Sea Freight Forwarding is the process of organizing shipments from the point of origin to the destination port. A forwarder acts as a professional service provider in supply chain management. He contracts with a carrier to move goods. A sea freight forwarder transports goods over water i.e. sea or ocean. The main documents involved in sea freight management are commercial invoice, shipper’s export declaration & bill of lading, apart from a few others such as customs clearance, certificate of origin, etc.
Functions of Sea Freight Forwarders
1)
Transhipment -
Transshipment
is the shipment of goods (or containers) to an intermediate destination, from
where those are shipped to their final destination. A freight software solution
aids in managing transshipment smoothly.
2)
Packing, Warehousing & Distribution -
a)
Packing - The freight forwarder may also have responsibility for secondary
packing of the goods & maintaining proper material handling equipment.
b)
Warehousing – A freight software helps store the goods in a warehouse &
maintains inventory.
c)
Distribution - The primary duty of a freight forwarder is the distribution of
goods to the customers.
3)
Documentation & Customs Clearance -
The
Software for Freight Forwarder provides all necessary documentation for the
import and export of goods having regard to legal and customs requirements and
terms of the sales contract. He performs this function as an agent of the
customer.
4)
Payment of Freight & Local Taxes -
Also
as an agent of the shipper/consignee, the freight forwarder coordinates and
affects the payment of freight to the performing carrier and also pays any
local taxes, eg VAT or government service tax on behalf of his customers to
avoid delays.
5)
Transportation & Distribution Analysis -
The
freight forwarder is considered the architect of transport in international
trade. He advises his customer - as principal - on the available transportation
options and plans the most efficient route according to the customer’s needs.
Longer shipping routes may be selected due to considerations of cost and
carrier availability.
6)
Cargo Consolidation & Multimodal Transport -
The intermediate service of cargo consolidation is one of the key functions of freight forwarders today. The container revolution has provided the perfect medium for grouping cargo and hence there has been a natural transition in moving away from small individual parcels and adopting cargo consolidation. The container and other developments provide for an integrated movement by using different transport modes. The freight forwarder collects and assembles parcel cargo from different shippers, who are often other freight forwarders, and combines the goods for shipment/ distribution to the respective receivers in the country of destination.
A
Comprehensive Sea Freight Management System should have the following features
-
i)
Automation of documents like Bill of Lading (BL), House Bill of Lading (HBL) and,
Manifest, etc and their filing, and charge schedule
ii)
Online booking of orders.
iii)
Generation of Consolidation Reports
iv)
Vessel Sailing Schedule
v)
Container Load Plan
vi)
Container Tracking system
vii)
Automated Freight Rates (Buying / Selling / Quotation)
viii)
Generation of Work Volume Report
ix)
Generation of MIS Reports
x)
INTTRA Link
xi)
Direct Posting in Accounts
xii)
Fully integrated Accounting module which gives complete control over operations
from booking to billing
Sea Freight Management has become a competitive business over the years, & the selection of effective and integrated software can help a freight forwarder get an edge over his competitors.
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