Case 1
Mariam Was Cheated by a Small Local Freight Forwarder for air freight to middle east. I Helped Her Ship Goods Smoothly and Fulfilled My Duty
Mariam once found a freight forwarder online to arrange air freight to middle east, but one carton of goods was missing in the shipment.
Mariam’s head office in UAE runs a business of electrical accessories. Last time, she had 35 cartons of low-voltage circuit breakers, AC contactors, toggle switches and other products to ship via air freight to middle east. Since the goods came from different factories, warehouse consolidation was needed.
She compared many suppliers and finally chose one freight forwarder. The company promised confidently that they owned an entire floor of a building as their warehouse, and also sent a nice-looking warehouse photo. Mariam trusted them and handed over the goods. Everything went well at first, but small mistakes kept happening during cargo consolidation.
The checking information sent by the forwarder had quantity errors and repeated content in Excel sheets. Mariam corrected their mistakes many times.
As expected, after the first batch of goods arrived at her head office in Dubai, they found one carton of AC contactors was missing. After several rounds of negotiation, the truth came out. The forwarder only rented their warehouse and office space. Due to messy goods handling and random stacking, one carton was missed in the shipment.
I told Mariam that there are 60,000 freight forwarders in Shenzhen, and over a thousand of them provide air freight to middle east services. 90% of them are small forwarders located in urban villages. They follow the asset-light model: rented offices, rented warehouses and rented trucks, with only a few computers and phones in hand.【learn about】
Once they get an order, they will directly hand the business to their upstream supplier, and the goods are sent straight 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 upgrading and development, we now have a standardized foreign trade warehouse covering 20,000 square meters with 6 floors.
Staff must wear safety helmets and work uniforms when entering the warehouse. There are clear rules for accessible and restricted passages inside the warehouse. Goods are placed neatly with unified label signs, and irrelevant personnel are not allowed to enter the warehouse at any time.
Besides, DL Logistics has fully purchased the entire 8th floor of Block B, Rongde Times Square in Longgang District as our office space, and we now have nearly 100 employees. A freight forwarder of our scale is far more professional than those small urban village forwarders. Foreign clients always give high praise after visiting our company.
Mariam was the same. She took a virtual tour of our company via video call and felt totally relieved. She said she finally found a formal and reliable freight forwarder.
It is true that freight forwarders struggle to find good clients, and it is also hard for clients to find a trustworthy forwarder. She entrusted us with her second batch of 50 cartons of low-voltage electrical appliances for shipment.
After cargo consolidation, we double-checked the packing list and inspected product packaging, then arranged the shipment on schedule. The goods arrived at her designated factory smoothly 7 days later, and Mariam finally felt at ease.
DL Logistics is one of the top five service providers for air freight to middle east. We have bought 20 weekly container slots from two major airlines. We own a priority clearance channel at UAE airport, allowing goods to pick up from the warehouse with priority.
Our local logistics team is available on call at 2 a.m. If goods are delivered in the morning, they arrive at noon; if delivered at noon, they arrive in the afternoon. We are worthy of being one of the top five suppliers. Choose DL for air freight to middle east, every client speaks highly of our service.
Case 2
Fixed price for air freight to middle east, no hidden fees ever. Aziz said he will only ship with DL from now on
Aziz had a batch of spices shipped via air freight to middle east last time. He found a freight forwarder online. He thought he knew well about the air shipping process and wanted to cut costs, so he chose a forwarder with a very low quote.
After his spices were delivered to the forwarder’s warehouse and shipped out, the forwarder told him the original price only covered the basic freight. Extra fees for customs clearance, unloading and local delivery were charged separately. If he refused to pay, the goods could not be delivered to the destination.
At that point, Aziz had no choice but to pay the extra money. He was very annoyed with the whole experience but had no other way out.
When he needed to ship goods again this time, the schedule was tight and he had to choose air freight to middle east. He found me online and shared his bad experience from last time. He asked if our actual service could fully keep every promise as posted online.
I told Aziz that DL is one of the top five providers for air freight to middle east. We never charge any hidden fees. All costs are listed in detail in the quotation sheet, and every term is clearly stated in the formal contract. We will never break any promise we make to customers.
