The Fleet Blog

Before we delve into our next chapter, which is all about how to get your goods through customs, let’s take a look at what we’ve already covered in this Import 101 series:

What to import Choosing a country to source your goods from Key concepts in importation 3 effective ways to find your supplier abroad What to know when developing International Purchase Agreements 4 ways to arrange payments with your supplier

Now that you have the background, there’s one final step: making sure your goods get through customs. As with the rest of our subjects, it can be complex. So we’ll try to make it easy to understand.

Step 1: Complete Importer Security Filing This process actually starts with you completing the Importer Security Filing with CBP (Customs and Border Protection) before your merchandise can even leave its home country. If you’re working with an international freight forwarding company or a customs broker, they will file this information on your behalf. The purpose of the Importer Security Filing program, aka 10+2 program, is to capture twelve data elements. This is where we get the 10+2 name: ten pieces of information are provided by the importer before the goods are shipped, and the other two by the carrier. This information includes: those that are from the importer: manufacturer, seller, buyer, ship-to party, container stuffing location, consolidator, importer of record, consignee number, country of origins, Harmonized Tariff Number, and those that are from the carrier: the vessel stow plan, container status message.

Step 2: Round up your documents You’ll need the following documents in order to clear the merchandise with Customs:

1. Bill of Lading (BoL): Once the merchandise is handed to the carrier, the carrier will issue a BoL. This document proves that the carrier has received the goods and agreed to transport them to the destination. Air carriers issue only one BoL, while ocean carriers issue three copies, one of which is the master copy that can be used to obtain the release of the goods. The exporter obtains the BoL from the carrier; and forwards it to the buyer via mail or banking channels once the payment is made by the buyer.

Remember: only with a BoL can you retrieve the goods from the carrier. Usually the seller will mail you this all-important document only after they have their money.

The BoL can either be non-negotiable (straight) or negotiable. Non-negotiable means the carrier must release the goods only to the consignee named in the BoL. A negotiable BoL, on the other hand, is usually issued to the shipper’s order instead of a specific consignee, and the owner of the BoL has the right to reroute the shipment. The law requires the BoL to be negotiable, unless the two parties agreed on a non-negotiable in their international purchase agreement. When a negotiable BoL is in effect, the importer needs to present it to the transportation carrier and to customs with other applicable documents in order for the goods to be released.

2. Commercial Invoice (CI): The CI is usually sent to the buyer together with the BoL. CBP requires certain information to be clearly specified in the CI, otherwise the shipment can be detained. You as the buyer are responsible for checking with customs and informing your exporter which specialized information to include on the CI.

3. Packing List: Although submitting a packing list is optional, very often the exporter attaches it with the CI and BoL. A packing list comes in handy when the buyer needs to claim insurance for any damage or defect. Therefore if you are the one who pays for the insurance, remember to ask your exporter to prepare a packing list for you. You never know when you may need it.

Step 3: Arrival Notice As the goods arrive at the port, the transportation carrier will send the importer (or the hired freight forwarder/customs broker) an Arrival Notice. Once the notice is received, the importer will have five days to prepare and provide CBP with all the necessary documents to clear the shipment.  

Step 4: Filing Entry/Immediate delivery As a rule, an importer has to pay for all customs duties before CBP can release his goods. However, with a customs bond, the importer can obtain immediate release of the goods by filing an Entry/Immediate Delivery form. Customs brokers or freight forwarding companies who are allowed to use Automated Broker Interface (ABI) or Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) can file the Entry/Immediate delivery online. They can also pay the duties on a monthly basis using the Automated Clearing House wire-transfer process. The Entry/Immediate delivery request will then be evaluated based on different criteria, such as the import/export history, classification, and country of origin. This analysis is done by computers, but the decision whether or not more examination is required, or whether the merchandise will be released can be changed upon valid justification by local customs authorities.

Step 5: Filing Entry Summary Within ten days after the Entry/Immediate delivery submission, and within five days after the merchandise arrives at the port, the importer must file an Entry Summary – the main document to clear the goods at customs. If no Entry/Immediate Delivery was filed prior to the Entry Summary’s submission, the Entry Summary will be considered as Live Entry. While Live Entry is common and necessary to certain types of goods, filing an Entry/Immediately delivery is strongly recommended since it gives CBP advanced notice and therefore speeds up the clearing process. The form and instructions how to complete it are here. All the customs duties and fees, including a merchandise processing fee and the harbor maintenance fee, must be paid with the Entry Summary submission.

Step 6: Receiving the Goods If an exporter agrees to deliver the goods to the buyer, he will also issue a Delivery Order to the buyer’s freight forwarder in the US once the goods arrive. This will activate the transportation between the US port of arrival and the buyer’s preferred location. Once the customs process is cleared, the customs broker or the freight forwarder will instruct the trucking company to pick up the goods and deliver it to the importer.

Now, what’s left to do is CELEBRATE. 

You’ve successfully received the goods! It’s time to start making money from what you just imported. 

In our previous entries, we covered half of the importation process: choose a product, pick a country, find a supplier, and hammer out a sales agreement with him. But before your products can be shipped to you, you need to make a payment to the seller. As mentioned from the beginning, international money transactions tend to be complicated, which is why we’re dedicating a whole entry to explain the different payment methods you might see in global trade.

In international agreements, it is common to use methods that give the seller a certain level of protection. This is because if the buyer decides to skip out on the payment, it is more difficult for the seller to travel to the buyer’s country, file a lawsuit, and make the other party pay. Usually the seller would agree to a less-than-secure method only if the buyer has already established a good purchasing history, or if the buyer has great bargaining power (for example, if the buyer is a major name in retail and the seller does not want to lose the chance to supply such a big client). The five methods we discuss here are presented in the ascending order of buyer’s security. Remember, the more secure it is for the buyer, the less it is for the seller.

Wire-transfer: this method is the most direct. All you need your supplier’s bank account information and you can instruct your bank to transfer the money. Suppliers like this method the most and they usually require you to wire-transfer when you purchase on a trial basis, place small orders, or if you do not have any purchase history with them. However, this is also the least secure for buyers since once the money is transferred, there is not much you can do if the product delivered differs from what you ordered. (That is why choosing a supplier is so important, we cannot stress that enough!)

Letter of credit: a letter of credit can be understood as the bank’s guarantee of the buyer’s payment. This is how it works: the seller will require the buyer to obtain a letter of credit issued by the buyer’s bank (sometimes the seller will have his bank verify the validity of this letter). To eliminate any confusion, the seller will tell the buyer exactly how he wants the buyer’s bank to issue the letter of credit in a document called the letter of credit instruction. At the time of shipment, the ocean carrier will give the seller a Bill of Lading (a document that defines the ownership and title passage of the goods). To retrieve his payment, the seller will submit this bill of lading as a proof that he has shipped the goods along with a copy of a commercial invoice, and the letter of credit to his bank.

