Customs Broker and Freight Forwarder

From my personal experience, to cooose the right customs broker or forwarding agent, you ahould answer the following questions:

1. Do I have a specialized product line or type of import? If the answer is yes, you may wish to find a broker who either specializes or has a great deal of expertise in clearing your type of products. For example, textiles, apparel and alcoholic beverages have numerous laws and regulations that apply to their importation. Not every broker is experienced in handling these products, and choosing the wrong broker could cause you trouble.

2. How many ports will I be using for imports? If you are importing through several ports, you should hire a broker with their own offices in those ports. Your local one-office broker may give you great service in their home port, but they will have to use sub-agents in other ports and thus will lose a great deal of control. By the same token, if you are only importing through one port, the smaller, one-port broker may be perfect for you since they can often give you much more personalized, hands-on service.

3. Is automation easy with this partner? Any freight forwarder or broker—regardless of size—must be fully automated with full connectivity to the tools necessary to partner with your company.

4. What is the broker or freight forwarder’s general reputation? Don’t automatically believe what the brokers or freight forwarders’ marketing materials say about their capabilities and reputation. Your best source of information is from their own customers. Ask for references. You can also get a relatively non-biased opinion from local ocean and air carriers.

5. Do I need a dedicated account representative? If your volume of imports is large enough, you should have a key operational contact at your broker or forwarder who will coordinate all aspects of your account. In the least, you should have personal contact with someone who can help you answer your questions and who knows the basics about your company.