After reading the contract, Aziz had no more worries and signed the contract soon. We immediately booked the shipping space. Once the goods arrived at our warehouse, we checked the packaging, weighed the cargo and arranged pallet loading.
I sent Aziz photos of the finished pallets, and he was fully satisfied. The goods were finally delivered smoothly to the designated address given by Aziz.
This shipment went perfectly without any extra charges, strictly following the fixed-price rule. Aziz highly praised the thoughtful service of Shenzhen DL Logistics and said he will only ship with DL for all future cargo arrangements.
Sincerity and integrity are our basic service principles. We always treat every customer with more care and responsibility than they expect.
Later, I talked with Aziz and told him the truth. Many freight forwarders attract customers with ultra-low prices first, then charge various hidden fees later. They only focus on one-time deals and never expect repeat orders.
There are endless cargo demands in the market, and many clients are only chasing low prices, so those dishonest forwarders never lack customers. In theair freight to middle east industry, there are always people who end up being tricked.
There are two types of freight forwarders in the industry.
The first type only does one-time business. They post tempting low-price advertisements every day and trick every customer they can. They still have a large customer base because many people only care about the lowest price.
The second type is like us. We take air freight to middle east as our lifelong career and stick to honest and steady business principles.
As one of the top five suppliers for air freight to middle east, DL Logistics has purchased 20 pallet spaces every week from two major airlines.
We own a priority channel for customs clearance at UAE airport. Our goods can pick up at the warehouse with priority arrangement. The local logistics team is on call until 2 a.m. every day. If goods are dispatched in the morning, they arrive at noon; if dispatched at noon, they arrive in the afternoon. We are truly worthy of being ranked among the top five.
Case 3
What to Do if FOB Designated Freight Forwarder Charges Too Much?
Everyone knows that using a designated freight forwarder for FOB terms is expensive. Why? Because costs are shifted from the destination port to us. So what can we do when fees are too high? Do you just pay whatever the forwarder asks? You might worry they won’t release telex release if you don’t pay. But do we really have no choice?
Recently, Hassan shipped a batch of cargo to the Middle East. It was not a large shipment, only about 1 cubic meter, actually just 0.85 CBM. When the designated forwarder sent the fee list, Hassan was speechless. The charge was 1200 yuan. For less than 1 CBM of goods, they asked for 1200 yuan, and kept urging him to confirm quickly. It was already late when the forwarder sent the list, and the vessel would arrive at the port in about ten days.
Then Hassan directly emailed the forwarder, saying he could not accept the fees as they were ridiculously high. Right after that, he called them and said they charged the highest and most unreasonable fees he had ever seen. The two sides were in a deadlock for three or four days. Later, the forwarder contacted him voluntarily, saying other suppliers had already confirmed their fees and only his was left, since the container was shared by several companies. Finally, they negotiated the price down to 900 yuan. Hassan paid reluctantly, feeling he had been overcharged.
Therefore, whether you are sending goods by air freight to middle east or by sea, freight forwarders vary in quality. Most are small forwarders with only three to five people, who will overcharge whenever they get the chance.
In the past, people usually found forwarders through friends’ recommendations. But sometimes logistics conditions are strict in customers’ countries, such as Saudi Arabia, UAE and other countries in the Middle East. So we often search the country’s name plus “freight forwarder” on platforms, and many local forwarders will show up.
However, this is just a way to find forwarders. The communication process is very important. You need to tell the real from the fake, filter out shell companies and small unreliable forwarders, and find reliable and large-scale ones. You can directly feel their strength and professionalism during communication.
You can simply say you want to visit their company. If they hesitate and make excuses, they must be small forwarders. Usually they just rent a small office of around 20 square meters in an office building with only three or four staff members.
Those who confidently agree are usually reliable large forwarders. Take our company DL as an example. We now have nearly 100 employees and own the entire 8th floor of Block B, Rongde Times Square, Longgang District, Shenzhen. Our dedicated foreign trade warehouse in Yantian covers 20,000 square meters with 6 floors, and is managed in a standardized way. Foreign clients always praise us after visiting. We are among the top 5 companies for air freight to middle east. You can rest assured choosing forwarders like us, as we will never overcharge.【learn more】
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