Documentary Collection – Documents against Payment (D/P or Sight Draft) and Documents against Acceptance (D/A or Time Draft): this method is similar to letter of credit in the sense that payment collection is done through bank services. The difference in this case is there is no guarantee of the buyer’s payment. A draft (sometimes is also called a bill of exchange) is an instrument that is both drawn up by and made payable to the seller. When it is accepted by the buyer, it has the same value as a check written by the buyer to the seller. How D/P and D/A work are demonstrated below, and you can download the pdf version here: 

The main difference between them is that if using D/P, or sight draft, the buyer has to make payment before the documents (bill of lading) is released to him. If he fails to pay, he will not get the goods. If using time draft, the buyer has a certain period of time to make payment upon his acceptance of the goods.

Sale on Open Account: This is the best method for buyers, but since it involves a lot of risk for sellers, sellers only agree on this method with big importers. Upon shipping the goods, the seller will send the bill of lading and commercial invoice directly to the buyer; therefore, the buyer can always retrieve the shipment whether or not payment is made.

We’ve gone through more than half of the journey to import goods:

Deciding what to import

Choosing a country to source the goods from

Understanding the basic concepts in importation

Sourcing suppliers abroad 

The next step is that you and your supplier will exchange multiple documents all of which are parts of your sales agreement. In this post we’ll share how that should go: the names, flow, and order of these documents. First, check out this handy diagram:

It is important to note that this process is common when you have isolated purchase transactions with your suppliers. Isolated purchase transactions happen when you buy on an infrequent basis, or when you only order samples before committing to a larger amount over a period of time. When you enter such a commitment with your supplier, a more comprehensive agreement should be in place, with important provisions that you do not usually see in a domestic contract.

Request for quotations (RFQ): The process usually starts with the buyer sending the seller a Request for Quotation, asking for a quotation for a specific quantity of products, and a shipping date. If you are a buyer on Alibaba, Alibaba has a platform for you to open a RFQ which multiple suppliers can respond to. RFQ can be an informal document, but you should still give as many details as possible about your products (quantity, color, materials, standards) and shipping requirements (destination port, incoterms).  

Quotation: In response to a request for a quotation, the seller will send you his Quotation which usually includes his terms and conditions (T&C) of sales. You should carefully review these terms and clarify any discrepancies or any terms that were referred to but not expressly stated in the quotation. It’s to your benefit to clear anything up that concerns you now, before going any further in the process. You may also want to check the validity of the quotation; it is common that the quotation is only valid within a certain period of time or under special conditions.

Purchase Order (PO) is issued by the buyer. Although PO can also be informal just like the RFQ, it is actually your most important document. The PO should contain all of the additional T&C you want the seller to agree to and include in the purchase agreement. To prevent the seller from using only his terms and conditions to govern the agreement, you should specify that the PO is effective only with the T&C you agree on; any other PO with different T&C will be invalid unless your acceptance is in writing. You may want to give the seller a deadline to accept your PO. One last note, It is to your benefit to make clear that the PO is governed by the law of the state where you do business as well as the United States, and is not governed by the Convention on Contracts for the International Sales of Goods  (CISG)

Purchase Order Acknowledgements and Acceptance and Sales Confirmation: Upon receiving the PO, the seller will issue a PO Acknowledgement or PO Acceptance to acknowledge that he has received the PO and is now evaluating it. A Sales Confirmation serves the same purpose as a PO Acceptance. Check this document carefully, as it may once again include only the seller’s T&C. It is important for you to make sure that both sides – you and the seller – have reached a common agreement regarding T&C; especially if this is your first time working with the seller. 

Pro-forma invoice (PI): Pro-forma invoice, issued by the seller, can be understood as an initial or draft version of the invoice. It is not as effective as a Commercial Invoice since the numbers in a pro-forma invoice may not be final, but it does give the buyer an idea about the estimated costs and charges, quantity of goods, their values, weight, etc.

Commercial Invoice (CI): CI is the formal statement for payment which is issued by the seller to the buyer once the goods are manufactured and ready for shipment. The main difference between PI and CI is that PI is not a request for payment, while CI is. CI includes T&C, and it is always important to check that the T&C in the CI are consistent with what was agreed on by both parties. The CI usually comes with a Packing List – a document that specifies how the shipment is packed and labeled. When packaging and labeling is done appropriately, it will facilitate customs’ inspection and examination and minimize delays in the shipment’s release from customs.

When you’re putting together a sales agreement with your foreign supplier, here are the most vital things you should remember from this post:

Always review the T&C in every document: RFQ, Quotation, PO, PO Acceptance, and CI.

Never commit to a purchase if you have not reached an agreement with your seller regarding T&C.

So you have decided what you will import, you have found the best country to source your merchandise from, and you understand basic things that are usually involved in a typical importation process. You’re ready for the next big step: finding a reliable supplier.

Most potential suppliers come from one of three sources: online marketplaces, exhibitions, or personal contacts. Online marketplaces such as Alibaba, AliExpress, GlobalSources, or HKTDC are the most common platforms to find suppliers. Alibaba is the largest supplier directory on the Internet, and it recently introduced a new service called Trade Assurance that aims to protect small businesses from their biggest fears when sourcing merchandise overseas: product quality and on-time delivery.

Alibaba, despite its numerous suppliers, can be overwhelming to new users due to the sheer amount of information available. There are too many suppliers with little or no indication, such as a rating system, on whether or not those suppliers will actually come through when you need them. Alibaba does have many forums for different topics based on industries, regions, etc. – but browsing your way through all of the irrelevant information to find exactly what you’re looking for is a hassle (and many times the info you want is nowhere to be found).

While Alibaba is suitable for established businesses – the kind of businesses that are already familiar with the market, usually place larger orders, and highly customized goods – a superior option for new businesses who are trading for the first time, or those who work with smaller quantities – is AliExpress. Goods on AliExpress are more ready-made, in-stock, and can be shipped more quickly than those on Alibaba.

