Case 1
Should Foreign Trade Companies Be Cautious When Using Air Freight to Middle East?
It’s a big no-no in the industry for freight forwarders to secretly run foreign trade businesses! A few days ago, I watched an interview video about a post-00s boy who made 5 million yuan in just half a year doing foreign trade for Dubai. It was shared as a very successful foreign trade case. But there was one crucial detail in the video: the boy’s cousin is a senior freight forwarder specializing in the Middle East.
Anyone in foreign trade or freight forwarding knows this well. Freight forwarders have easy access to foreign trade clients’ information. When you ship goods overseas, you have to provide your forwarder with the delivery address, product details, customs declaration documents and all related information.
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This clearly shows that freight forwarders know everything about your overseas customers—what products they want to buy and what their specific needs are. So did this post-00s boy’s success in foreign trade have anything to do with his senior forwarder cousin? We don’t know the full story, so we won’t judge. We just want to use this case to discuss whether foreign trade companies should be cautious of freight forwarders.
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Actually, the real question behind this is: should you be cautious? It all depends on whether the forwarder is reliable and whether they are also running a foreign trade business at the same time.
I have been working in air freight to Middle East for many years. I have indeed seen some dishonest companies that do the same thing as mentioned above—pretending to be freight forwarders while actually focusing on foreign trade.
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But it’s easy to tell them apart. These people put most of their energy into foreign trade, and only use the freight forwarding cover to collect customer information for product selection. Such forwarders can never grow big—that’s their obvious feature.
Just keep this in mind. Before choosing a forwarder, learn more about the company. Check if it’s a small, unregistered office or a formal, large-scale forwarder. Shipping with a big, established forwarder is completely safe.
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Take DL International Logistics as an example. We have been in air freight to Middle East for 27 years, and we treat freight forwarding as our lifelong career.
I fully understand how foreign trade traders feel—you need freight forwarders but worry about finding an untrustworthy one. It’s even worse when facing the problems we talked about earlier.
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So I usually don’t say much. I just invite customers to visit our company directly. We have nearly 100 employees, and we have made some achievements over the years. We bought the entire 8th floor of Block B, Rongde Times Square, Longgang District, Shenzhen with full payment. We are among the top 5% in the freight forwarding industry.
Many customers were doubtful at first, but they felt completely assured after an on-site visit.
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We are also a member of WCA. WCA membership is not easy to get; you have to meet strict requirements. For example, the company must be an independent freight forwarder, have a certain business scale and experience, and comply with WCA’s ethical and operational standards.
All these prove that we focus only on freight forwarding. If you need air freight to UAE or air freight to Dubai, why would you worry about choosing a forwarder like us?【learn about】
Case 2
Earn an Extra 40,000 RMB by Shipping 5 Tons of Air Freight to Middle East
Earn an extra 40,000 RMB by shipping 5 tons of air freight to Middle East. Do you know how they do it? Some customers tell freight forwarders that they want direct air shipping to door. However, some unethical forwarders switch it to connecting flights instead. Shipments from Shenzhen connect via Singapore to Dubai, then go through customs at the destination port and deliver to door.
When customers ask why their air freight hasn’t arrived in five or six days, these forwarders claim the goods are being inspected at the destination port.
They make fake inspection documents at the destination port and send them to customers, saying the inspection will cause another four or five days’ delay. Counting working days, the total time including shipping and fake inspection is almost the same as connecting flights via Singapore, leaving customers with no complaints. Direct flights cost 26 RMB per kg, while connecting flights cost 18 RMB per kg. For 5 tons of cargo, that’s a profit of 40,000 RMB.
When shipping cross-border air freight to Middle East, there are 4 common tricks used by freight forwarders. 90% of new sellers have fallen for these scams.
1. Bait and switch
Freight forwarders attract you with extremely low air freight rates. The market price for general cargo is 25 RMB, but they quote 18 RMB. They actually replace direct flights with connecting flights and blame flight delays when questioned.
2. Unauthorized mixed sensitive cargo
They accept general cargo at low prices, but secretly mix in electronic cigarettes, battery-powered or magnetic goods without permission. If your cargo is inspected, you may lose both your goods and payment.
3. Broken promises
They promise direct flights for your cargo, but mix direct and connecting flights together. When questioned, they claim a scanning error and say they will be more careful next time.
