Importing From China Without A Freight Forwarder

[PetePreneur]

Hi,

Has anyone ever imported a container of products in without a freight forwarder?

What would the process for this be? Who would I contact to ship it from the port in China and then ship it from the port here?

Basically I’ve been importing a very large and expensive item in from China using a freight forwarder and it ends up that the freight forwarder with shipping is costing me about $100 per product.

I’m thinking that doing the importing process myself could save me around $50 per product, so I’m just looking into how complicated this would be?

Thanks,
Pete

 

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[Stargazer]

I can't answer your actual question but @Walter Hay certainly can.

I just have two thoughts.

1) Can you negotiate that cost per unit down to something you consider reasonable or cost per container rather than the units inside?

2) With Brexit and the current build up of containers, especially at Felixstowe and Southampton , is it worth it?

Ports are starting to add congestion fees. Even Honda had a delay in imports so where would you be in any pecking order?

'Price rises likely' due to UK shipping problems

Businesses say importing goods to the UK is now so difficult, higher costs will be passed on to consumers.

www.bbc.co.uk

Dan

 

[Walter Hay]

Thanks @Stargazer for tagging me.

@PetePreneur First, let me say that DIY importing of container shipments can be a nightmare. I would never even contemplate it. There is a lot of misinformation around suggesting that you can handle it yourself, but you only have to see some of the huge lines of trucks waiting at ports to collect containers even in normal times to know that one way or the other that is going to cost you big time.

The worldwide shipping industry is in a mess. UK importers have always suffered from higher costs than importers in other countries, and the best solution I can offer is SHOP AROUND, and you should not just limit your enquiries to UK based forwarders.

Under normal circumstances I would recommend using a freight forwarder close to you, but these are not normal circumstances. If big importers such as Honda are unable to beat the system, with the result that they say that a shortage of parts has caused them to cease production at their Swindon factory, how can a small importer expect to do better?

Whatever you do, DON'T arrange for a Chinese based freight forwarder to handle your shipments. At the best of times there are many Chinese scammers offering what appear to be great rates, but under present circumstances they will see huge opportunities for the scams. Freight scams are so prevalent that I have devoted an entire chapter of my book to dealing with how they work.

This could be a time when bigger is better. I would look for quotes from very big, old established, international logistics companies among others.

Depending on the nature of your products, it might even pay you to try air cargo consolidators, at least for part of your shipment.

Walter

 

[Deleted78083]

@Walter Hay why is it so messy?

Has it always been this way or is it because of corona and Brexit?

And finally...how does one become freight forwarder? If it is painful and expensive, there must be a lot of inefficiencies.

 

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[Walter Hay]

The Coronavirus has caused a lot of disruption to worldwide logistics and although China got their internal logistics sorted quickly, there was a backlog of shipping at many ports in other countries.

Reasons for that included internal logistics delays in many countries due to lockdowns and many transport workers either losing their jobs or succumbing to Covid. Those internal logistic problems led to a build up of ships waiting to be unloaded.

That was not helped when Union problems affected major US ports and the virus began affecting port workers. One outcome has been a substantial shortage of empty containers getting back to Chinese ports, so freight forwarders are having trouble obtaining sufficient for their customers. Supply and demand forces have consequently driven up freight costs.

In short the situation worldwide not only in the UK has been a perfect storm.

The problem in UK ports has been greatly exacerbated by the government belatedly advising supermarkets to stock up before the Brexit deadline. Prudent management by supermarkets would have foreseen the possibilities and begun stocking up at least no later than when the talks began to stall, but in fact much sooner would have been wise.

However, if regular large scale importers such as Honda stubbornly stuck to their Just In Time system and got caught, the fact that smaller importers delayed too long should not be surprising. They have had it easy for a long time.

Walter
P.S. In my book I advocate my own version of Just In Time ordering for even very small importers, but if they have been using that the air freight portion would still be working moderately well for them.

 

[Walter Hay]

And finally...how does one become freight forwarder? If it is painful and expensive, there must be a lot of inefficiencies.

Sorry, I got carried away and missed answering your final question.

There are some very high priced courses you can study, but in my opinion, nothing beats on the job training. You would need to work in the industry for at least a year before you could get to know the most important aspects of the job.

Walter

 

[PetePreneur]

I can't answer your actual question but @Walter Hay certainly can.

I just have two thoughts.

1) Can you negotiate that cost per unit down to something you consider reasonable or cost per container rather than the units inside?