A second option for tracking down a great supplier comes via in person meetings at exhibitions and tradeshows. Tradeshows are not only fun, but with one trip you can meet and multiple suppliers face-to-face, as well as see and try the products yourself. Canton Fair[link], which occurs twice a year in Guangzhou, China, is probably the world’s most popular and largest import and export tradeshow. Even seasoned tradeshow vets need multiple days to get through all the vendors’ booths. This event attracts thousands of sellers and buyers from all over the globe. You’ll walk away with more than just a few supplier options: you’ll walk away with inspiration for your project. Bottom-line, do not skip Canton Fair! It is a must for anyone who thinks about sourcing goods from China. [photo of Canton Fair]

Photo: The massive venue of Canton Fair – yet the area is not big enough for all exhibitors at once. Canton Fair is three-week long and consists of 3 phrases happening one after another, with one or two days in between for tear down and set up.

You can visit www.tsnn.com or www.eventseye.com to check calendars of more global events and tradeshows.

If you’re already somewhat connected to the business, or just have a good sense of what you need, your third option for finding suppliers is by using personal contact. Don’t be afraid to ask around. Ask folks in your network of friends and colleagues for contacts that provide what you need, or things that are related to what you need. For instance, someone your mom knows from her yoga class may be purchasing leather shoes from a supplier. That same supplier can supply you with leather bags if you plan to import some. You never know who might have information you can use.

Doing research on potential suppliers is vital: browse through the information on their websites and request testimonials from previous customers. Ask the important questions up front to determine what kind of products and services they offer, their payment terms and options, production lead time, minimum order quantity, their packaging materials, etc. Don’t forget to ask for samples, especially if you plan to import a large quantity. Do this type of research on multiple suppliers so you can compare their products and services, and also so you can get some ideas about whether you should (and how much you can) negotiate pricing.

Every year, Thanksgiving is the occasion for us to reflect, to humble ourselves, and to feel thankful for what we have in life. Thanksgiving is also the time to celebrate the love and support we have from people around us, so that we’ll have the courage to create something larger than ourselves, to be a part of something greater, worthier. 

The Fleet Team would like to send our deep gratitude to our customers, investors, partners, and most importantly - our families and friends, for your trust, support, and encouragement along the Fleet's journey so far. 

Thank You and Happy Thanksgiving!

Browsing through some interesting online discussions about logistics, we realize it could be difficult for many people who want to follow these conversations without knowing what the acronyms or abbreviations mean. Here is the list of some popular logistics jargons. Quiz yourself and see how many you know. 

MOQ: minimum Order Quantity

L/C: Letter of Credit

OEM: Original Equipment Manufacturer: a company that manufacturers a part or subsystem that can be used in other companies’ end products.

ODM: Original Design Manufacturer: a company that designs and manufacturers a product as specified and later the product will be rebranded by another firm for sale. 

TT: Telegraphic Transfer

FCL: Full Container Load

LCL: Less Container Load

FTL: Full Truckload

LTL: Less than a full Truckload

BOL: Bill of Lading

TEU: Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit

FEU: Forty-foot Equivalent Unit

3PL: Third-Party Logistics

FOB: Free on Board (and other 12 incoterms are explained here)

NVOCC: Non-Vessel Operating Common Carrier: a shipment consolidator or freight forwarder who does not own any vessel but functions as a carrier by issuing its own BOL and assuming responsibility for the shipments. 

POE: Point of Entry (sometimes Port of Entry)

POD: Point of Delivery

HTS: Harmonized Tariff Schedule

CBP: US Customs and Border Protection

We have covered two out of seven topics in our Import 101 series:

1. Decide What to Import

2. What to Consider When Choosing a Sourcing Country for Your Merchandise

Remember in our previous post when we said things were going to get complicated? This is the post where we explain key concepts and processes that any importer should know.

Importer’s Number: Any individual or business who conducts importing activities to the US must have an importer’s number. This is a Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN) for companies or Social Security Number for individual importers. This link provides detailed instruction how to apply for FEIN.  

International Freight Forwarding Companies, also known as Freight Forwarders: A freight forwarder, who handles ocean or air freight forwarding, or both, is a third party who is able to provide you with a range of importing and logistics services. Some services they provide are: sourcing for trucking companies, warehouses, ocean carriers, handling administrative work like getting custom bonds, filing all customs paperwork, and more. An experienced freight forwarder understands the industry, knows the rules, already has many contacts, and therefore can be very helpful to you. They will save you a lot of time and effort when it comes to learning and dealing with the complexities of international shipping. The down side of directly engaging with freight forwarding companies is that it can be costly for you. You’ll also be dependent on your freight forwarder whenever you want to have some insight about your importation process. 

Customs Broker: A customs broker is a person or firm licensed by an importer’s government whose main job is to assist you with entering and clearing goods through customs. His scope of work is not as broad as that of a freight forwarder, since a customs broker is specialized only in customs processes. However, hiring a customs broker is a common practice among shippers, regardless of their businesses’ sizes. The customs broker will require a power of attorney from you in order to perform his service. If he is the one who drafts the power of attorney, you (or your lawyer) should carefully review and make appropriate changes to the document so that its terms protect you – and not solely the customs broker. At the very least, the power of attorney should at least agree to not hold you liable for any financial and non-financial damage due to the the customs broker’s negligence or mistakes. It is a good idea to provide him with a letter of instruction, specifying which services you’d like him to perform. 

Importation Bonds: also known as a customs import bond, bought by the importer from a surety company, is a financial guaranty between the importer and the CBP, ensuring that all the duties and charges will be paid. Most importers have a customs bond. If you have a freight forwarder, he will help you get one. There are two types of bonds:

Single transaction bonds: for single importation, typically covering as much as three times the value of the goods, suitable for importers who have very few importations a year. If you are a new importer and shipping few sample shipments from your suppliers – this is the right option for you.

Continuous bonds: for all importations over a period of time – typically a year. Its value is at least $50,000, approximately 10% of the total duties and charges paid in the previous year; or reasonably estimated for the current year.

Incoterms (International Commerce Terminology): When developing an international purchase agreement with foreign suppliers in other countries, it is critical to make sure that you and your suppliers both understand the terms and conditions. Very often the two sides have different standards and assumptions. If you don’t clarify terms in the beginning of the transaction, this can lead to misunderstanding and wrong expectation. Using abbreviation is a practice that often lead to confusion. To standardize the understanding of the phrases and abbreviation commonly used in international trade agreements, International Chamber of Commerce has developed “Incoterms” which include explanation for terms such as EXW, CPT, FAS, FOB, etc.  Incoterms define the cost, responsibility, the risk of sellers and buyers.  For example, EXW is abbreviation for “Ex Works,” which means goods available from the place of production (in Latin, “ex” is “out of or from). EXW, which is usually followed by a place name, means the seller will have the goods available to the buyer at a specified place (i.e. factory, warehouse) at a specific time. The buyer’s responsibility includes loading the goods for transportation, clearing for export, and so on. Ex Works implies the minimum obligation and risk for the seller and the maximum obligation and risk assumption for the buyer, the phrase applies exclusively to air, rail, road, and containerized, multimodal transport.

