International Shipping & Freight Forwarding Blog

If there is ONE thing that life offers too little of, it's time. Between our jobs, families, and personal lives, we're juggling an extraordinary amount, so it's no wonder that we're always looking for short-cuts - tools and methods to steal back a few minutes here and there.

But sometimes we cut too deep, resulting in much bigger problems and costs than the time saved, even cumulatively speaking, could ever offset.

When it comes to international freight shipping, the pro-forma invoice is the step that many take for granted, and often cut out altogether. This is a mistake, and often the most significant and costliest one you'll encounter. 

Are your oversized shipments inflating your problems?

Oversized shipping is STRESSFUL! Not only are your options limited compared to those who can fit their cargo into a 20 or 40 foot container, but the costs can really start to stack up without the proper planning.

No two shipments are alike. You may be somebody who ships single boxes or containers or thousands... And maybe you're used to dealing with oversize shipping challenges.

Regardless, here are the things you should be thinking about when standard doesn't meet your standards!

2 + 2 RARELY = 4 the world of freight...

If you're at all like me, you have to feel like you're getting a great deal when it comes to making big purchases. Even when it's not my own money, I feel compelled to negotiate and deal until I feel confident that the price point I'm paying is not only competitive financially, but also that I'm getting more than their typical customer.

On the flip side, I also want to make sure that I'm not low-balling, because I don't want to end up with a cut-rate solution that doesn't ultimately save me money, because I either end up spending more of my own time dealing with it than I normally would, or they only partially deliver, causing me to incur extra charges elsewhere... Or worse, they don't care about my business because they're not making any money off of me, or even worse than that... they're cut-rate because they have no idea what they are doing...

So, to make it easier for you, I came up with these 5 tips on how to get the cheapest freight shipping rates from door-to-door without taking unnecessary, and often costly risks.

Importing doesn't always include actually importing.

Most people, when they think of the term, "import," they think of goods coming into the US from other countries. And although that isn't incorrect, it misses a significant portion of you, because many are moving products from one country to the next, without any stops in the US.

This is a story of about how we coordinated an import from Italy to Kuwait, 100% orchestrated by a US-based company and their freight forwarder (us). 

The world is a big place.

... And there are millions of people out there committed to bringing us closer together. WE happen to be apart of that group. As international freight forwarders, it is our main duty to move cargo across borders.

On paper, that's what we're here for - but it's not exactly the reason why importers and exporters turn to us when it comes time to deal with international cargo transport. After all, there are PLENTY of options out there, many of which, are quite huge - I'm talking about the huge freight conglomerates you see everywhere.

Then there are the guys like us - family owned and operated, and we have no intention of changing (why would we after more than 30 years?). If you're wondering why, allow me to walk you through a little comparison.

Your guide to shipping vehicles internationally. 

We had a client recently, who was shipping 4 vehicles from Bolivia to Long Beach, California. The twist was that they weren't exactly what you would call "operational."

The owner's intention was to restore them upon arrival, but for now they had no wheels, and were missing major pieces to their engines.

This significantly limited their options, because shipping vehicles is a lot easier when you can roll them into their containers. Limitations or not, however, they were still considered autos, which meant jumping through the usual hoops along with this curve-ball.

Here's how we handled it, and all of the important information you need to know about your auto import(s).

Time to delegate!

When buying products located far from your base of operations, it's often easier, more cost effective, and less risky to pass over control of logistics planning and execution to a licensed freight forwarder - somebody who can handle the pick-up, warehousing, and transitions from one point to the next.

... especially if you are shipping more than 1,000, crossing international borders, and picking up from multiple locations.

Trying to make a purchase on Ebay from the US, and need to get your freight shipping ducks in order?

eBay buyers from India requiring a freight network that can accommodate any inland USA pick-ups, warehousing & storage as well as the packing, loading of an ocean container with shipping to any India base ports.

Is your freight making a round trip?

Freight costs are just apart of life. No matter how advanced we become, we still need you to move products from one place to the next, and there's going to be a premium.

But if your freight is going round-trip, there are some significant costs that can be cut if you use an ATA Carnet.

Here's how to identify whether YOUR shipment qualifies and several other answers to frequently asked questions.

Inspections are up - morale is down. Where does that leave you?

There is nothing more frustrating than getting that notice that your cargo is going through an inspection... Well, that's not entirely true, because when you start digging around and realize what the delays caused by the inspection are going to do to the rest of your timing and costs, well, that's when it gets worse.

So, who do you blame? What do you do next? What could you have done differently?