Advantages Of Using

Freight Forwarders
Larry A. Johnson
President – Nebraska
Trucking Association

25 years
Transportation/Logistics
Experience
Freight Forwarder Defined
 A company engaged
in the assembly,
collection,
consolidating,
shipping and
distributing of less
than
carload,container or
truckload or full
carload,container or
truckload freight.
Freight forwarder -
continued
 A person or company
acting as an agent in
the transshipping of
freight to or from
foreign countries and
the clearing of the
freight through
customs, including
full preparation of
documents,
arranging for
shipping,
warehousing,
delivery and export
Single point of contact
benefit
 A forwarder is more
inclined to have one
single point of
contact for the entire
project – typically
your sales person or
account manager
coordinates
everything from door
to door. They serve
as a liaison between
you and the
carrier(s)
Multi-modal applications
 Air
 Ocean
 Land
 Warehousing
Multi-carrier options
 A freight
forwarder has
many carriers
that would like to
earn their
business. A
freight forwarder
can choose a type
of service and
price to meet
your supply chain
Unique solutions
 A forwarder excels in finding
customers with with complex
supply chain problems.
 Shippers that are “square pegs”
trying to find solutions in a “round
peg” world.
Project Management
 In today’s rapidly
changing
procurement
environment –
we’re seeing
more short term
“projects”
compared to the
past practice of
longer term
pipeline options
How to pick a freight
forwarder
 Locally based in
your marketing
area.
 Worldwide
network of
offices/agents
 Experience?
References?
 Straight shooter -
honest
Project list
 Commodity
 Pickup
address/delivery
address
 Pieces/weight,
dimensions
 Transit time desired
 Banking
requirements? Letter
of credit, sight
drafts, etc.
 Customs Clearance?
Project management
 Routings, flights, bill numbers
 Reporting milestones between and
the forwarder – direct phone call,
website,toll free numbers.
 Estimated time of arrival –
documents ready for clearance.
ETA for clearance and delivery to
customer’s door.
Communication -
Partnership
Shippers~  Receivers~
Be clear with your Communicate
forwarder and with the shipper
customer. Set and forwarder.
Be clear about the
realistic and service you
obtainable goals, want..DTD-DTP-
yet flexible if ATD? Respond to
things happen out import clearance
of your control. paperwork
requests
promptly.
Thank you!

Larry A. Johnson