There are thirteen incoterms that are used by business in four different areas. Here you can find full explanation and a summary table for your convenience use.

Patent, Trademark, and Copyright Registrations and Infringements: If you invent a product, have it manufactured abroad, and import the product into the US you should initiate a patent, trademark, or copyright search to make sure that the patent, trademark, or copyright has not already been registered in the US. In your purchase documentation, you should receive warranties and representations from your supplier that he will compensate and hold you harmless from any infringement actions. If you are importing products into the US, take care to make sure the products do not infringe the patent, trademark, or copyright registration of another person. Unless the manufacturer has already registered the patent, trademark, and copyright in the US, importation of such products may still infringe a valid right of someone else. You may also want to register a patent, trademark, and copyright for the product with authorization from your supplier.Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure Agreements: It is vital that your supplier sign Non-Disclosure Agreement before you give them any confidential business information, sample, or prototype.Payment to Your Supplier: There are several ways to make payment including cash in advance, a letter of credit, payment upon documentary collection, and an open account. Since payment is a major concern of most shippers, we will dedicate a separate section for this topic. 

Once you’re somewhat familiar with the foundation concepts above, you’ll want to learn more about the following concepts: 

Anti-dumping & Countervailing Duty: “Dumping” happens when goods are imported into a country at a lower price than their fair value. Make sure your goods are not under this category because if so, the customs duties can be much greater than normal importation. Prevailing Market Price: If you sell your products in the US market at the price below the prevailing market price, competitors may charge that the sales are predatory pricing or dumping. US Industry Standard: You should make sure that your foreign manufacturer will supply you with products that meet the US industry standards. Depending on your products, there are respective industry standard; for example, if you import paper boxes with your company information printed on the boxes, there is an industry standard of how much lead the ink used can contain.   Marine & Air Casualty Insurance: Depending on your sales terms with the supplier, you may be responsible for procuring insurance that covers the shipment. Without insurance, if something should happen to your goods and the carrier is proven liable, you will not be well-compensated. Without insurance the maximum amount a carrier will pay you is only $500 per ocean shipment package and $20 for air. Insurance should be arranged prior to the exportation from supplying country.  

In my past two posts I provided some thoughts about the readiness of the international transportation market for disruption. If this is your first read and would like to get more context you can read my last two posts.    

What can the current state of technology and tech proliferation can achieve? 

The customer choice  

As a brief summary in my first post the impact of technology was discussed. The conclusion is that technology has reached an effective point for the market to perform differently, it will be disrupted. 

In my second post the discussion was about how customers make choices for service providers and how that can impact the market that exists today. Again, the conclusion is that the market has changed in a way that enables a different experience or a disruption.

There is a third part. With technology in place that will enable the market to perform differently and better for customers and with customer behaviors changing what are the barriers that can or will stop a disruption from occurring?

This Is an Old and Mature Industry

The initial thought was that this is an old industry and the largest barrier that exists resides within the industry itself. Forwarders and Brokers are so inbred that they have little interest both as enterprises and individuals to support disruptive change. As I thought about this I needed to set it aside because I believe the most significant barrier starts with the customers.   

The Customer Barrier

Earlier this year I heard a tale from a freight forwarding customer. This customer started a small business to import paper cups. In this case the customer was one person who had identified a business problem and opportunity. The cups were made in China and were shipping from the Port of Ningbo to the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach where the containers were broken and distributed.   

This tale was not one of a satisfied customer. Five different ocean freight forwarding companies were used, all with different prices and different (not better quality) in how they performed. This customer was looking for at least one that would perform consistently.

Why does using virtually the same routing either with the same or a different freight forwarder result in an inconsistent experience?   

The answer is little to no transparency; transparency in service is becoming a trend that has helped improve quality and price in other markets. One example of this is in the travel industry where we can now see in relative terms how a particular provider of a service to us has performed. When you go to book a hotel you can see the experience of others who have stayed at that hotel. When I am traveling I look at the reviews, don’t you?

What happens in these cases is as individuals we are creating transparency by sharing our experiences. I have left reviews for hotels, restaurants, and home repair businesses. This is easy to do. It is my opinion and I am personally responsible for the result.

Here is the barrier. In a business environment we represent not only ourselves but our business. That business might be one we own personally but in most cases we are working for the business as an employee. The exposure to creating transparency is no longer personal. There is an increased sense of risk if we extend our personal views in a way where they also will reflect the views of our employer.

Over the past few months I have had the opportunity to read and listen to hundreds of customers give reviews of the freight forwarder. This is how this barrier manifests itself.

“I don’t want to publicly share my experiences” “I am happy with the way things are” “If I share I am also sharing my competitive advantage”

To enable a better experience, the customer will need to share. This means individuals representing that customer need to be willing to share and the leadership in those business need to encourage this behavior.    

The Service Provider Barrier

I have been working with and for international transportation service providers since typing international Airway Bills while still in college / university as my part time job. The point here is I had started my perspective with one of a strong bias but also a firm understanding now of what barriers the industry itself creates. I have been quickly convinced that customers can break through this barrier.

Service providers have been focused on standardization for years. I’m one of those people who had the role of standardizing in three different large scale freight forwarders. Up until earlier this year I was convinced that this was the answer to gain competitive advantage and service customers better.

Let me tell you a secret I have learned. The barrier that is created by the service providers is standardization. What the market really needs is simplification. If the service providers simplify this supports and enables customers. Only the largest customers force the service providers to simplify.   

Another way is for a large volume of smaller customers to behave the same way which will achieve the same result as a very large customer can achieve.

Jumping the Barriers

The way industry disruption occurs is to have a bold few blaze the way. The concept of doing reviews is definitely not new, but the concept of businesses supporting employees to give representative reviews of service provided to the business is different.    

To make things better businesses and their leaders need to adopt the approach of encouraging their people to share feedback. The key is to have a place where both the business and the individual can be open without creating additional risk.   

I believe that platforms and marketplaces will create the advantages needed to change the industry providing more value. The trailblazers will create the transparency and the new marketplace will simplify the experiences.  

Are you willing to blaze the trail? Are you a Marco Polo, perhaps Lewis or Clark, maybe Columbus, or perhaps Zeng He?   

Be inspired, share your experiences with others, change the world! www.tryfleet.com

In the previous post, I suggested some key questions that should be considered when you plan to import goods to the US. The most important takeaway is this: whatever you are going to import, it has to be something you are passionate about. Why would you bother with importing something if you aren’t passionate about it in the first place?

