Case 1
Mohammed Chose Air Freight to UAE, Convinced by DL Logistics' Strength of 20 Weekly Pallets
When shipping via air freight to Middle East, what’s the biggest scam? Some freight forwarders also run Amazon businesses. They have their own Amazon operation teams, and cross-border e-commerce sellers who ship with them become their best product research tools!
They know exactly how much cargo you send, which products sell best, your monthly shipping volume, and most importantly, they know all about your target customers. Isn’t this the best product selection data?
These forwarders use this data directly in their own operation teams – either to list against you or sell the same type of products. You just can’t defend against it.
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Let me tell you another common scam with air freight to Middle East. Some forwarders book fast sea freight for air-and-sea shipments but actually ship by slow sea freight to earn the price difference. This is one of the worst tricks.
Recently, high temperatures, floods, strikes and riots have given them plenty of excuses. They easily say: “Delayed due to hot weather!” “Riots happened, sorry!” “Strikes broke out, we can’t help it…”
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What’s the second scam? Some freight forwarders lack professional knowledge and are irresponsible. To chase high profits, they secretly mix sensitive goods with general goods and ship unauthorized cargo randomly.
The customs clearance agents they cooperate with are also unprofessional middlemen. If nothing goes wrong, you’re just lucky. When problems happen, they blame it on policy changes by customs.
Actually, customs usually gives chances to fix issues – like missing labels. You just need to label them properly, pay a small fee for transit warehouse, and customs will clear the goods.
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But unprofessional forwarders or middlemen only say: “Sorry, your goods have to be returned or destroyed, and you need to pay extra fees.”
They refuse to take responsibility or provide proper service, leaving you with no way to argue.
As a logistics service provider, you should solve problems earnestly when customs issues occur – that’s what we understand.
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So what should you look for in a freight forwarder?
First, solid professional knowledge.
Second, willingness to take responsibility.
When problems happen, they should compensate you – whether it’s full cargo compensation, 41kg compensation, or $100 per carton. Any real compensation is better than nothing.
Many forwarders say: “I’ll compensate you on your next shipment by cutting 0.5 yuan per kg.” But if they messed up your first shipment, would you dare send a second one?
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One scam after another, layer by layer – shippers are always the most vulnerable.
Of course, there are reliable forwarders who take responsibility. Take DL Logistics as an example. Last year, a batch of goods shipped via air freight to Middle East from Guangzhou got water-damaged in the warehouse. Legally, it wasn’t our responsibility, but we took the initiative to compensate the shipper. That’s how a responsible large forwarder acts.
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We know what shippers need most: reliable service and peace of mind. If we can provide that, shippers will keep working with us. Long-term business is real business.
We treat freight forwarding as a lifelong career, which makes us different from over 90% of forwarders on the market.
With this belief, we now have nearly 100 employees and own the entire 8th floor of Block B, Rongde Times Square in Longgang District.
If you need air freight to Middle East, air freight to UAE or air freight to Dubai, wouldn’t you feel completely at ease choosing a forwarder like us?
Case 2
Would you dare to use a low-cost freight forwarder that gets your air freight to the Middle East dropped and has no backup plan?
Omar had a batch of porcelain artworks to send via air freight to the Middle East. A freight forwarder offered a price that was only 70% of the market price, which was very tempting. Omar was hesitant at first, but the other party repeatedly emphasized that they had a large volume of goods and mature routes. After the goods arrived at the warehouse, the freight forwarder said that was only the basic freight, and he needed to pay extra for "fuel surcharge", "customs inspection fee" and so on. Omar had no choice but to make up the payment. Then, just as the goods were about to be loaded onto the plane, he received a notice from the freight forwarder that the flight was canceled, and the freight forwarder couldn't come up with a backup plan in a short time.
In fact, this is a common tactic used by low-cost freight forwarders to attract customers. They are all shell companies. The price is low, but there is almost no service guarantee. They just find cargo space in the market. Once the flight is canceled, they can't come up with a backup plan at all.
After all, many customers choose freight forwarders only based on who offers the lowest price, so low prices still have a market. It would be very lucky if you meet a really low-priced one with good service and no price increases, but such cases are extremely rare.
I told Omar that for high-value goods like porcelain sent via air freight to the Middle East, he should find a freight forwarder that directly has cargo space. We have signed a "Thousand Pallets Framework Agreement" with two major airlines, and have 20 air pallets from the two major airlines every week. Even if the flight is canceled in the middle of the night, we can come up with a backup plan within half an hour.
The above is just a hardware issue. To provide customers with satisfactory service, salesmen must have strong professional soft power. These soft powers are invaluable experiences accumulated over many years, which can't be learned from books:
For example, if undeclared lithium batteries are found in the goods at the destination port, how to coordinate with the airline to apply for "exemption from transportation" as soon as possible;
When the cartons are found wet and damaged at the destination, one must have the awareness to take photos for evidence immediately, and at the same time ask the airline to sign a certificate of "poor outer packaging". This can reasonably avoid risks when claiming for damages if the goods are really damaged later;
Which fees can be negotiated, such as the document preparation fee for some documents can be discounted, but some fees like environmental protection tax are fixed and can't be changed.
