International cargo transportation can be carried out by air or sea. The cost of air transportation is very high, but the handover is simple and the time is short. The goods are handed over to the transportation company and soon directly reach the hands of the customer without any special operation process. In addition, foreign trade products can also be delivered by international express delivery such as the famous DHL, UPS, Fedex, TNT, etc. – if the quantity is not large – because the cost of international express delivery is more expensive. But the advantage of international express delivery is that it is very convenient. You don’t need to handle commodity inspection, customs declaration and other matters by yourself, which is very convenient for small personal foreign trade.
However, for common formal foreign trade, most of the time, the relatively cheapest container ocean shipping method is adopted. You can rent a container, which is called FCL (Full Container Loading, container can also be called container) in jargon. You can also rent part of the container according to the amount of your goods, which is called LCL (Less than Container Loading, sharing a container with other users) in jargon.
There are two types of companies that undertake container ocean transportation business: shipping companies and freight forwarding companies (referred to as freight forwarders). The difference between the two is that shipping companies have their own ocean-going cargo ships, while freight forwarders do not. You might as well think of shipping companies as “wholesalers”, and the goods are the space of ocean-going cargo ships; while freight forwarders are “retailers”, wholesale several spaces from shipping companies at a lower price and resell them to “consumers” who need transportation – foreign traders. Or vice versa, take over the space requirements from various foreign traders, and then go to the shipping company for a general booking. As a “consumer” foreign trader, you can certainly directly find some shipping companies to order space (referred to as booking), but it is not difficult to understand that most of the time we deal with freight forwarders. After all, as a “retailer” of space, freight forwarders have a large number, convenient contact, and flexible operation – to be honest, they are more enthusiastic.
Under FOB conditions, the customer arranges the transportation, and the exporter can contact the freight forwarder designated by the customer at that time. Under CNF/CIF conditions, the destination port of delivery must be determined before reaching a deal with the customer. According to the port of destination, ask the freight forwarder for a price – of course, you can shop around and choose the best one to cooperate with. The freight and miscellaneous charges quoted by the freight forwarder are one of the important parameters for exporters to calculate CNF/CIF prices. It should be noted that there is still a long period of time from quotation to transaction, and then to preparation and shipment, and the ocean freight often fluctuates, sometimes even up to one or two hundred dollars per container. So when you inquire about the price, you can estimate the delivery time and ask the freight forwarder to provide reference opinions on price changes. Even so, many freight forwarders can only quote the freight within a month’s range relatively accurately, and exporters still have to leave some room for themselves.