Case 1
Mariam was deceived by a small local freight forwarder about air freight to the Middle East. I helped her deliver the goods smoothly and fulfilled my duty
Mariam once found a freight forwarder online to arrange air shipment to the Middle East, but one box of goods was missing from the shipment.
Mariam The headquarters in the United Arab Emirates operates the electrical accessories business. Last time, she had 35 boxes of low-voltage circuit breakers, AC contactors, toggle switches and other products shipped to the Middle East by air. Since goods come from different factories, warehouse consolidation is required.
She compared several suppliers and finally chose a freight forwarder. The company confidently promised that they had an entire floor of a building for their warehouse and also posted a nice photo of the warehouse. Mariam trusted them and handed over the goods. Everything went smoothly at first, but small mistakes kept popping up during the assembly of the goods.
The verification information sent by the freight forwarder has problems such as quantity errors and duplicate contents in Excel tables. Mariam corrected their mistakes many times.
Sure enough, after the first batch of goods arrived at the Dubai headquarters, it was discovered that a box of AC contactors was missing. After several rounds of negotiations, the truth came out. Forwarders only rent their warehouse and office space. Due to the chaotic handling and random stacking of goods, one box was missing from the express package.
I told Mariam that there are 60,000 freight forwarders in Shenzhen, and more than a thousand of them provide freight forwarding services. Air freight to the Middle East Serve. 90% of them are small freight forwarders located in urban villages. They follow an asset-light model: renting offices, warehouses, and trucks, with only a few computers and mobile phones in hand.
Once they receive an order, they will directly hand over the business to the upstream supplier, and the goods will be sent directly to the upstream warehouse. They have no actual control over the goods at all.
Our company also started from that stage. After several rounds of upgrades and development, it now has a standardized foreign trade warehouse covering an area of 20,000 square meters and a total of 6 floors.
Staff members must wear safety helmets and overalls when entering the warehouse. There are clear regulations on barrier-free access and restricted access in the warehouse. The goods are neatly arranged and have uniform labels. No unrelated personnel are allowed to enter the warehouse at any time.
In addition, Dalian Logistics also purchased the entire 8th floor of Building B, Rongde Times Plaza, Longgang District, as office space, with nearly 100 employees. A freight forwarder of our size is far more professional than those small freight forwarders in urban villages. Foreign customers all spoke highly of our company after visiting our company.
The same goes for Mariam. She took a virtual tour of our company via video call and felt very relaxed. She said she finally found a regular and reliable freight forwarder.
It is true that it is difficult for freight forwarders to find good customers, and it is difficult for customers to find trustworthy freight forwarders. She entrusted us to ship her second batch of 50 boxes of low voltage electrical appliances.
After the goods are consolidated, we carefully check the packing list and inspect the product packaging, and then arrange the shipment as scheduled. Seven days later, the goods arrived at her designated factory smoothly, and Mariam finally felt at ease.
DL Logistics is one of the top five service providers in the world Air freight to the Middle East. We purchased 20 weekly container spaces from two major airlines. We have priority customs clearance lanes at UAE airports and can pick up goods from the warehouse first.
Our local logistics team is on call at 2 a.m. and will arrive at noon if the order is shipped in the morning; if it is delivered at noon, they will arrive in the afternoon. We are worthy of being one of the top five suppliers. Choosing DL for air transport to the Middle East, every customer has spoken highly of our services.
Case 2
Air freight to the Middle East: Why are people always looking for freight forwarders?
When it comes to air freight in the Middle East, foreign trade professionals have been talking about finding freight forwarders. But do you really know what a freight forwarder does?
A freight forwarder is like the chief operating officer, risk control consultant and emergency contact in international shipping. If you have the goods, the freight forwarder handles all the procedures; if you don't know the specific situation, the freight forwarder will pay close attention to every detail. Their core responsibilities can be summarized in three sentences:
First, book space—just like a travel agent books a flight. A freight forwarder can help you find shipping or airlines and secure space and freight rates.
Secondly, customs declaration and clearance - similar to applying for a visa through an agent. Freight forwarders organize your packing lists and invoices, communicate with customs, and ensure smooth customs clearance.
Third, distribution and warehousing – just like couriers delivering food. Freight forwarders arrange for cargo to be picked up, labeled, packaged and delivered to your door. Simply put, once you ship your shipment, the freight forwarder handles everything until the shipment reaches its destination.
The bottom line is: Choosing the wrong freight forwarder can result in the loss of goods and money. Is your freight forwarder reliable? I’ll share five ways to tell.
1. Ability to book space directly
This is crucial, as it directly reflects the strength of the freight forwarder. There are 60,000 freight forwarding companies in Shenzhen, more than 90% of which are small teams of 3 to 5 people. They only look for external space in the market after receiving orders and cannot book directly with airlines.
