r/freightforwarding

Genuinely curious what the community is facing right now. With air freight rates up 60 to 80%, sea freight surcharges piling up, and Red Sea disruptions still ongoing the freight landscape has shifted dramatically.

What is your biggest challenge as an exporter right now?

A — Rising freight rates

B — Customs clearance delays

C — Finding a reliable freight forwarder

D — Export documentation

Comment below would love to hear what the community is actually dealing with. We operate out of JNPT Nhava Sheva and happy to answer questions on any of these topics.

curious if there are other forwarders here doing China→India regularly.

I am a freight forwarder, Somehow ended up handling a lot of India cargo (Mahindra, TATA, Xiaomi were clients, but also random SMEs). We've got direct flights and in-house customs clearance here in Shenzhen, so prices come out better than most.

if you're an Indian forwarder and want to compare rates or see if we can help each other on your next shipment, let's talk. No obligation.

We've done 1000+ shipments, so not new, but always looking for reliable partners on the India side.

lets connect :)

Hello

So my container was put under inspection in Montreal Canada for more than 6 weeks by the CBSA. I called, sent emails but they told me that they are overloaded and the nearest time the could inspect my container is in 4-6 weeks. They ended up inspecting after 6 weeks and releasing the container without seizing anything. Now I have to pay almost 5000 dollars inspection, storage and admin fees. Has anyone been in this situation. I opened a dispute with Hapag. Will they make the CBSA pay the fees? Or I have no hope and I have to pay the fees?

A lot of people focus heavily on product research, PPC, and listings but completely overlook one thing:

Shipping & logistics.

And that’s where a lot of profit quietly disappears.

Common things I keep seeing:

• Paying higher shipping rates without comparing
• No consolidation → multiple small shipments = higher cost
• No inspection → damaged or wrong items
• Delays that mess up inventory planning

The tricky part is… most sellers don’t even realize how much this is affecting their margins.

Even small changes in shipping strategy can make a noticeable difference over time.

Curious to hear from others here:
What’s been your biggest challenge when shipping from China?

Sorry for the unusual post.

I handle shipments 50-80 in exports tire - from ny , tx, jax with all in price .

I handle reefers for meat and canned products - 5-10. Pull and drop or drop and hook services.

I do good scheduling with my carriers to avoid any detention or demurrages . Fines are part of this thing.

We all make mistakes.

Hi,

I’m looking for a reliable contact in Hong Kong who can help with:

• Sourcing electronics (mainly cameras & lenses)
• Purchasing locally (retailers / distributors)
• Consolidating and shipping to Europe
• Handling or offering DDP shipping (including VAT/duties)

Ideally someone experienced with HK → EU logistics who can keep things smooth, predictable, and cost-efficient.

I’m not looking for anything shady — just a solid long-term setup with the right person or company.

If you do this or have experience in this space, feel free to DM me.

hello I want to ship a hawk250 motorcycle from chongqing to usa. How do I go about this? I am new to freight forwarding

Freight forwarders and NVOCC operators: what is the most frustrating part of your work that current software still does badly?

I’m developing a solution for this space and want honest input from people in the industry.

What causes the biggest problems in your day-to-day operations, quoting, booking, documentation, tracking, customer updates, invoicing, coordination with agents/carriers, detention/demurrage, or something else?

What do you wish software would solve properly?

Hey everyone, I’m trying to ship a package from Amazon to Africa and I’m looking for the most reliable package forwarding services.

Whenever I search for reviews, especially here on Reddit, I mostly come across negative experiences with shipping forwarding companies in general, which makes it really hard to decide.

At first, I wanted to go with MyUS. But after doing a bit more digging, I found endless complaints about them. Apparently, they used to provide solid service in the past. However, since 2025, many people claim the quality has seriously declined. Some even go as far as calling it a scam at this point.

Because of that, MyUS is no longer an option for me.

The ones I’m currently considering are:

- Planet Express

- Stackry

- Forward2me

- comGateway

- Shippn

Obviously, there are complaints about all of them, so it’s difficult to tell which ones are actually trustworthy.

I’d really appreciate it if anyone could share personal experiences or recommend a forwarding service that works well for shipping to Africa.

Also, I’m curious how delivery usually works in African countries or other places where standardized addresses aren’t always common. How does the final pickup or delivery process typically work?

Thanks in advance.

