"Freight forwarding and logistics services" are services of any kind related to the transportation (unimodal or multimodal), consolidation, storage, handling, packing or distribution of goods, and ancillary and advisory services in connection therewith, including, but not limited to, customs and tax matters, the declaration of goods for official purposes, the procurement of insurance of goods and the collection or procurement of payment or documents relating to goods. Freight forwarding services also include logistics services with modern information and communication technology in connection with the transport, handling or storage of goods and the de facto management of the total supply chain.
The forwarding company is therefore a legal entity which, in return for a sum of money (commission or lump sum) received from its principals (customers), undertakes towards them to carry out the full range of operations necessary to ensure the transport of goods from the seller to the buyer under economic, safe, low-risk and rapid conditions.
The monitoring and execution of these operations requires knowledge of all the regulations governing the internal and international transport of goods, which is not always within the reach of sellers or buyers, whose main concern is the marketing of goods and who may not always have staff who are familiar with the tariffs, regulations and conditions of the various transport organisations, nor may they have staff specialised in the problems of internal and international goods traffic at all border points, ports or freight forwarding centres.
Incorrect handling of goods, incorrect declaration of goods in the documents to be drawn up, faulty handling, can cause considerable damage and may even prevent the fulfilment of concluded commercial contracts, with serious consequences for present and future relations between the contracting parties.
Therefore, the role of the forwarding company is to provide its customers, in addition to the transport of goods, with assistance, advice and services preceding the conclusion of sale-purchase contracts between them or post-contractual services such as:
– providing tariff calculations on the level of transport and ancillary costs related to the transport of contracted goods;
– advice on the interpretation of delivery terms when concluding foreign trade contracts (INCOTERMS rules);
– indications on the most appropriate means of transport to choose from;
– establishing optimal transport guidance routes;
– drawing up and improving the formalities for insuring goods against transport risks;
– preparation of documents and formalities for the dispatch and transport of foreign trade goods (waybills, bills of lading, FIATA documents, instructions, consignment notes, etc.);
– organisation of groupage consignments;
– preparation of documents and completion of formalities for customs clearance (customs brokerage);
– tracking the movement of goods en route and promptly advising those concerned of the transport situation;
– temporary storage of goods and logistics services such as: sorting, pre-packaging, labelling, marking, stock management, etc.
It is necessary to make a distinction between the activity of transport (carriage) and the activity of forwarding in general, specifying that the basic activity of the forwarder is to actually transport the goods with his own means of transport, while the task of the forwarding company is to ensure the forwarding of the goods on behalf of and for the account of its principals, with the means of transport of the forwarders.