Better freight forwarders can secure space for 2 to 3 pallets per week. In our company’s case, we purchase 20 pallets of space per week from two major airlines. Please note that these are buyout spaces, which means we must pay regardless of whether we have goods to ship. It takes real quality to make us the top players Air freight to the Middle East industry. Many customers were hesitant about our reliability at first, but after understanding our actual strength, they felt relieved.
2. Respond quickly to inquiries and be able to obtain preferential prices
They should respond to inquiries promptly and strive to provide customers with the best shipping rates in a timely manner.
3. Familiar with customs policies
They need to understand import and export customs policies, as well as the regulatory requirements for your product brand.
4. Ability to flexibly solve problems
This greatly affects timeliness. Our overseas customs clearance and delivery team is localized and large-scale, with more than 100 employees, including 17 full-time customs clearance personnel and several senior consultants who have worked in local customs. With such a team, we can complete customs clearance within 2 hours, while ordinary freight forwarders usually need to queue for 2 to 3 days.
5. Cargo tracking
They should track the status of the shipment, such as when it departed, arrived at the destination port, and whether the consignee has picked up the shipment.
Therefore, when choosing a freight forwarder for air freight to the Middle East, be sure to compare at least three options. Try not to choose those with extremely low prices. For example, if most of the quotes are similar but one of them is too low, there is a good chance that something is wrong. Some unscrupulous freight forwarders attract customers with low prices, and then find various excuses to charge additional fees such as miscellaneous fees and handling fees. This is a calculated trap - once your goods are in their warehouse, you have no choice but to pay.
DL Logistics is one of the top five air freight companies in the Middle East. We buy 20 pallets a week from two major airlines, have priority clearance at UAE airports and can skip queues for warehouse pickup. Our local logistics team is available 24/7 - someone answers the phone at 2am and ships out the same day (morning shipments arrive at noon, midday shipments arrive in the afternoon). We are truly one of the top five. 【Understand]
DL is flown to the Middle East, and people who have used it say it goes very smoothly.
Case 3
What should I do if the FOB designated freight forwarder charges too high?
Everyone knows that using a designated freight forwarder with FOB terms is expensive. Why? Because the cost is transferred from the destination port to us. So what do we do when the costs are too high? Do freight forwarders pay whatever they ask for? You may be worried that if you don't pay, they won't issue a telex release. But do we really have no choice?
Recently, Hassan shipped a batch of goods to the Middle East. This batch of goods is not large, only about 1 cubic meter, in fact only 0.85 cubic meters. When the designated freight forwarder sent the bill of charges, Hassan was speechless. The fee is 1,200 yuan. For goods less than 1 cubic meter, they asked for 1,200 yuan and kept urging him to confirm quickly. It was already very late when the freight forwarder sent the manifest, and the ship would arrive at the port in about ten days.
Hassan then emailed the freight forwarder directly and said he could not accept the charges because they were outrageous. He then called them and said the fees they charged were the highest and most unreasonable he had ever seen. The two sides were in a stalemate for three or four days. Later, the freight forwarder took the initiative to contact him and said that other suppliers had confirmed the cost and he was the only one left because the container was shared by several companies. In the end, the two parties negotiated and lowered the price to 900 yuan. Hassan paid reluctantly, feeling he had been overcharged.
So whether you are sending your goods via Air freight to the Middle East or sea freight, the quality of freight forwarders varies. Most are small freight forwarders, with only three to five people, who charge more every chance they get.
In the past, people often found forwarders through recommendations from friends. But sometimes the logistics conditions in customer countries are stricter, such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other Middle Eastern countries. So we often search the country name plus "freight forwarder" on the platform, and many local freight forwarders will appear.
However, this is just one way to find a freight forwarder. The communication process is very important. You have to distinguish between true and false, filter out shell companies and unreliable small freight forwarders, and find reliable and large-scale ones. You can directly feel their strength and professionalism during communication.
You can simply say you would like to visit their company. If they hesitate and make excuses, they must be small freight forwarders. Usually they just rent a small office of about 20 square meters in an office building with only three or four staff members.
Those who confidently agree are usually large and reliable forwarders. Take our company DL as an example. It currently has nearly 100 employees and occupies the entire 8th floor of Tower B, Rongde Times Plaza, Longgang District, Shenzhen. The Yantian foreign trade dedicated warehouse covers an area of 20,000 square meters, with a total of 6 floors and implements standardized management. Foreign customers are full of praise for us after visiting us. We are one of the top 5 companies Air freight to the Middle East. You can rest assured to choose a freight forwarder like us, we will never charge extravagantly. 【Learn more]
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