These can't be learned in school. They are valuable experiences gained from years of actual operations in air freight to the Middle East. It is precisely these experiences that make our salesmen more professional than others.
There are 60,000 freight forwarders in Shenzhen, and thousands of them engage in air freight to the Middle East, which are divided into different grades. More than 90% of them are small freight forwarders with three or five people in urban villages, with limited strength. The boss has the final say on everything, and everything is rented. Warehouses are rented, and of course, fixed cargo space from airlines is out of the question. Their advantage is that they can advertise on various platforms every day, focusing on prices 30% lower than the market price. Especially many customers from other places who want to send air freight to the Middle East can't come for on-site inspections, and they believe the freight forwarders when they say how strong they are. In fact, such freight forwarders don't mean to cheat people, but they are helpless due to insufficient strength. They can't control things when something happens, just like the freight forwarder Omar met at first.
Next are those with slightly stronger strength, usually having been in business for seven or eight years, and renting 2 or 3 pallets from airlines every week. To be honest, that's already good. Such freight forwarders can handle general ordinary goods with small quantities, and they can make a decent living, but they can't take large orders from big customers that require high timeliness. For example, we once helped Huawei ship electronic products worth 40 million yuan. Such a big order is like a snake trying to swallow an elephant for them, which is impossible.
Then there are a few top-level big operators like us, who really buy a certain scale of cargo space from airlines. There are many large-scale and powerful freight forwarders engaged in air freight to the Middle East. Why don't they dare to buy so much cargo space like us? The main reason is that they don't have such a large volume of goods! We are different. Our cargo volume can support thousands of pallets every year.
I communicated some more details with Omar, and he agreed. Then he arranged to send the goods to our warehouse. I booked a flight two days later. Seven days later, Omar's batch of porcelain arrived at his designated warehouse smoothly.【learn more】
Case 3
How Hard Is It to Find a Reliable Freight Forwarder!
Some friends on the platform shared their difficult experiences of finding a reliable freight forwarder:
I never thought the most troublesome part of doing cross-border business is finding a freight forwarder. I sent a batch of artworks and chose one that I had inspected in all aspects and seemed reliable. We even signed an agreement. But the goods hadn’t arrived after a month. Every time I asked the customer service, they gave all kinds of excuses. I lost several customers and was scolded by my boss so badly that I didn’t feel like eating!
It’s really true. If you look for a freight forwarder on the platform for air freight to middle east, just wait and see—every forwarder says they have low prices and short timelines. But why don’t customers believe them? That means customers know most of these promises can’t be kept. The example above is a perfect proof.
This makes it hard for powerful forwarders like us to be trusted even when we tell the truth that we can deliver on. There are 60,000 freight forwarders in Shenzhen, and thousands of them do air freight to middle east. All claim to be first-hand agents—no wonder customers don’t believe it. So the key to finding a reliable freight forwarder for air freight to middle east is to choose one that is powerful and can keep its promises. The forwarder in the friend’s story is a typical small one from urban villages. They first attract customers with ads, but can’t provide any direct services.
They rent domestic trucking services and don’t have their own warehouses. The rented warehouses are poorly managed—people come and go freely, goods are piled randomly without clear labels. When in a hurry, missing or mixed-up goods often happen. Our exclusive foreign trade warehouse is 6 stories high with strict personnel management. Anyone entering must wear a safety helmet and work clothes. There are clear rules on which paths are accessible and which are not. Outsiders can only enter with the guidance of internal employees. When goods arrive, we allocate areas based on the quantity and attach clear signs after storage. Key locations are monitored by cameras. If the shipment volume is large enough, you can apply for additional cameras to monitor your goods at any time.
Especially for the air freight link, small forwarders like the one mentioned above don’t have their own air cargo pallets at all. They only look for pallets on the market after getting orders. We, however, have bought out 20 pallets per week from 2 major airlines. This is a real financial investment—we have to pay even if there’s no goods to ship. This kind of strength is top-tier. There are not a few forwarders with our scale, so why don’t they dare to buy out so many pallets? The reason is simple: they don’t have enough shipment volume.
The advantage of having our own pallets is that we decide which goods to load. It’s not scary if the airline delays the shipment—what matters is whether we can come up with a backup plan in the shortest time. Small forwarders have to scramble to find pallets again, but we can quickly launch a backup plan without even affecting the timeline. This is the fundamental reason why I say only powerful forwarders like us can keep our promises.
So friends who need air freight to middle east must check carefully before choosing a forwarder. Anyone can make nice ads—you need to keep your eyes open and find one that can deliver on its promises, just like us.
DL Logistics is one of the top 5 companies for air freight to middle east. We have bought out 20 pallets per week from 2 major airlines. We have a priority channel for customs clearance at UAE air ports, allowing us to skip the line to pick up goods from the warehouse. The local logistics team answers the phone at 2 AM—if we deliver in the morning, the goods arrive at noon; if we deliver at noon, they arrive in the afternoon. We truly deserve to be one of the top 5.
DL’s air freight to middle east—everyone who uses it says it’s smooth.【learn more】
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