Freight forwarding and logistics are not the same job. A forwarder moves a box between two ports. Getting goods from a factory gate in China to a shutter in Hyderabad involves about eleven handovers, and most of them sit outside a port-to-port contract.
The handovers
- Collection from the supplier’s premises
- Receipt, count and inspection at a consolidation warehouse in China
- Consolidation with your other suppliers, if you are buying from several
- Export documentation and Chinese customs formalities
- Loading and departure from the origin port or airport
- Ocean or air transit
- Arrival, discharge and inland movement under customs bond
- Deconsolidation at a container freight station, for LCL
- Bill of entry, assessment and duty payment
- Out of charge — the release order
- Inland transport and unloading at your address
Import piecemeal and you are the coordinator at every one of them, and the person who absorbs the cost whenever two parties disagree about whose fault something was.
What EXW and FOB actually change
- EXW — the goods are yours at the factory gate. Someone has to collect them. Most common with smaller Chinese suppliers who do not export themselves.
- FOB — the supplier delivers to the port and handles export clearance. You take over there.
- CIF — the supplier arranges freight to an Indian port. It looks convenient, and it usually means you inherit their forwarder’s destination charges, which are not competitive.
If a supplier quotes CIF, ask what the destination handling charges will be before you accept. That is frequently where the apparent saving goes.
The question worth asking any forwarder
“What will I pay after the goods arrive?” Destination handling, deconsolidation, documentation, clearance and inland transport are all real, and all quotable in advance. A forwarder who cannot itemise them before you ship is one you will be arguing with later.
We cover the whole chain — collection, inspection, consolidation, freight, clearance and delivery to your address — on one invoice, so there is no handover for you to manage and nobody to point at each other.