10 freight forwarding services you can offer
Want to grow your forwarding business? Learn how freight forwarding services like ADR, GOH and AEO can help you attract more clients.
As a freight forwarder, offering specialist freight forwarding services can set you apart from the competition. By expanding your offering, you can cater to a variety of customer needs, making you the go-to choice for customers with specific requirements.
In this guide, we’ll explore the most in-demand services, and how a freight forwarders network like Haulage Exchange can help you find the right carriers to support you and your customers.
Specialist freight forwarding services and certifications
1. ADR (Transporting Dangerous Goods)
ADR, which is a French acronym for “European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road”, is required when transporting hazardous materials, including chemicals and flammable substances.
This freight forwarding service ensures safe and legal transport across long distances, making it incredibly useful for industries such as chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and manufacturing that require the movement of dangerous goods.
2. DGSA Qualified (Dangerous Goods Safety Advisor)
DGSA provides oversight for the safe transport of hazardous goods, ensuring compliance with safety and legal guidelines.
This qualification is legally required for high-risk shipments, offering peace of mind to customers handling sensitive materials that require stringent safety measures.
3. FORS Bronze, Silver, Gold Certification
FORS operators demonstrate excellence in fleet operations, appealing to clients who prioritise safety and environmental standards.
Bronze focuses on legal compliance, Silver on maintaining safety equipment, and Gold on managing noise pollution and emissions. A FORS accreditation assures customers that their goods are transported by a fleet committed to high operational standards.
4. Frozen Transport
Frozen transport is helpful for clients needing temperature-controlled transport for items like pharmaceuticals, perishable foods, or biological samples.
By offering this freight forwarding service, you can guarantee that your customers’ items are kept at the correct temperatures throughout long-distance transit, maintaining their integrity and safety.
5. Garments On Hanger (GOH)
GOH is ideal for clients in the fashion industry who require wrinkle-free delivery of clothing items.
Retailers, fashion designers, and garment manufacturers benefit from this service as it ensures that their products are ready to wear or sell upon arrival, maintaining their quality and presentation.
6. High Security Freight Forwarding Services
This means carriers can provide enhanced security for high-value or sensitive items, such as electronics, jewellery, or confidential documents.
This service is suitable for customers needing assurance that their goods are protected during transit, reducing the risk of theft or damage.
7. Level A/B Aviation, Cargo Operative
This is necessary for customers needing to ship goods via air freight, such as pharmaceuticals, electronics, or urgent parts.
This freight forwarder service ensures secure and compliant delivery to and from airports, crucial for goods that need to be transported quickly and safely.
7. Refrigerated/Chilled Transport
This is required for customers needing to keep items cool, such as dairy products, fresh flowers, or certain pharmaceuticals.
This freight forwarder service maintains chill temperatures throughout the journey, ensuring that these products arrive in optimal condition.
8. Authorised Economic Operator (AEO)
Means secure and efficient customs controls, essential for customers regularly importing or exporting goods.
This status ensures expedited customs clearance and enhanced security, making international shipping smoother and more reliable for businesses.
9. CMR Insurance Certification
CMR insurance provides legal protection for international shipments, which is required for customers transporting goods across borders, especially in the EU.
Similar to freight forwarder insurance, CMR ensures the security and compliance of items like furniture, electronics, or commercial goods, offering peace of mind and legal assurance during transit.
Find certified specialists on Haulage Exchange
Haulage Exchange can help you find specialist carriers to offer these freight forwarding services, providing several key benefits.
With access to over 50,000 compliant vehicles, you can find the right vehicle for any job, ensuring you meet diverse customer needs. Sameday pickups ensure quick response times, enhancing customer satisfaction.
All carriers on HX are continuously monitored for compliance with industry standards, ensuring safe and legal operations. By using HX data to find competitive rates, you can offer cost-effective freight forwarding services. Real-time tracking allows you to monitor freight in transit, providing clients with accurate delivery updates and exceptional customer service. Additionally, streamlined payments with our new SmartPay functionality makes your accounting simple and efficient.
Find reliable carriers and cut your costs with Haulage Exchange
If there’s one key to freight forwarding today, it’s efficiency. When a job comes in, you need to find carriers, fast.
Traditionally, you might have used your own mailing list to find a carrier. Equally, WhatsApp groups and Facebook groups are now commonplace. At best, though, such groups give you access to a few hundred businesses that aren’t necessarily verified or trustworthy
On Haulage Exchange, freight forwarders have access to 50,000 vetted vehicles.
To find haulage carriers for a load on Haulage Exchange, there’s no faff. You simply post the load to Haulage Exchange and wait for haulage carriers to contact you – which they will, with quotes, within an average of 4 minutes.
Which means you can scale your fleet without hiring permanent staff or buying new vehicles, and adapt to changes in seasonal demand with ease.
Here’s how it’s done.
Step 1: Hit ‘Post Load’
Although Haulage Exchange grants you tech that improves every aspect of forwarding, there’s one particular aspect you’re interested in here: posting loads.
So, once you’re logged in to Haulage Exchange, simply hit Post Load.
Step 2: Add load details
Next, you’ll see a popup box asking you for certain details about the load. So, add the details.
Let carriers know:
- The load pick up point
- The load pick up time
- Where the load should be delivered
- When the load should be delivered
- The kind of vehicle you need (LWB? Curtainsider? Add it in.)
- And any other relevant details
Step 3: Post the load
Once you’ve filled in the load details, hit ‘Post Load’. Your load will be posted to the Exchange instantly.
If you’re posting a repeat load, even better: you can hit ‘Post Load & Save for Repeat Use’. That way, you won’t need to fill in the load details the next time the job comes in.
Step 4: Wait 4 minutes
At this point, you might want to make yourself a cup of tea. Or check your inbox.
You won’t want to get into anything too absorbing though: it takes, on average, just four minutes to begin receiving quotes from haulage carriers.
Step 5: Take your pick of haulage carriers
You’ll most likely get a few quotes from carriers… so you’ll have to choose between them. How?
Well, price is going to be a consideration. But carriers on HX also have feedback from other freight forwarders. So you’ll be able to see past performance and choose your carrier accordingly.
Oh, and all Exchange carriers have access to Trustd, pioneering technology that monitors compliance in real time.
By working with a Trustd carrier, you’ll always know who you’re working with and can always trust who you’re working with. It’s a new compliance standard in an industry where compliance is crucial, and we’re one of the few freight exchanges that uses it.
Need load updates?
Not a problem. With HX’s tech, you can receive emails on load updates, you can make sure your customer receives load update emails, and you can even track the load’s location in real-time through our Freight Vision app.
As we like to say, with HX, freight forwarders don’t just get access to 50,000 haulage carriers on demand.
You get a tech suite to run make freight forwarding simple.
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