Goods are transported between countries for a variety of reasons, most of which are to add value to the goods. With the rapid development of e-commerce, a large number of small businesses now require international transportation, and here is designed to explain the different steps in the transportation of goods.

There are many players involved in international transport, shipping companies, booking agents, freight forwarders, customs brokers; The four main players in LCL transportation are introduced: shippers, consignees, freight forwarders and shipping companies.

A shipping company is a company that transports goods for you at sea. You may never talk to them, or even see their documents or letters.

However, a freight forwarder is the logistics provider you will be dealing with. They can arrange shipping from shipper to consignee - you are one of them.

The shipper is the shipping party at the place of origin; It can be you or the factory or seller from which you purchased the product.

The consignee is the recipient of the goods; This could be you or the person you are selling to.

Five physical steps and two documentation steps in international transport:

There are five physical steps and two documentation steps in the transportation of goods from shipper to consignee, and each shipment must be made. Each step has associated costs that must be addressed by someone (usually the shipper or consignee). If you want to avoid cost surprises and unnecessary delays in your supply chain, make sure you clearly agree who pays for each of these 7 steps every time you book a shipment.

Seven steps of international shipping: export haulage, origin processing, export customs clearance, sea transportation, import customs clearance, destination processing and import haulage.

If in doubt, check the contract between the shipper and the consignee. In the case of a sale of goods, the transfer of responsibility for the goods is usually agreed upon in the contract, which will also be the source of determining who pays what.

1. Export transportation

The first part of transportation is export transportation. This involves the movement of goods from the shipper to the freight forwarder's premises. For cargo less than containerized, the place of the freight forwarder is always the export consolidation center (warehouse of origin), where the freight forwarder has its own personnel or designated agents. Goods are usually transported by road (by truck), rail, or combination. If the shipper is agreed to be responsible for this part of the transport, arrangements are usually made through the local transport company. However, if the consignee is responsible, it usually makes the most sense to use a freight forwarder that can provide export haulage as part of international shipping.

The handling of goods at the shipper's premises (loading onto the truck) is not considered part of the export transport, as the unloading of the truck at the freight forwarding premises is not normally part of the export transport.

2, export customs clearance

For each shipment leaving a country, customs formalities must be cleared to meet regulatory requirements. Customs clearance is a transaction in which a declaration is made and the required documents are submitted to the authorities and can only be carried out by a company holding a valid customs permit (the so-called customs broker).

Export customs clearance can be done by a freight forwarder with a valid license or by an agent appointed by the freight forwarder. Alternatively, it can be performed by a customs broker directly appointed by the shipper, who is not necessarily involved in any other part of the shipping process. Export clearance steps must be completed before the goods leave the country of origin and, if not by the freight forwarder, usually before the goods enter the freight forwarder's warehouse of origin.

3. Origin processing

Origin handling covers the physical handling and inspection of all goods from receipt at the warehouse of origin until they are loaded onto a container for shipment. There are many steps under origin processing by many different parties, but all of them are coordinated and responsible by the freight forwarder or the agent appointed by the freight forwarder. In short, when the goods are received, they are inspected (talked), scheduled for loading, combined with other goods, loaded into containers and moved to port, and then loaded onto the ship.

While ultimately it is always the freight forwarder who performs the origin processing, it can be paid by the shipper or consignee regardless of who actually buys the freight forwarder. For example, if the consignee decides to import the shipment using forwarder A and agrees with the shipper that the shipper must pay the origin fee, the shipper will automatically purchase the origin fee from the forwarder A as well. This situation creates some friction if the shipper believes that the price of the origin treatment is not at the market level, because in this case they are forced to use forwarder A.

4. Shipping

The freight forwarder decides to select a shipping company to carry out sea transportation from the point of origin to the destination to meet the schedule required for shipment. The freight forwarder has a container transport contract with the shipping company, in which case the shipper or consignee does not have any direct interaction with the shipping company.

The shipping costs are ultimately borne by the shipper or consignee. However, shipping is never the full cost of shipping from port to port. There are various surcharges imposed within the industry, such as fuel adjustment factor and currency adjustment factor, which are passed on to the shipper or consignee.

5, import customs clearance

Import clearance can usually begin before the goods arrive in the country of destination. For export clearance, a declaration form is made and submitted together with the relevant documents to enable the authorities to register the goods and impose any duties. Import customs clearance is handled by the forwarder or the forwarder's agent, or the customs broker designated by the consignee.

Import clearance procedures must be completed before the goods leave the bonded area of the destination country. Usually, this means before the goods leave the freight forwarder or the freight forwarder's destination warehouse.

6. Destination processing

As for the place of origin, the goods also need to be loaded and unloaded at the destination before they can be released to the consignee. In short, destination handling involves transferring containers from the ship to shore, from the port to the freight forwarder's destination warehouse. It also includes unloading containers and preparing goods for pick-up by the consignee.

A truck used to transport LCL cargo

Destination processing contains multiple destination fees and is always performed by the freight forwarder or an agent designated by the freight forwarder. A fee can be charged to the shipper or consignee, but full payment is always required before the goods are delivered to the consignee. Similarly, if the agreement is that the shipper pays the sea freight and the consignee pays the destination fee, it is effectively the shipper who decides from whom the consignee must purchase the destination handling. As discussed with respect to origin fees, this can cause some friction or surprises for the consignee without a plan.

7. Import transportation

The last stage of transportation is the actual delivery of the goods to the consignee. It can be performed by the freight forwarder or local transport company designated by the consignee. If this part of the shipment is arranged by the shipper, it often makes sense to use a freight forwarder who can also arrange the import shipment. Import transport usually includes transport to a specific address, but does not include unloading from a truck, which is the responsibility of the consignee