A freight forwarding agent or forwarder is an agent who acts on behalf of importers and exporters to organise safe and economical goods transport. Among their many tasks, the most common are facilitating transport, selecting the most efficient route, taking out insurance policies, choosing the appropriate packaging depending on the cargo and taking care of its storage and/or distribution.

Delayed shipment: The most common causes of delay are inefficient management of port times and formalities. Other variables may also affect the shipment, such as circumstances of force majeure, like a storm for instance, or, in some parts of the world, the risk of a pirate attack. Lost goods: While this represents a very low risk today, it can occur in the event of problems such as the boat sinking or breaking down, as well as due to robbery or theft in ports of loading and destination in countries with high levels of corruption. liMoisture, humidity or extreme temperatures:Environmental conditions must be perfectly controlled to prevent the cargo from being rendered unusable due to moisture, humidity or extreme heat or cold. All cargo must therefore be transported in containers suited to their particular characteristics and checked to ensure that they are properly closed. They must also be correctly loaded, unloaded and stored. Contamination: Interaction between different goods can ruin them. The goods must therefore be well packaged and properly stowed in the hold to prevent their contamination. Natural disasters: Natural disasters are becoming more frequent and serious in recent years; this represents the most unpredictable risk on the list. Computer threats: This is one of the new risks of international Sea transport since the famous NotPeya attack suffered by Ma

An air charter service is calculated based on the volume of the goods transported. However, it is strongly influenced by the availability of physical means (transport) on your desired route. By way of an example, bringing goods from China is much cheaper than it is to take them there. This is because shipowners are in high demand for bringing cargo from China to Europe, while it is more complicated to find freight to transport back out to China given the existing trade imbalance. Another variable with a strong influence is the oil price at the moment of travelling.

Customs clearance means that the customs procedure has been completed, i.e. that all of the paperwork has been submitted and that the shipment can continue on its way.