2) With Brexit and the current build up of containers, especially at Felixstowe and Southampton , is it worth it?

Ports are starting to add congestion fees. Even Honda had a delay in imports so where would you be in any pecking order?

'Price rises likely' due to UK shipping problems

Businesses say importing goods to the UK is now so difficult, higher costs will be passed on to consumers.

www.bbc.co.uk

Dan

Thanks! I’ll have a read of some of his stuff. I was recommend him years ago, but I wasn’t directly involved with importing back then, so now would be a better time I feel to look into his content because I’ll be using it straight away!

Edit: Sorry @Walter Hay I didn't realise you had personally replied. I kept this on my phone because I was going to reply later, so didn't see the other replies load up.

Anyway, so you would recommend to avoid me attempting this myself? I currently use a price comparison website called Freightos.com to decide who to pick and the cheapest does tend to be the one I'm going with here, so would you recommend to continue with what I have, as I've never had any problems with them TBH? I was just seeing if it would be possible to save more!

Thanks again!

 

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[Walter Hay]

Thanks! I’ll have a read of some of his stuff. I was recommend him years ago, but I wasn’t directly involved with importing back then, so now would be a better time I feel to look into his content because I’ll be using it straight away!

Edit: Sorry @Walter Hay I didn't realise you had personally replied. I kept this on my phone because I was going to reply later, so didn't see the other replies load up.

Anyway, so you would recommend to avoid me attempting this myself? I currently use a price comparison website called Freightos.com to decide who to pick and the cheapest does tend to be the one I'm going with here, so would you recommend to continue with what I have, as I've never had any problems with them TBH? I was just seeing if it would be possible to save more!

Thanks again!

As I posted above in answer to a question by @mon_fi, the learning process to become a forwarder would involve spending a year on work experience.

I could have started up a forwarding business many years ago after 3 1/2 years working for a shipping company that saw me visiting ships in port, observing cargo loading and unloading, helping prepare Customs documentation, delivering negotiable documents such as Bills of Lading and Insurance policies to ship's captains, sometimes boarding at sea long before they docked. I often visited Customs to clear cargo. Everything was done manually at that time.

I mention those activities to emphasize just how much there is to learn.

So, my answer is, definitely don't attempt to handle shipping processes yourself.

Being entrenched in the slowlane at the time, I didn't even think of starting a business.

As for Freightos, their service can be very useful to give you some guide as to how much your shipment should cost, but there is something important missing: The personal touch. If you can find a forwarder that communicates well, is helpful, will quickly deal with little problems and mistakes that can take a big weight off your shoulders.

Walter

 

[Walter Hay]

RAIL FREIGHT CHINA TO EUROPE

For some time now, rail freight across the Asian and European continents has been a viable proposition, but currently there is congestion at the Kazakhstan border, and that will complicate matters for those thinking of making the change. From my observations, I don't expect the delays to continue for long.

Delivery time to Germany, Spain, Italy, France, and the UK is usually about 10 days, compared to 30 days for sea freight. During December, the first Rail Freight from China was delivered to Venlo in the Netherlands.

Rail freight costs about 3 times as much per kg as sea freight, which is usually abou 20c /kg. Cost effectiveness will to a large extent be determined by service charges made by freight forwarders, so if considering using rail freight shop around, preferably getting quotes from ones who already have experience in this realtively new process.

Walter

 

[PetePreneur]

As I posted above in answer to a question by @mon_fi, the learning process to become a forwarder would involve spending a year on work experience.

I could have started up a forwarding business many years ago after 3 1/2 years working for a shipping company that saw me visiting ships in port, observing cargo loading and unloading, helping prepare Customs documentation, delivering negotiable documents such as Bills of Lading and Insurance policies to ship's captains, sometimes boarding at sea long before they docked. I often visited Customs to clear cargo. Everything was done manually at that time.

I mention those activities to emphasize just how much there is to learn.

So, my answer is, definitely don't attempt to handle shipping processes yourself.

Being entrenched in the slowlane at the time, I didn't even think of starting a business.

As for Freightos, their service can be very useful to give you some guide as to how much your shipment should cost, but there is something important missing: The personal touch. If you can find a forwarder that communicates well, is helpful, will quickly deal with little problems and mistakes that can take a big weight off your shoulders.

Walter

Okay, thank you for your help!

 

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[biophase]

Why would importing it yourself save $50/unit? Where do you think the added cost of using a freight forwarder is? I’d love to see your breakdown on where it would be saved.