How Deep is the Sea Freight Agency?

"Mr. Zhang's ceramic handicrafts floated on the sea for 30 days and finally arrived in the United States intact; Ms. Li's mechanical equipment almost missed the delivery deadline due to customs clearance delays..." In international trade, the role of sea freight agencies is like an "invisible butler". It can simplify complexity, but improper selection may also lead to losses. This article will reveal how to avoid risks and reduce costs through a professional sea freight agency to help your goods pass through smoothly.

Sea freight accounts for 80% of the global trade transportation volume, but less than 10% of exporters handle transportation on their own. The reason is simple: Professional agents can solve three major pain points:

• Process Black Hole: From booking space, customs declaration to customs clearance at the destination port, it involves more than 20 links, and a single enterprise is difficult to control the whole process;
• Cost Trap: Hidden costs (such as detention charges, fuel surcharges) may account for 30% of the freight, and the scale advantage of agents can compress expenses;
• Risk Blind Spot: In case of sudden situations such as cargo damage and document errors, the emergency plan of agents can reduce losses by 90%.

The director of the sea freight department of Zhongshitong once shared: "Not All Agents Are Called 'Service Providers' —Some are just middlemen who resell space." When screening reliable agents, attention should be paid to:

• Full-chain Capability: Check whether they have supporting resources such as trailer, customs declaration, and overseas agents;
• Route Coverage Density: An agent who focuses on the Europe and America routes may be helpless in the emerging Southeast Asian market;
• Digitalization Level: A real-time tracking system can reduce communication costs by 50%.

A clothing exporter, due to believing in the "ultra-low quotation", finally paid hidden warehousing fees and high modification order fees. Common routines include:

• Using an "ALL-IN" quotation to attract customers, but actually not including port charges at the destination;
• Hiding the credit rating of the shipping company, resulting in the forced rejection of the goods;
• Over-promising on time limits and ignoring seasonal congestion factors.

The carbon emission new regulations of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) will increase the sea freight cost by 15% in 2025. Forward-looking enterprises have already started:

• Choose an agent equipped with low-carbon ships;
• Use the multimodal transport scheme of near-sea routes + China-Europe trains;
• Require the agent to provide a carbon footprint report to meet the ESG requirements of buyers.