Air Freight to UAE Got Stuck with a Low-Price Freight Forwarder. DL Logistics Controls Every Step for Smooth Delivery
Herman needed to ship ABS control units via air freight to UAE. At a trade show, a company attracted him with a low price of 20/kg and a promised delivery time. It turned out that this forwarder had no local agent in the UAE at all. The customs clearance alone got stuck for 3 days. Their promised 5-day door-to-door delivery became just empty words!
At trade shows, every freight forwarder's ads are loud and bold. They all say they have a "local agent team" and offer "immediate customs clearance upon arrival." It seems like every company is amazing, and it's easy to get confused. So how do you choose? Anyone can make big claims in ads – after all, you can't see the real situation.
When choosing a freight forwarder, don't just look at the price quotes and ad promises first. The key is to verify if the other party truly has the capability to deliver on those promises. A contract with promises but no real capability is just a worthless piece of paper. 20/kg might not seem expensive at first, but if it comes with zero guarantees, is it really cheap?
In other words, 20/kg is not expensive *if* the forwarder can actually deliver everything they promise. If they fail on even one promise, then it's far too expensive.
Air freight to UAE involves many steps: land transport at origin, cargo consolidation, loading onto the plane, customs clearance at destination, and final delivery. Only a forwarder with real strength, like us, can control every single step. That kind of service is what makes a price truly "not expensive." Small forwarders sell flight space; big forwarders sell ground handling. A truly capable forwarder must have influence both at the destination customs office and in the local streets.
For problematic shipments like the one mentioned above, we have the ability to coordinate directly with customs. Where a regular forwarder might need 3 days for clearance, we can complete document review, tax payment, and release in just 2 hours.
I told Herman to focus on one thing: make the freight forwarder truthfully explain the real situation of their local customs clearance agent team. There are 60,000 forwarders in Shenzhen, and over a thousand handle air freight to UAE. But very, very few actually have their own clearance team in the UAE. Most just resell the service to other forwarders to make a small profit.
That's how they can calculate their costs and dare to offer low prices. If nothing goes wrong, everyone makes a little money. But when shippers choose air freight, they are paying for speed and reliability. These makeshift operations largely rely on luck, especially during the destination customs clearance. UAE customs has strict controls on imported goods. If an inspection occurs, the losses can outweigh any initial savings.
Our local customs clearance and delivery team in the UAE has over 20 years of experience, with over a hundred staff and more than 50 trucks. For urgent orders, someone answers the phone even at 2 AM. After loading from the customs supervision warehouse, we can deliver directly without needing to go through a separate overseas warehouse. Deliveries made in the morning arrive by noon; those made at noon arrive in the evening. Many competitors come to us for help with their own urgent shipments.
I once helped Shenzhen Ruili Machinery ship a batch of robots via air freight to UAE. We reduced their customs clearance time from the usual 3 days down to just 6 hours. The boss remarked that he previously thought "handling full customs clearance and taxes" was just a slogan. This shipment finally let him experience the real advantage of using a capable freight forwarder.