UAE Shipping: Don't Pick Forwarder Blindly - My Story With Mr. Huang
Mr. Huang works in foreign trade, focusing on the UAE market. His factory is in Guangzhou. At first, his business was small - about two or three shipments a month, each around 100 kg.
When he first contacted me, he was direct. He asked, "Are you a shell company? Do you outsource orders too?" To be honest, many freight forwarders these days just pass orders to others. If I were him, I would be suspicious too.
You can’t prove it just by talking. So I video-called him and said, "Mr. Huang, let me walk around our office with the video. You'll see for yourself." We are on the 8th floor, Building B, Rongde Times Square. The whole floor is 1800 sqm, and we own it - not rented. I walked around with the camera. This can’t be faked. I couldn’t have prepared for this just for him, or gone to someone else’s office to film.
Mr. Huang didn’t say anything more. Actually, he felt reassured, but he wouldn’t admit it. After everything was agreed, he said, "Let's try one small shipment." Then came the actual work. His OEM factory is in Guangzhou, and we needed to pick up the goods. Think about it - shipping from china to uae, then customs clearance and delivery. I told Mr. Huang directly, "We have our own fleet. We can pick up. Our senior driver, Master Zong, has been driving for over 30 years. No problem." The shipment went smoothly and arrived in the UAE.
Later, Mr. Huang’s business grew, and he always shipped with me. But one time, the factory couldn’t finish the fabric on time, yet the flight was the next day - it had to go. Anyone in e-commerce knows: if you run out of stock for one day, your ranking drops dozens of pages. Even heavy ad spend can’t bring it back easily. He was really worried. I arranged for Master Zong to wait at the factory gate at 2 AM. As soon as the goods came out, we loaded and drove straight to the airport. Before 4 AM, we arrived at Bao'an Airport cargo terminal. The goods were weighed, security-checked, and palletized quickly. We cleared customs and got release before the 6 AM cut-off, catching the morning cargo flight to Dubai. Mr. Huang was very satisfied.
Sometimes Mr. Huang’s goods flew not only from Guangzhou, but also from Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and even Shanghai. Why? Because shipping from china to uae - different airlines, different origins - the prices and transit times can fluctuate a lot. We always provide the best value while keeping service consistent. For his shipments, we got more and more efficient.
That means, for shipping from china to uae, low price is important, but control is even more crucial. Otherwise, if you promise delivery in 7 days but it takes 8 or 10 days, who will use you next time?
So what I really want to say is: don’t blindly believe in the lowest price. When your goods miss the flight, those few dollars you saved won’t cover your losses. When choosing a freight forwarder, first check their scale and professionalism. If they won’t even let you video their office - think twice, my friend. Would you trust them with your shipment?