What are the major problems faced by freight

forwarders?
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Cory Margand, Founder & CEO www.simpliship.com

Answered Dec 21, 2016

From what I read above you are actually asking about the Carriers rather than the
Freight Forwarders. You know, the guys that own the vessels with their logos on it
and moving containers from point A to point B. The reason I said this is because my
answer would greatly differ if you were really asking about Forwarders.

So, the fact of the matter is the process of freight procurement just plain sucks
literally for everyone involved. Shippers (looking to get rates and move shipments)
and the Carriers alike have endured this process for way too long. If you are asking
me what their biggest prob...

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Jyoti Sharma, Content Writer / Supply Chain Consultant at Holisol Logistics (2018-
present)
Answered May 21, 2018

Freight forwarders are as nervous about the future as any other type of company
these days – and for good reason. It’s hard to think of another industry facing more
uncertainty with many of the macro-trends happening in the world right now. These
challenges include everything from the impact of technology and the state of the
global economy, to how newly elected U.S. President Trump is promising to shake up
global trade.

Here are 5 of the most crucial ones.

Competition

Freight forwarders are up against more competition than ever. Part of the reason is
that many logistics companies that traditi...

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 Miles Varghese, Co-founder at Cargologik.com
Answered Dec 5

I love this thread. Amazing answers across the board. Cory is still killing it out there
as a logtech startup.

Fast forward to 2019, I think there are significantly more complexities, with the small,
medium, and large forwarder having their own unique sets of issues.

Opening Context:

I can’t speak authoritatively to the challenges of the larger players, but I’d imagine
they might be somewhat similar on the smaller side. I’m more familiar with “mom
and pop” operations and specifically the fractured landscape that exists in markets
like Miami & LA.

We recently launched Cargologik to help some of ...

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Morris Mukandi, BCOM/MBA Supply Chain Management & Freight Logistics, Technical
University of Mombasa - TUM
 Updated May 26, 2019

Let us look at this issue from a practical point of view. The freight forwarding
business has been facedwith a lot of challenges. There is no specific definition of the
term Freight Forwarder this is because different states or countries know freight
forwarder by different names; clearing agent, customs broker, Customs and
forwarding agents but despite their different names they play almost the same role
within the supply chain process.The role of a freight forwarder in International Trade.

The following are the problems faced by a freight forwarders:

1. Unfair Competition.
The business set up of...

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Air Freight Bazaar, MBA International Business, Alagappa University (2017)

Answered Sep 21, 2017

Competition

Freight forwarders are up against more competition than ever. Part of the reason is

that many logistics companies that traditionally defined themselves as something
else (say an as ocean carrier, or even a warehousing company) are now providing
forwarding and NVOCC type services. And of course, everyone is talking about how
even Amazon is getting in the game as well – which leads us to the next challenge.

Commoditization
 Many, if not most, shippers view transportation as a commodity. All they care about
is that the delivery gets made. Meaning, they place little value on service and...

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Arjun Singh, former Manager at Kandla Port Trust

Answered Sep 16

Indian freight forwarders face a lot of problems in there daily life. I’ll list down a few
what I have experienced-

Excise policies and customs-

Differences in excise policies and customs harshly affect both importers and
exporters. If this can be improved, then the function of freight forwarding agents will
ease down. Due to stringent regulations at various stages of cargo movements, time
and money are wasted, and greater are the complaints from traders, customers etc.
The disintegrated structure of the logistics industry needs to be worked upon.

Inadequate Use of Technology-

They are not tr...

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 Steve John, Logistics -Warehouse & Transport -Business Manager at Self-Employment
(2019-present)
Answered Apr 2, 2019

Freight forwarders are facing more competition in today’s world as technology is

been automated and resounding with new features. Nowadays, some of the
companies have facilitated dedicated freight forwarding companies to fulfill in
delivering the goods.

