5 Necessary Skills for Maximizing Effectiveness of International Freight Forwarders

• Sep 20- 2017
• Freight Companies

Freight forwarding services depend heavily on a professional forwarder who is an intermediary between the shipper and several transportation services, including air, shipping, and trucking. International freight forwarders make sure that everyone is on the same page and everything is in place according to plan, thereby ensuring a seamless shipping process.

The top freight forwarding companies utilize the best forwarders who have years of experience, excellent skills, extensive knowledge, and a desire to keep learning. Ultimately, freight gets delivered on time and without damage, making customers happy.

Serving as a freight forwarder is not for everyone. However, for people who enjoy a challenge and want to provide an excellent and necessary service, forwarding offers incredible opportunities. Forwarders working for the top freight forwarding companies share many skills, but there are five in particular.

1. Reading, Writing, and Speaking – Due to the nature of work involved with freight forwarding services, a forwarder must have excellent reading, writing, and speaking skills for handling complex documents, formal reports, and people from various countries as well as customs.
2. Coordination, Monitoring, and Time Management – In the shipping industry, not everything is predictable. Therefore, a forwarder has to adjust his or her actions in response to situations and other people’s actions. Monitoring is a significant part of a forwarder’s responsibilities, which helps with making informed decisions. Due to juggling many things simultaneously, a forwarder must be productive and organized at all times while having strong time management skills.
3. Active Listening and Critical Thinking – With active listening skills, a forwarder focuses fully on what others say, thereby comprehending the conversation. As for critical thinking, a forwarder must use logic and reasoning on the job, making it possible to come up with alternative solutions, correct conclusions, and to take innovative approaches when problems arise.
4. Knowledge – For people interested in working as international forwarders, they must know or learn about the global shipping industry, features of air, land, and sea masses, geographic locations, customs, and a host of other things.
5. Tolerance to stress, Integrity, and Dependability – As a stressful yet exciting job, a forwarder must have a lot of tolerance and handle situations calmly. Integrity is also critical, considering a forwarder works with important clients. As for dependability, this person should never give up, even when facing tough challenges.

With highly-skilled forwarders at MGA International Logistics, you can always trust our international shipping services. For information or to schedule a shipping need, please call us today.