Freight Forwarding
Freight forwarders are responsible for organising the movement of goods. Using sophisticated computer systems, they research and plan the most appropriate and economical route for a shipment, considering factors such as the perishable or hazardous nature of the goods, cost, transit time and security.
They communicate daily with carriers - such as road, rail, air and sea companies - confirming arrangements by fax or email. They liaise with their customers on the costs of transporting goods and the arrangements they have made.
If working on international shipments, they transmit the necessary customs documentation - eg bills of lading - and arrange for duties and taxes to be paid.
Many different types of ship are used to transport goods around the world. The differences between them reflect the varied needs of international traders. In particular, different types of ship are used to carry different types of cargo, or to carry cargo in varied ways.
The different types of ship are summarised below:
- Container ships (or 'box ships') carry their cargo packed into standard 20' or 40' containers that are stacked both on and below deck. Smaller 'feeder' ships carry containers on coastal and inland waters.
- Roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) vessels carry both road haulage and passenger vehicles. For more information about road haulage, see our guide on moving goods by road.
- General cargo ships carry loose-packaged cargo of all types.
- Bulk carriers carry unpackaged goods - usually large volumes of single-commodity goods such as grain, coal, fertilisers and ore.
- Tankers carry liquids (such as oil and gas) in bulk.
Merchant ships primarily do business in two different ways:
- Liner vessels operate on fixed routes, to fixed schedules and usually with a standard tariff. Liner trades are dominated by container ships, roll-on/roll-off carriers and general cargo ships.
Moving goods by sea
How goods are carried on ships
There are three main ways in which goods are transported on ships. These affect how different ships are built
- In containers - The use of containers now dominates commercial international shipping.
- As break-bulk - Break-bulk refers to any non-bulk cargo that isn't containerised (such as goods on pallets, or in crates or drums or sacks), which is loaded directly into a ship's hold.
- In bulk - Large shipments of certain commodities - such as coal, ore, wheat or oil - are typically carried in bulk, unpackaged in the ship's hold.
The main international shipping routes
Shipping routes reflect world trade flows. Sailings are most numerous and most frequent on routes where trade volumes are largest and demand is therefore greatest.
In liner trades to and from the Australia, the busiest routes are to the Far East (especially China and Japan), passing through the Mediterranean, the Suez Canal and the Malacca Straits. The North Atlantic route, linking Western Europe and the USA and Canada, is also busy, and there are well-established routes to the Middle East, India, UK and New Zealand, Central and South America, as well as to East and West Africa.
Moving Goods By Air
Due to the inevitable changes occurring around the globe and the need to quickly send and receive various items across countries, the airline industry has birthed a new way of shipment- air freight.
Air freights are basically cargoes on the shipment which are typified into various categories to make shipping more organized and easier. Some primary basis of categorizing air freight are:
- Type of the item
- How large is the item, in terms of the number of items in the shipment and size, and,
- The number of days or hours it takes one shipment to arrive on its pointed destination.
Shipments, on the other hand, are categorized into the following:
Household goods include art pieces, furniture and other similar items which are primarily transported using Household Goods (HHG) carriers.
The "Express" category, on the other hand, include personal items and small business goods which are often considered as overnight shipment (or express shipment, express letters, and overnight express). Such transports are carried by shipment companies like FedEx Express, UPS and DHL.
Since most items falling under this category are relatively small and don't normally weigh heavier than a couple of pounds, they often come in the carrier's own packaging.
Service levels vary depending on the service offered by the carrier or the personal choice of the shipper. These normally travel by air and may be delivered on the exact day it was sent to the carrier or may take several days of travel.
Packages that are slightly larger and heavier than express items are considered as parcels. These include boxes of shipments, regardless of the content. Carriers like UPS and FedEx Ground provide the services for this type of cargoes. Parcels cover most of the business-to-consumer items and services and don't often exceed 100 pound-weight category. Since these are relatively small, they often come on the shipper's or carrier's own packaging.
Types of services on this category also vary. However, a number of ground shipping can travel for 500 to 700 miles a day in around 3 to four days, depending on the service rendered by the shipper or the service option the customer chose. Such shipments don't often travel by air, instead they move through road and rail.
Freight Shipments
Freight shipments cover the largest cargoes in the industry. It is subdivided into two major categories, mainly: LTL of Larger-than-truckload freight and TL or truckload freight.
Less-than-truckload shipments are also known as motor freights. These often cover the bulk of business to business transactions. The range of services vary from carrying 100-pound items up to those not exceeding 15 000 pounds. Since LTL trailers are just as long as 28 inches, most air freights of this kind cannot exceed this length.
Unlike with smaller packages, shipments don't often come in company packaging.
Truckload freight covers larger shipments from 15 000 pounds to 40 000 pounds with a maximum length of 53 inches. This type of air freight differs from all other categories since these don't normally stop along the travel and are not intermingled with other shipments. Most are frequently arranged via freight brokers and online marketplaces.
When availing this type of air freight, it is best that one understands in full all the terms covered including the claims, pricing and insurance.
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