A freight forwarder, forwarder, or forwarding agent, is a person or company that organizes shipments for individuals or corporations to get goods from the manufacturer or producer to a market, customer or final point of distribution.
Forwarders contract with a carrier or often multiple carriers to move the goods.
A forwarder does not move the goods but acts as an expert in the logistics network. The carriers can use a variety of shipping modes, including ships, airplanes, trucks, and railroads, and often use multiple modes for a single shipment. For example, the freight forwarder may arrange to have cargo moved from a plant to an airport by truck, flown to the destination city and then moved from the airport to a customer's building by another truck.
International freight forwarders typically handle international shipments and have additional expertise in preparing and processing customs documentation and performing activities pertaining to international shipments.
Information typically reviewed by a freight forwarder includes the commercial invoice, shipper's export declaration, bill of lading and other documents required by the carrier or country of export, import, and/or transshipment.
The FIATA shorthand description of the freight forwarder as the "Architect of Transport" illustrates the commercial position of the forwarder relative to its client. In Europe some forwarders specialize in "niche" areas such as rail-freight, and collection and deliveries around a large port.
Document transfer fee/document handover fee
International freight forwarders, NVOCCs, and customs brokers often charge for transferring documents to another transportation company at the destination.
This fee is a part of the ocean freight charges, being paid by the importer at the port of discharge in the International Commercial Term (incoterm) FOB (free on board), and by the exporter at the origin in the incoterms CFR (cost and freight), CIF (cost, insurance and freight) and DDP (Transportation cost from factory to delivery port, custom clearance at delivery port, freight, custom clearance at discharge port, transportation from discharge port to importer factory). This fee is separate from documentation fees charged by carriers and NVOCCs as part of the freight charges on a bill of lading and is separate from other fees for document preparation or for the release of cargo.