Many people look to the import/export business as an easy way of making money. After all, it’s only about buying cheap in foreign countries and selling for a profit at home, right? But the reality of entering the world of imports and exports is that it can be a complicated business, with varying regulations, taxes, and tariffs which will eat away at any profits unless you are fully aware of what you are doing. So
Logistics is a crucial component in the efficiency of many companies. Without a good logistics plan as part of your supply chain, then getting goods to markets – or receiving raw goods – becomes a difficult task. But in order for logistics activities to operate smoothly, there is another crucial component to be considered: customer service. Without a good level of communication and an efficient level of customer service, then any logistics chain will not
The United States is in the midst of a growing shortage of truck drivers that seem to be getting worse. With the average age of long-haul truck drivers being 46, 160,000 positions will remain unfilled over the next decade. This shortage is especially felt in drayage, where containers need to be transported from ports to railroads warehouses, or their final destinations. Despite these concerning shortages, there are still ways to keep freight moving. The Shortage
A freight forwarding company is a company in the shipping business that has prepared its personnel and facilities to accept the responsibility and accountability for handling freight on an international scope of service. A freight forwarding company is different from a freight broker although the two often are confused because some of the services they offer may overlap or look to be similar. In the US, there are over 16,000 freight brokers in contrast to
A Third Party Logistics company (3PL) is an integrated shipping operation involving both warehousing and fulfillment services. Although these two functions, warehousing and fulfillment, are often used interchangeably, they have very different roles in the shipping chain. Both these shipping practices involve e-commerce business, and both usually require a large space for storing goods and material that is being shipped. In general, a warehouse exists to store and control large amounts of inventory for an
The shipping process for international trade is composed of standard expectations for all countries and all ports. This standardization applies to China and all of its shipping companies. This is an important aspect of international shipping since China owns ports in many countries other than the Chinese mainland and this international understanding facilitates the handling of goods both leaving China and arriving in China. The regulation of costs and responsibilities of international shipping rely on