Have you decided what you are going to import? If yes, even if you are not sure – this post and the next one will provide you with some more food for thought.

Country of Origin:

Once decided on the merchandise you are going to import, think about from which country you will source it from. Consider its labor cost, manufacturing cost, and its exchange rate with the US. As a small or medium business, it is likely that the merchandise you are importing is manufactured products compared to raw material or natural resource; there are more countries where such products are available for you to choose from as well. 

Many countries have trade agreements with the US (e.g. Israel, Jordan, Singapore, and Chile), or they are members of duty free, or reduced-duty programs such as the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the North America Free Trade Agreement, the African Growth and Opportunity Act, etc. This means it may be to your benefit (you’ll pay less) to import from one of these places. It all depends on which program the countries fall under. It never hurts to do a little extra research in hopes of finding the best country to source your product from! You can find names of more than 100 countries that are eligible for these programs in the Tariff Schedule website (HTS) – which is the primary resource to determine tariff classifications for goods imported into the US.

On the opposite side of the scale, there are some countries that are under embargo. Any trade activities with these countries are strictly controlled and monitored by the US government. Higher duties may be imposed on excessive importing from certain countries, unless you have approval from Department of the treasury. Imports from Iran, Myanmar, Sudan, and Syria are prohibited and will be immediately seized by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Similarly, imports from North Korea must be approved by the Office of Foreign Assets Control. If you’re not sure whether or not you should steer clear of a country, take some time to research the relationship. 

Compliance with Regulations:

Your transaction should be in compliance with all the regulations in the country where the purchase takes place, as well as US regulations. Most countries have strict controls on their exports; i.e. with specialized products, you will either need to provide the supplier necessary documents so that they can obtain an export license; or you will need to check whether your supplier has the appropriate export visas for the items they are selling you (we mentioned this in our previous post).

In the US, liability falls on the importer - aka YOU. If there is a duty, penalty, charge, etc., it is the responsibility of the importer. Under the Customs Modernization Act, the importer is required to use “reasonable care” in determining the value, classification and admissibility of the merchandise. It won’t be enough to claim ignorance if something goes awry. Keep yourself up to date: review the full checklist for compliance here.

Connoisseurs of international trade, and even those with just a passing interest, have heard a lot about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement which was signed by all participating countries in October of 2015. This partnership is a game changer for international trade.

In short, the TPP is a trade agreement among 12 Pacific Rim nations including Canada, the United States, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand. The TPP has been under negotiation for nearly seven years, and it was finally signed on October 5th, 2015. Some people consider it the most significant and most economically impactful trade deal in history.

The 12 nations in this agreement now control more than a quarter of all global trade – or approximately $10 trillion. Once the TPP takes effect, this figure could climb as high as 50%. If you plan to import merchandise to the US, there is a good chance that your products could originate from one of these countries. It’s likely that the TPP will soon have a great impact on the importing process.

If you own a small or medium-sized business, or if you’re thinking about having one, it is likely that you have to deal with shipping goods in one way or another.  It is also likely that shipping is the most frustrating part of running a business: the process is complicated, often out of your control, and you will never be prepared enough for all the surprises it may bring along the way.

When I started a small business few years ago, I still remember those long nights my team stayed up waiting for the truck driver to call us and confirm delivery time of two hundred chairs we imported from China. We ordered the chairs and paid for a door-to-door delivery service. Finally he called, and informed us that the customs officer was going to contact us for more information before the truck can be released. That typically meant the agent did not do his job and eventually we were the one who had to fix this issue; while we had no clue how this shipping, custom process worked. Our hearts dropped; we had a private, high-end event in two days and we need those chairs for the event. Our clients already paid us; they were excited and proud that their event was the first and only in the city that used this type of chairs. Long story short, it was the longest night and day for us, we called so many different people who asked for different information. We got the chairs just right in time for the event, yet we never found out why they kept the chairs at Customs, neither did we understand why they let us through. That was scary; we couldn’t imagine what would have happened if we came to the client and told them only one day in advance: “We can’t do the job”.  We wondered whether this kind of things made doing business exciting or frightening; and regardless we would have to go through this again and again, as long as we are still in the business.

It was just my own experience; but I can very much relate to anyone who says “Importing things is a nightmare!” And I have heard that, too many times. Now at Fleet, I feel excited as I am working on something that can finally fixed the problem I had years ago. In fact, almost everyone of Fleet team have experienced this pain; and that’s why more than anyone, the Fleet team is committed to transforming the shipping experience; from sharing what we have (bitterly) learned, to step-by-step building the technology and delivering customer services that help small and medium sized business owners ship things more easily.

In the following weeks, we will share with you a series of blog posts providing you fundamentals about shipping and importing. We don’t need years in the industry to figure out how you can ship things; we will never know enough or prepare enough anyway. The moment is now. So - if you are starting a new business and you want to import goods, or if you already have one but you have yet figured out the best way to move your goods, or if you simply want to know another perspective, read on, share your thoughts – and ship easy!

1. Decide What to Import / Ship 2. Important Things to Consider: Rules, Regulations and More 3. Sourcing Your Suppliers Abroad and Developing a Sales Contract 4. Arrange Your Payment 5. Customs Requirements & The Entry Process 6. Exceptions: When Something Goes Wrong

And other topics we find to be helpful for you. If you want an answer to a particular question, feel free to write to us at [email protected]; we’d be happy to share our opinion.

Import 101 - Chapter 1/7: Decide What To Import

There are two important qualities we need to have in order to be successful – almost in everything: be passionate, and be practical. It is the same when you want to answer the question: “What should I import?” It should be something you are passionate about; and once you can conclude this is what excites you to start a small business – you should think whether it is practical to do so.

When choosing a product, consider these questions:

Is it something you’re enthusiastic about? If you are not, it will be hard to convince people to buy this product from you.  You will spend so much time with the product: from the day it was only your idea, until it was visualized, sampled, then manufactured; you will package it, ship it to your shop, you will see it all day, talk about it with your colleagues, sell it to your customers; you will think about it all day – and probably you will dream about it at night – so it’d rather be something that makes you feel excited.  

Are you knowledgeable about it? Knowledge and enthusiasm usually go together. You like something – that makes you learn more about it. The more you know about it, the more you like it. Yet, it requires hard work to be knowledgeable about something: it takes time and effort to read, understand, experience, sometimes to create it (and you will often fail many times before you succeed).

Is it practical to import this product? “Practical” here is a combination of many things: Is the product already available in the market you’re planning to sell? Will you yourself buy this product? Will you recommend this product to your friends? (If not, why would you import it?) Where can you source this product and the cost to source it? How difficult and complicated is it to source the product? What is its potential? What is the demand for it in a year, two years and further? 

