Understanding Storage Restrictions

3 Important Things You Should Know About Freight Forwarding

If you are in the business of transporting goods, there are naturally certain service providers who will prove to be incredibly valuable to your business. A freight forwarding company is one of those service providers. Making it possible for scheduled freight to be handled by a middleman of sorts to delegate the proper deliveries, freight forwarding companies do have a lot to offer. 

Freight forwarding companies may offer a range of beneficial services. 

Naturally, freight forwarding companies are in place to help you transition freight from one place to another, but they do tend to offer a range of other services for clients that complement freight handling. The service provider may offer services like: 

  • Documentation services to cover imported and exported international freight 
  • Warehouse storage services to house freight between shipments 
  • Inventory management to track and count your freight as it is transitioned from place to place
  • Insurance services to protect freight during shipments 

When you initially start working with one of these companies, it is always a good idea to ask about all the services they provide. You may find out that there are certain aspects of your business that can be handled by one place. 

There may be restrictions on what the freight forwarding company can handle. 

Just as it is with a lot of companies that handle freight, there can be certain types of shipments that the freight forwarder will not take on and ship. A few examples of things some companies restrict includes things like: 

  • Perishable food or beverage items 
  • Drugs or medications 
  • Anything that could be deemed as explosive or corrosive 
  • Household chemicals 
  • Live animals 

Of course, restrictions can vary according to the company and their credentials. Just because you find that one freight forwarder will not handle your merchandise, it may not mean that you will not be able to find another that will. 

Most freight forwarding companies are exceptional in providing documentation. 

One of the hassles you face when you are in the business of delivering goods and cargo is to keep track of all of the yielded data that can happen with every shipment. One thing many business owners do not realize is that when they are working with a freight forwarder, data collection and documentation are generally automatically handled by the provider. Information may be automatically transmitted to you after every shipment, or it may be collected and transmitted to you at the end of every service month. 


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