4. Unsafe mixed loading
They combine dangerous goods and consolidated cargo with only general cargo on the surface. Once inspected, shipments are delayed or the forwarder disappears.
Therefore, there are ways to find a reliable air freight to Middle East forwarder. Don’t only compare prices at the beginning. The air freight to Middle East market is already very mature, and operating costs among forwarders are similar. So price quotes usually do not differ by more than 5%. If someone offers 20-30% lower prices, there must be a catch.
This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t compare prices at all. Small differences still exist. Different forwarders have different channels and resources. Choosing the right one can still save you 5% on logistics costs.
How do you choose the right one? In the logistics industry, especially international logistics, you need to look at overall strength. Choose speed at the same price, choose reputation at the same speed, and check their warehouse if reputations are similar.
Small shell companies with only 3 or 4 people always talk about asset-light operations. They rent warehouses or even have no warehouses at all. They can handle small orders but fail completely with high-end clients. To excel at air freight to Middle East, a forwarder must have its own warehouse.
DL has a 20,000-square-meter foreign trade warehouse in Yantian, 6 stories high. Foreign clients often visit and speak highly of it.[learn more]
Case 3
Air Freight to Middle East: Customs Inspection & Sensitive Goods Guide
If you’re worried about your sensitive goods being inspected when sending air freight to Middle East, you first need to know the 5 types of customs inspection.
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The first type is X-ray scanning for the whole shipment. This inspection takes 2 to 3 days. Sometimes you may not even notice it, as there is almost no delay in transit time.
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The second type is unpacking inspection, which has different levels. One is Open gate inspection – customs just open the container door for a quick check and close it if everything looks normal. This kind of inspection usually finishes in about 2 days.
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The third type is partial inspection. Customs will unload half of the goods, either from the back to the middle of the container or straight inside. After checking and finding no issues, the shipment will be released. This normally takes 3 to 5 days.
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The fourth type is full inspection. This takes the longest time. Customs will unload all goods, count each carton one by one, and open every package to check if the cargo list is accurate. It usually takes more than 7 days. Luckily, full inspection is not very common. It mostly happens when customs find major discrepancies between the goods and the list during Open gate or partial inspection, then they will upgrade to full inspection. This is the strictest type and has the longest delay.
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The fifth type is document checking. If customs doubt the documents after arrival, they will hold the goods first and verify all paperwork. Once all required data and certificates are confirmed correct, the goods will be released. Similar to X-ray scanning, it is very fast, often done in 1 to 2 days.
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If your goods are held in the inspection area for a month and still not released, there must be a serious problem with the inspection.
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More importantly, to avoid inspection when sending air freight to Middle East, you need to know which goods are considered sensitive. The most common sensitive goods shipped in the market include food, branded products, electronics with batteries, cosmetics, local specialties, liquids and powders, daily medicines, health supplements, and so on.
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Why are these products classified as sensitive goods? With the rise of cross-border e-commerce in recent years, many small commodities from China are exported overseas. When sellers purchase these products, they cannot provide the necessary documents for customs declaration and clearance. So they have to use unofficial logistics channels, and all these goods are categorized as sensitive. For regular trade businesses, if you can provide complete and legal documents, these goods can actually be shipped as general cargo.
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The most important thing for exporting sensitive goods is to choose a reliable freight forwarder to avoid goods being detained. Small unprofessional forwarders often operate against regulations, so it’s no surprise if your goods get held. What makes a reliable freight forwarder?
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First, if goods are detained or lost, they can pay compensation as promised and make a one-time payment within the agreed time. Second, the service is safe and stable – the lower the risk of detention or loss, the better. Third, the shipping cost should not be too cheap. Many people wonder why, since choosing cheap logistics helps cut costs. As the old saying goes, cheap goods are rarely good. The same applies to logistics. Safe and stable channels cannot be extremely cheap. The lower the freight rate, the bigger the risk.
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Take DL Logistics as an example. We have a large volume for air freight to Middle East, and we have built long-term relationships with local customs. We ship goods daily, so customs are familiar with us. Shipments suspected to be sensitive from other companies often get inspected, but ours usually do not. That’s because we declare every shipment truthfully. After 100 times of smooth inspections, customs no longer check our goods routinely. So our customs clearance is very fast – some shipments can be cleared in just 2 hours.【learn about】
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