It is important to note that each country may have its own restrictions for certain types of merchandise, which usually fall under (but are not limited to) food, chemicals, livestock and animals, agriculture, etc. Some goods will even need foreign government visas in order to enter the US. These export visas are usually auctioned and in order to win the allocation, an exporter usually needs to plan ahead, participate in the auction months or even a year in advance; and the competition for such allocation is usually high. It is strongly recommended to check if your exporter has the necessary government visas for the goods he plans to supply you. 

Speaking of volume, the quantity of goods you plan to import will contribute to which payment methods, procedures, what kind of commitment would be necessary. Small quantities can be imported under purchase orders (PO) and purchase order acceptance. Larger amounts may require more formal procedures, special shipping, packing, more parties to be involved in the importation process.

In my last post we started to take a look and answer if International Transportation is ready for disruption. Disruption means “Different and better”. Could traditional freight forwarding be ready to change, come to an end as we have known it?   

To get to the answer we needed to consider:

1. What can the current state of technology and technology proliferation achieve?

2. How does a customer in this space decide and purchase services?

3. What barriers might exist and are they real?

The conclusion in looking at the first question is the state of technology and technology proliferation will enable disruption. If you are just starting you can read my last post International Transportation Disruption.  

Let’s take a look at the second question.

How does a customer in this space decide and purchase services?

The Need

I have a product. I have someone that makes that product for me to sell and they are in Vietnam. They will get it to the port and are happy to do that for me. Now what?

There are more than a few different ways that the need to purchasing international transportation services arise. The point is, it will be something your company will need to deal with.   If you are a small to medium sized business…. It will be something you personally need to deal with!

The Search

Remember the yellow pages? Every listing started with “ACME Logistics”   “Ace Shipping”  “At-A-Boy Delivery”, we never made it past the first few pages before we were inundated with too many large side ads. I always have this vision of a guy standing next to a delivery truck telling me he will be on time? “A-Best-Delivery-Company”. You have to be in the yellow pages how else will someone find your business?

When you need to purchase a cleaning service for your business where do you go? Do you search the internet? How do you keep up with what is changing or what new opportunities are available in the market?  

How do you find an international shipping company? Who do you call, “Freight Busters”? Believe it or not, you can call them as there are many businesses listed under “Freight Busters”.

The fact is in the age of choice somethings are getting easier.  Some are getting harder.

The Pitch – I Have What You Need (You just don’t know it)

How many sales and marketing technologies have been created today? How many introductory emails do you get? Is the email campaign your friend or routed to the spam folder?  

How many emails do you want to delete each day?   

What about those sales people? I used to be one and still am. How often do customers use or have you heard the first line, “I’m happy with my current provider, no need to talk.” Of if you are a small to medium sized business do you even see sales people? I suspect not very often.   

If you are a service provider can you afford to send sales people to a small to medium sized customer?   

If you are a small to medium sized business how many sales people can you see? Remember, there are more than 20,000 in this space, over 6000 Ocean Transportation Intermediaries in the US alone.

I have the best service! I am the best on this trade lane!  We have the best pricing! Our tracking system is the best! You can ship on-line with us! We have the largest network! We own our own offices! How many attributes can you measure against? I have the highest value for the lowest price! I invented Ad words before they became Ad words!

How do you know and how do they know what you need? It is time neither customers or service providers seem to have.

How Does a Customer Decide?

I thought I would try my luck! I pulled up my favorite search engine and typed in: Who is the best freight forwarding company?

One of the examples is the answer provided by Quora, Quora provides the best answer to any question.

As you can see on the right; many more questions than answers.

Standardized isn’t really that Simple

How do companies put out bids today? If it is a small company bidding out 100 TEUs how much time would your provider spend to reply? Probably wouldn’t make it to the top of the pricing departments list of a major forwarder.  

It is great that for Ocean you can get a quote on a 20 foot high cube container. That fact that there has been some standardization in the industry for air, ocean, and road transport has made lives a bit better.

But what about the variations that still exist. Is it a drayage charge or a pickup charge? What does a port fee cover? Is the container charge the only charge? Do you pricing additional charges on top of it? Is this Port-to-Port? What about inland? The fact is each provider’s standards are different in some way than the standards of the other. Break out the spreadsheet and your translation skills.

Choice is Hard Work

By the time a customer gets though this they are overwhelmed.   

Let’s pose a few questions. Do you shop on Amazon? Do you look for service providers in your personal life on Angie’s List (or the most used service provider rating platform in your country). In the US, do you post work on Thumbtack (very cool service, take a look)? When looking for a part or manufacturer, have you used Alibaba? When you are looking for a place to eat, do you search restaurants in a web browser or do you go to Yelp? How do you find the best schedule and cheapest flight for your business travel?  Do you go to each airline? Perhaps you call the travel agents office… if you haven’t noticed they are slowly disappearing… going with the yellow pages.

In the past month I have had the privilege of listening to customers give reviews on the services of some international freight forwarders.  They are terrified of giving out email addresses. “You are not going to put me on some list, are you?” The anxiety in their voice tells all.

We Are More Willing to Share Our Experiences

No more emails, please no more phone calls (if you can reach someone and have the patience to wade through 3 to 4 minutes of IVR). Customers are defensive at the start of a phone call.  

If you are a provider selling today is really hard. Customers want to make their own choices. You want to be more informed with more transparency.   

What if we let the quality of an experience help us decide?

Each of us will leave a review on a restaurant we loved or hated. When purchasing a product on Amazon we will share our experiences. When we are thrilled with the service our plumber gave us we will give them to ratings on a review site. It is likely anyway we found all of these things on a market place or other service that provides transparency to what we are deciding to purchase.

Today we are more comfortable providing information about how we experience our services. Today it is possible to make your choices in one place if as a customer you force that change just like you can choose on Amazon which seller to purchase something from … and still get PRIME service. It is possible to have a marketplace for these services that will add value for the customer.

The answer to the second question is that the current state of how as a customer we would purchase and decide on international transportation services can be made easier. The mind set to share our experiences in a way that creates value instead of risk will define a better experience for selecting international transportation providers.   

With the first answer being yes and the second question being answered with yes, are there any barriers that exist to disrupting the international transportation business of freight forwarders? Again keep in mind that disruption is not like the Port issues in LA and Long beach.  Disruption here is defined as “Different and Better”.

As we watch the world today we see more and more markets being disrupted. A few years ago no one knew about Uber, Lyft, or AirBnB. It was just a few years before and no one heard of Yelp or Angie’s List. Amazon and eBay were these alternatives to going to the mall or your local Target 10 years before that. Gone are the days of the Thomas registers that would pour out of the offices of purchasing departments.  When is the last time you saw a paper sailing schedule or an official airline guide book on some ones desk?