Normally, freight forwarder facing a problem to incorporate with industries as there

are so many competitors. Entrustment issue is the other reason. You couldn’t be able
to trust them until and unless the shipment reaches the customer yard. It's difficult to
determine which is truly a good freight forwarder, since all claim their service is t...

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Sharon Martin, Freight Forwarders

Answered Mar 12, 2018
 The freight forwarder acts as a mediator between a shipper and several transportation
services such as ocean shipping on cargo ships, trucking, expedited shipping by air freight,
and moving goods by rail. GM International Freight Forwarders provides
international  freight forwarding services  that include air freight forwarding, ocean
freight forwarding, and the latest market updates.

The few major problems faced by freight forwarders are -

1. Competition

2. Commoditization

3. Ocean Volatility

4. Tender Management

5. Rate of Change

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Logitude World
Answered May 31, 2019

Freight forwarding companies connect businesses who want to ship products and
goods with shipping lines who have the means — ships, semi-trailers, trains,
airplanes, etc. The primary purpose of a freight forwarder is to combine shipping
orders, but they have several other responsibilities as well.

Major issues associated with freight forwarding

 It's easy to assume that rising fuel prices is a major issue associated with
freight forwarding, but this isn't the case. Over the last 100 years, the price
 of fuel was actually higher during the 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s, if adjusted for
inflation. Incre...
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Aaron Abraham
Answered Jan 29, 2018

Just like any business, the freight forwarding industry has also got a share of specific
to it challenges. These are road blocks that hamper a smooth running with
the freight forwarding services business.

1. Increase in fuel prices is a major factor containing adversely affected a

freight industry. Increase in fuel means a small increase in the operating
costs of the business.
2. The sea freight is faced by adverse weather conditions which are regularly
unpredictable. Very strong tides and waves ensure it is almost impossible to
conduct sea transport as one would be running the chance of a making s...
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 Tom Jerry, former Developer, Project Manager (2007-2016)
Answered Jun 28, 2019

Gone are the days when most of your goods transportation requirements were taken
care of by the transporters themselves. Nowadays we have freight forwarders who
handle transport of goods, as their reach and prevalence is relatively higher than the
transporters.

But the issue with this format is, as the earnings were high, it led to overcrowding of
the domain, which in turn created lots of issues and complications. Such as:

Investment and competition,

Labour issues,

Government regulations,

Issues from fleet owners.

There are some issues which you really can’t get around and for those that can be
m...

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Ravneet Gupta
Answered Sep 17, 2018
 Freight forwarders services include:

 Comparing and analyzing carrier routes and making a selection in

keeping with the shipper's preferences
 Submitting and managing carrier booking requests
 Packing the goods into containers and ensuring they are loaded onto the
vessel
 Filing export information with the appropriate government authorities
prior to departure or at other points prior to entry at the destination port
As part of the intermediary service it provides between the exporter and the carrier,
the freight forwarder must receive information from the exporter concerning the
nature, classificati...

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Alex Potter
Answered Jan 11, 2019

Freight forwarders nowadays faced many problems these day like:

 Competition
 Commoditization
 Ocean Volatility
 Tender Management
 Rate of Change
For all these reasons, freight forwarders need to work harder than ever to differentiate
themselves in their business – while continuing to focus on service. If you are looking for
best freight forwarder services from Germany you should go with myGermany, German’s
top freight specialist.
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Rishabh Gandhi, knows Hindi

Answered Jul 15, 2019

Here is the top challenges facing by the logistics industry.

 Fuel Costs
 Business Process Improvement
 Improved Customer Service
 Economy
 Driver Shortage & Retention
 Government Regulations
 Environmental Issues
 Technology Strategy & Implementation
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 Charu Sharma, logistics consultant
Answered Sep 26, 2017

Freight forwarding is quite complex business. They generally faces problems from the
impact of technology and the state of the global economy. The rising competition,
tender management and rate of change are some of the various challenges freight
forwarders face these days.

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