Many novices who are just entering the industry will not understand what shipping agency is. This article will explain to you clearly what shipping agency is and what is the difference with freight forwarding. Let's learn together.
What is the shipping agent
The so-called shipping agency refers to a ship-related unit. The main work content is to handle water diversion, quarantine, tugboat, berthing, loading and unloading, materials, documents, etc. The shipping agency is responsible for shipping business, handling ship import and export procedures, and coordinating ship owners and ports. All departments to ensure the smooth progress of loading and unloading, in addition to complete the ship's entrusted tasks, such as replacement of crew, materials, food supplies, ship repairs, etc. Sometimes the ship party will also entrust the ship agent to sign the bill of lading.
What is freight forwarding
Freight forwarding is the abbreviation of international freight forwarding. The work content is to accept a customer's entrustment to complete a certain link of cargo transportation or related links. The work involved in this aspect can be directly or indirectly completed by a freight forwarder. It is a bridge and link between the cargo owner and the transportation supplier.
Judging from the above text definition, it seems that there are overlaps between shipping and freight forwarding companies, but in fact, there are still some differences in their work tasks.
Shipping and freight forwarding work
The freight forwarder is the freight forwarder, not the actual carrier of the shipping company. The essence of the freight forwarder and the logistics (third party), the freight company is the same. Freight forwarding is different from shipping agency. Shipping agency can handle the work of booking, signing, changing, and placing boxes on behalf of shipping company. These are the functions that freight forwarding does not have.
The current generation is NVOCC, and NVOCC can basically say that it is a generation. The previous generation is a relic of history, that is, the state-owned enterprise that used to be. The two brands of NVOCC and Generation 1 can be owned by the same company at the same time, so we often see what freight forwarding company is both the first generation and the NVOCC; the essence of the NVOCC and the first-level freight forwarding is also the same, the former is transportation The latter is approved by the Ministry of Commerce, the former can issue ocean freight invoices, and the latter can only use agency invoices. In addition, both can issue US cash tickets.
First-class freight forwarders can directly get prices from shipping companies, but they are not necessarily eligible for booking. Many shipping companies only designate a few freight forwarders as booking openings, so it is not necessarily the case that first-class freight forwarders are the same. Most first-class freight forwarders Freight forwarding is only limited to a few shipping companies that they are good at have the right to book.
The first-class forwarder with the right to book space may not be able to get good prices and services. In many cases, the booking forwarder has to get the price and space from the forwarder (other first-level or second-level) through which he booked the space. , The second level here is the secret village that everyone is familiar with.