Could traditional freight forwarding be ready to change, come to an end as we have known it?   Are the value of the services given by a freight forwarder replaceable in an age of technology innovation and transparency? Is it possible to disrupt on a large scale? 

To get to the answer we need to consider: 1. What can the current state of technology and technology proliferation achieve? 2. How does a customer in this space decide and purchase services? 3. What barriers might exist and are they real?

Rather than give us all a large reading assignment (and me a writing assignment) I want to break these questions down over a few posts.   

What can the current state of technology and tech proliferation achieve?

Current State of Technology

In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Freight Startups Attract Silicon Valley Attention the topic is discussed about bringing the freight industry into the internet age. It is already there and has been since the transportation companies portals were launched over 15 years ago. If you were to tell UPS, Expeditors International, KUEHNE + NAGEL, FedEx and the others that they are not in the internet age they would quickly tell the readers of this article to spend some time with them reviewing their booking, tracking, payment, and other services all available on the internet. The fact is; a new user interface doesn’t make freight forwarding any cooler when funded by Silicon Valley than if funded by a private equity firm or is IPO funded like one of the biggest debt play roll-ups occurring in the industry today.  

If you take this view traditional freight forwarding isn’t coming to an end, we are just upgrading from using .net and JAVA to building with ruby-on-rails (sorry to use those terms for the non-techy folks but needed the context). Hosting the cloud using full stack or having you own data center does not make it any more exiting either.

Did you know there are more than 20,000 international transportation intermediaries (freight forwarders) in the world and that is just a guess? It would be like Uber or Lyft trying to count the number of taxis. What this tells us is? There are a lot of them. And using the taxi comparison they range from the Tuk-Tuk (really small and local) to the well-known Yellow Cabs. The point is, when there is a lot of something the opportunity to do something different and better is much greater. This is what disruption means, different and better.

Back to the question: Is it possible to disrupt on a large scale based on technology and technology proliferation?    

Technology Proliferation in International Transportation

Freight forwarders are aggregators and intermediaries. This means that for technology to come into play it requires proliferation.

As an aggregator the freight forwarder brings together different asset based providers of services to put together a complete product for the customer to purchase. The bill of materials (to think of this in a manufacturing context) is the pickup service, documentation, consolidation or loading, customs clearance, movement between countries, and delivery services. Depending on the freight forwarder this “Bill of Materials” is divided between different asset owners who have trucks, warehouses, ships, planes, and technology.

As an intermediary the freight forwarder brings together different relationships that represent the best quality that the freight forwarder can achieve for the customer. These relationships might be managed by phone calls, faxes, emails, text messages, and for some EDI.  This also includes the financial aspects of moving funds, payments, and billings across international boundaries. The relationship is there to manage, control, and achieve a degree of quality service.

40 years ago the phone was the technology that a freight forwarder used to do this.  25 years ago the larger freight forwarders were doing this with mainframes, greens screens, and dedicated networks.  You needed to be large to have one. Ten years ago there were people selling systems to the small to mid-sized freight forwarders and most of any scale had some kind of Internet facing portal for customers. Technology today exists and is used by even the smallest freight forwarders. It is easy for a small business to get access to technology for automation and integration.

What about the asset owners that the forwarders aggregate and intermediate?

When I see a truck picking up an Ocean container the driver is dispatched with their cell phone with a text message. They update their dispatch the same way. Warehouse operators who do loading of containers and unloading of containers also have technology in place. They track the goods into their warehouses, into the containers, and back out the door. The ocean carriers, air carriers, and truckload carriers have had technology to manage what they do for years. Need a status - it is available electronically. Need to know the schedule, they are published on the internet.

Virtually every part of the “Bill of Materials” that a forwarder puts together has the ability for technology integration. When the ocean carriers are the same, the warehouse operators are the same at the ports, and the trucks that pickup and deliver are the same the value proposition comes down to customer experience.

If you have used a ride service like Uber or Lyft the experience is different, why because now you and the actual operator of the asset engage. If you are in a new city and don’t know where to eat you likely get a search from google or yelp to help you choose.

The technology of the freight forwarders can enable the customer to have an experience like booking your flights on a travel site. Today it is possible to make your choices in one place if as a customer you force that change just like you can choose on Amazon which seller to purchase something from … and still get PRIME service. It is possible to have a marketplace for these services that will add value for the customer.

The answer to the first question is that the current state of technology and its proliferation can enable the customer to manage for themselves the same “Bill of Materials” that the freight forwarder has done traditionally.     Technology is only one question in disrupting this market. How the customers purchase in the market, customer behavior, and how choices are made will need to be different.

Especially in the Freight Forwarding business, the bigger a customer you are the better a Freight Forwarder will like you. I do realize this is true for most any business.  Big is always better… or is it?

Freight forwarders are intermediaries. They act on their customers behalf to purchase and aggregate multiple services. There are several ways freight forwarders make money. A few examples:

• Simple markup on services due to the value of expertise or removing complexity • Providing services on top of transportation. Examples of this are doing documentation, providing support for trade compliance, or facilitating financial transactions such as letter of credit processing • Aggregating volumes from multiple customers to procure at a lower price services such as transportation

The first two of these really can be done by almost any freight forwarder that can put together a network, hire, and retain quality people who know international trade and transportation. The third bullet is when “Bigger is Better” comes in. “Bigger is Better” also has impact in other areas.

Procurement of Transportation Services: Freight forwarders want to purchase based on volume. Doing this helps create price value that they can pass on to you as their customer and keep a portion of the lower pricing they achieve to create profits for themselves. Businesses are there to make profits so none of us should be offended by the fact that freight forwarders are there to make a profit.

We also want our sales people to get as much business as possible. Same is true for Freight Forwarders. To leverage volume the freight forwarder also wants to grow business within defined trade lanes. A trade lane example would be from China to the US. This means they have high volume in a concentrated market that can command price concessions from ocean carriers, airlines, truckers, and warehouses.

This is good for all businesses, it lowers price. If you are a small to medium sized business you do get advantage of this.  

Other factors where small to medium sized businesses are underserved by Freight Forwarders:

When is the last time you saw a sales person from your freight forwarder? Cost of sales is high.  Sales people command large salaries. Especially good sales people! That means the value the sales person creates is how much revenue they generate. If you ship 20 containers a year on a lane you likely have not seen a sales person past a qualifying discussion. Am I right?

