same rate from the Carriers. It must be different from the Forwarder which export only 10containers per month and the Forwarder which export more than 2,000 containers per month.

The More volume of booking, the cheaper rate the Forwarder can get from the Carriers.

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Different Selling rate from the Forwarder Sales

It depend on the Company and Sales person in charge style if they put a lot of profit on the cost or not.

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3. Performance of Sales Person in Charge

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Knowledge and Experience

There is the many case that the service quality changes when Sales PIC(Person in Charge) changes or quite. Sales PIC effects a lot on the service quality.

In term of the International Logistics, there are many steps until the cargo is delivered to the destination so that the problem rather occurs because of many different kind of factors such as weather, custom, people and so on. [br num=“2”]

When problem happens, the Sales PIC has to take action immediately. Good Sales PIC has many solutions to solve the problem and choose one of the best solution for case by case. It is very important.

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More information source

In regards to Logistics, it is not only Freight Forwarding but also Shipping, Warehouse (General, DG, Bonded, Cool) , Truck, Trailer, Loading/Unloading, Packing, Heavy Cargo, Application to the Government and so on.

The Good Forwarder Sales has enough information to propose the suitable logistics for each customers.

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4. Customer Service Quality

There are many steps to handle the cargo. Below is the example of ocean export shipment

・Make booking request
・Check the space to the Carrier
・Receive booking confirmation from the Carrier
・Check Shipping Instruction
・Check Draft BL
・Check Invoice and Packing List
・Apply for export custom clearance
・Check VGM
・Check the cargo loading date
・Arrange the trailer
・Arrange the empty container
・Check the container quality
・Check the container number
・Container loading then delivered to the Terminal
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This is only one shipment job. As a Forwarder job, Sales and Customer Service(CS) cooperate together to handle the shipment. CS also contact to the customers in order to check the above subjects.

If the experience or communication skill of CS PIC is not enough, customers are not happy to work with us. Even though the Forwarder can get the space and provide the competitive rate with good Sales PIC skill, the customers feel unhappy if the CS performance is poor.

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Summery

Forwarder provides the “Service” to the customers. In order to provide the high quality service, “People” is one of the most important factors. We, HPS Trade, recognize this point as top priority then conduct the training regularly.