Situation

One US client has 2 40HQ shipments ready in Ningbo on April 15, and they must be delivered by April 25 — one to PA, one to TX. With only 10 days, ocean shipping is impossible, so we have to use air freight. We proposed flying to LAX, customs clearance, then trucking to PA and TX, which is much cheaper than direct air to PHL or DFW.

Goods details

Complication

The client wants to pay air freight only after arrival at LAX, and trucking charges only after POD is signed by the consignee. However, the air freight cost is far higher than the cargo value. If we pay upfront and the client delays payment, refuses to pay, or even abandons the goods, we will face huge financial risk.

Question

How should we arrange payment terms to secure the order, meet the tight deadline, and control the risk of advance payment?

Answer

We offered three options:

A) Air freight prepaid; trucking fee payable after POD is signed.

B) 50% payment upfront, balance upon arrival at LAX.

C) If the client insists on full payment only after arrival at LAX, we will have to cancel the order.

How would you handle this situation?

At this point we spend to much time looking through the carriers rate sheets when having to quote. When we receive an FRQ or tender, we have to open up all the sheets from diffrent carriers, find routes, surcharges etc. It consumes all our time.

Are we the only ones struggling with this, in such case what do you all do to optimize this issue?

Hello my lovely people! Been a long time!

I am looking for a Freight Forwarder that I can partner up with for the following;

20/40 containers loading in Ukraine, taken to Poland port and brought to Long Beach/Miami Port.

Please only contact me if you are able to do this.

Brokers/carriers - please don’t contact me.

Thank you!

Started in FF not too long ago and at first it felt manageable. rfq comes in → ask partners → wait → compare → send to client: repeat 20 times a day

but as things picked up it’s just turned into this never ending loop of emails and copy pasting

feel like i’m not even doing “freight” anymore, just forwarding emails and chasing people all day

pretty sure if i disappear my inbox will still keep working without me

anyone else dealing with this or is this just part of the job and i need to accept my fate?

After years in the industry, I’m still torn.

We hustle 24/7—optimizing loading plans, negotiating rates, and baby-sitting shipments. But then, a sudden carrier hike, a cancelled flight, or a competitor throwing out a "teaser rate" $500 below market cost can ruin weeks of work in a second.

Is success in this game about the grind, or just being in the right gateway at the right time?

When you close a big deal or survive a peak season, do you credit your strategy, or do you just thank the "logistics gods" for not screwing you over that day?

Curious to hear from the veterans here.

Hey everyone,

I’m looking for a reliable freight forwarding partner to handle monthly shipments for perishable coffee related food & beverages items in India. We regularly source premium coffee F&B products from global coffee partners or roasters and need a streamlined solution that takes the guesswork out of the process.

Key Requirements:

• Coverage: Ability to pick up from the Chin/, Japan, Honk Kong, EU, UK, USA, Singapore, and Dubai.

• End-to-End Service: We need a full "door to door" service that handles everything from the initial pickup to final delivery.

• Customs Clearance: Must be able to manage Indian customs entry.

• Transparent Pricing: Ideally, we are looking for a per-kilo rate that is inclusive of all duties and clearing charges.

Volume:

Our shipments are relatively small but consistent, typically around 5kg to 10kg maybe in a month or alternative.

If you specialize in this lane or have a solid recommendation for a forwarder that excels at small-batch food/beverage imports into India, I’d love to hear from you.

Cheers!

Not sure if it’s just us but half the “leads” we get are basically names and emails with zero context. End up spending more time figuring out who the company is, what they actually do, where they ship etc than actually reaching out. Linkedin, google, old emails… feels like detective work before even sending a proper message and even then half the time it’s the wrong contact or outdated info. Starting to feel like we’re not even doing sales, just researching people all day, does this get better with scale or is this just part of the job?

Hello everyone,

I am currently launching my first import of goods for a business from China to France, and I am trying to better understand how the entire logistics chain works (freight forwarders, shipping, customs, taxes, etc.).

Honestly, I realize that the costs can quickly add up (transport, taxes, logistics fees), and I have the impression that if I handle things correctly, it should be possible to optimize these costs significantly and improve the overall margin. However, I still don’t have enough visibility to fully understand how everything works.

If anyone has experience in this field, I would really appreciate any explanations or feedback, even via private message if that’s easier.

Thank you very much to anyone who takes the time to help