Overseas shipping is a big deal and an excellent opportunity for your company and customers. Naturally, you want everything to go smoothly when you expand your business to an international market. When making changes to your logistics department, there are a few things every business needs to consider regarding international shipping.
Getting the Proper Paperwork
Filling out forms is often a hassle, but the international air freight process isn’t too complicated. There are three primary forms your business needs to correctly fill out when sending goods to other countries.
- Commercial Invoice: What items are you shipping, and what are the individual costs of every item in this shipment?
- Packaging List: This is a more detail-oriented list of the inventory in your shipment. This is where you include information like item codes and weight.
- SLI (Shipper’s Letter of Instruction): This form contains the information on the shipping ports, the organization handling the packages, and exporting carrier.
Picking the Right Transportation Options
When businesses consider international shipping, the two main options for large freight deliveries overseas are planes or boats. There are many advantages of air freight shipping, particularly when you want your cargo to arrive quickly. Many companies opt for cargo ship delivery for fragile inventory that may not survive air travel. Companies must discover which process is best for their cargo.
Arranging Price Quotes
Every company is different when it comes to shipping costs, but it’s generally a good idea to try and get some rough estimates before committing to anything in the long run. Your company’s logistics department should be able to give you a rough shipping estimate based on the size and weight of the shipment, and shipping companies may provide a similar assessment. These estimates typically last five to seven days, so it’s okay to shop around when arranging prices. You want to find the best deal for the best service.