A freight forwarding company acts like an intermediary between a client and other transportation services. Or we can say that the carriage and forwarding agents are actually the third party handling and managing the operations of transportation of goods from end-to-end. These agents or forwarders are the transportation experts with a very good knowledge of the state of the import-export industry and is well informed of the regulations that govern it. This agent knows and understands the major rules and regulations applicable in the international clearance and forwarding process. It would be a wise step to hire a clearance and forwarding agent if you are planning to ship products from many different countries.
Some of the major tasks that are performed by a clearance and freight agent may include creating an invoice for international shipping, making arrangements for the pickup and delivery reports, arranging and coordinating customs for attaching warehousing, thoroughly completing all the documentation work required for your cargo, and finally confirming the delivery of your cargo. Once the cargo has been handed over to the forwarder, the client or the company can rely on them for timely and safe delivery of the product. The clearing and freight agents have established relationship with sea, air and land transportation system including rail services, trucking, and ocean liners. A good agent will always be found perfect in his professional skills of how to arrange for careful transport of goods whether they are dangerous goods or require any additional support meets the client's specific wishes all along the route. He also manages the trucking logistics for airfreight and ocean freight import and export. Apart from that, they are also ready to even provide packaging, letters of credit and consular documentation.
The calculation of clearance and freight charges depends upon the distance and other arrangements made thereof for the safety of the product such as refrigeration facility, container facility, or some other sort of preservation facility is required, or if there is any hazardous material included in the package, or the number of carriers that would be required to carry the goods, etc. The agents calculate all these factors for selecting the best bid then add their own fee and then give the client a cost. If both the parties agree over the same frame of price and task, then it becomes the responsibility of the forwarder to transport the assigned product at the destination.