Have you had an ocean container stuck? It didn’t get on the ship? You couldn’t get it trucked out of the port? Worst case, did it fall off the boat?

Cost of service is high. If you are applying resources to solve a problem for a customer and the service resource is valuable where would you apply them if the following happened?

You and another customer need a quote. You ship 20 containers a year from China to the US and the other customer ships 20 containers per day from China to the US. Given my experience I would tell my customer service team to work on the 20 container quote, good business right? What would you do with your customers?

Another example would be if the same customer had a container that needed priority loading. Your business is important, what if you needed priority loading? The implication of this is direct, because of being a small to mid-sized business you suffer less service priority than those who are larger. From a business standpoint this makes sense.  

From a customer standpoint, we are thinking like you are. 

It sucks and we want to make this better for you at FLEET.  

“Hey, just a minute! I need to go talk to my head of supply chain and see how my order is coming from that vendor in China.”    

Now wouldn’t that be a luxury?  

Having a large enough organization that can define a role of head of supply chain, full time, or even most of the time is not something small to medium sized businesses exist with. The reality is that depending on the size of your business the head of supply chain is wearing many hats.  

If this is you or your business, then you fit into the definition of small to medium sized businesses. There are a variety of metrics that define the size of a business.  A very simple view is what follows.  

Small businesses are defined with sales less than $10 million. In reality many businesses are much smaller than this. Organizationally what this means is that as the business owner you are wearing almost every hat. From conception to delivery, the business is your baby.

A medium sized business in this view is defined with sales less than $200 million. Depending on the market you service this still may mean that a very few people wear many different hats. You are fortunate because more expertise exists and daily activities for creating value are easier to distribute to more people.

What is most important to any business regardless of size doesn’t change.

Sales and Growth: your business needs these to survive.   

Product: this is what you create.  Having a product that someone wants to buy and having it available to buy drive your sales.

Customers: selling your product means you have customers to service.

These are only a few and each business has differences that would reorder what is important.

When you need to import your product supply chain management is a significant amount of your activity. Identifying your supplier, the quality of the supplier, the financial relationship, placing orders, tracking orders, forecasting how much you need, and the list continues.  

Then your supplier says I want to ship this to you FOB (Free on board). Now what?  

International transportation can have a significant impact on your business.  

Lead time for inventory and ordering – no product no sales.

Transportation costs can have a significant impact on cost of goods sold and the price of your product.

Financial transactions involving letters of credit if not handled correctly will tie up your money.

Who can you and should you trust to manage this critical part of your supply chain? This one activity can create value or generate loss for your business.

When you are a small to medium sized business, finding a high quality service provider for international transportation adds another task to your already overwhelming list of managing your supply chain activities.

That can be made simpler for you.

www.tryfleet.com will be the place to accomplish finding high quality providers, getting good insight into competitive shipping prices, and where you will find the assistance to manage across your international transportation needs.

In the early 80’s international ocean transportation was a small fraction of the market as it exists today. In the US many more products were domestically made and those that were imported came from close neighbors in Canada and Mexico.   Sales were done by knocking on doors and making phone calls.   If you were deciding on a freight forwarder at that time around the Chicago area it is possible I was one of the sales people calling you.   As a salesperson in that era I was expected to generate new business and any new business was good. A customer who had 1 shipment a week was a big win. A customer who had several shipments a day was the jackpot. Service was personal.  If your shipment needed to move urgently I was in the office working with the operations people making sure you were serviced.    

Service was important.

Service is still important but since the early 80’s we have seen significant changes.   Trade lanes shifted, ERP systems evolved as computers became cheaper and more powerful, and CRM (customer relationship management) grew in popularity. Cost of sales also rose as did cost of service for the freight forwarders. Technology would solve that but only partly.  

If you are a small to medium sized business this meant that you suffered the categorization of the CRM processes. The result was more of the work in managing your transportation service became yours and you are more likely now to never see a sales person. The harsh reality is that it is likely you never will unless the value of your international transportation spends grow large enough to get that attention.

For the past 17 years I have been working with some of the largest global freight forwarding companies refining business processes and designing and implementing systems. The intent was to automate as much of the back office process as possible. Think from your booking through to paying your bill for freight forwarding services.    

The frustrating part of doing this is that the largest customers get the largest amount of attention even in automation. Rather than build out a structure that ensures the servicing of all customers every business transformation I have engaged in results in how to make sure that the customization for the largest customers gets priority.  

This was frustrating for me because I remembered my early days as a sales person. I remembered it wasn’t about how big they were for me.  It was about the fundamental concept that all customers deserve an outstanding customer experience.    

Freight forwarders struggle with this.  

It doesn’t matter how large or how local they are (small specialty forwarders). The largest customers get the space on the ship, the priority in customer service, and the sales call.

What makes me qualified as an expert on this?

My career lifetime has been in freight forwarding, logistics, and supply chain management; my first experiences were in college doing international documents and bills of lading on a typewriter.  You had to know how to do it, the computer was not there. I have been in sales, managed local offices, had responsibility for customer service operations for two global freight forwarders, been chief information officer for 3 global forwarders and I had daily responsibilities for operations of a $3B global freight forwarder that operated in over 60 countries. I have seen most of it in this business. This included seeing the business of small to medium sized customers take the lowest priority in service and sales. This will not change but it can be made better. We will together dive into these issues deeper and provide a logical way to ensure service, get attention, and minimize the work that you need to do as a small to medium sized shipper.

After months of hard work, we are thrilled to announce that today we have launched Fleet – the freight forwarder rating and review platform for global shipping.

The Fleet platform benefits our users in many ways. For businesses, Fleet is the place where they can find the right freight forwarders to handle their international shipping needs. No longer do shippers have to google for and call numerous freight forwarders with no insight into their performance or reliability. Small and medium sized businesses can now use Fleet to find international freight forwarders based on location, size, years in business and rating. These shippers are also able to share their experiences, write reviews and rate freight forwarders based on multiple criteria. 

For freight forwarders, Fleet enables their businesses to reach out to a significant portion of the market – small to medium sized shippers and consignees. Freight forwarders can also use the platform to directly interact and engage with their customers and potential customers, demonstrating the quality of services they provide. 

Our long-term goal is to simplify the global commercial shipping industry by providing an easy-to-use platform, reliable shipments, fair pricing, and unparalleled customer experience for shippers of any size. And this rating and review platform is the first step in revolutionizing the shipping experience for small to medium sized shippers.

So come and join us on Fleet! Share your review with other shippers, or read their reviews and find the most reliable freight forwarder who best fits your business needs. If you are a freight forwarder, build your brand and get connected to your customers, find out how you can improve your services and provide your customers with extraordinary experience.