Lesson 35. Right. Through lesson 35, we're going to see more details about the freight forwarders responsibilities.
Right. So, we we've we've had an overview already, but let's go into into the details and also uh the the combined we're going to see the combined transport main points, right? The intermodal transport.
So let's start with the definition of the freight forwarder. So an international freight forwarder is a party that arranges and manages dispatch, shipping and transportation between producer or shipper and receiver. So it intermediate intermediates the transportation arrangements between seller and buyer.
So a freight forwarder can be hired by the seller, by the exporter or it can be hired by the buyer, by the importer. It all depends on uh on how the buyer and the seller are dealing, right? So it depends on the on the inca term that is that is chosen by them, right?
So this will define the transportation responsibilities between the parties. So the freight forwarders uh role is to handle commercial cargos between different parties and carriers and represents both contract parties without being the cargo owner. So the freight forwarder is only responsible for the transport.
The freight forwarder does not own the cargo. Right. But uh it acts as a representative of the cargo.
The freight forwarder can issue documents covering sea, air, river or land freight for cargo handled by its facilities. So the freight forwarder will be in charge of issuing the airway bill um the and the bill of lighting, right? depending on the type of shipment and uh and will be responsible to update the status of the shipment, right?
So the the the customer or even the the the shipper will be able to track the shipment uh through the airway bill through the bill blading uh issued by the freight forwarder. So these documents are considered as as transport documents and not as ownership documents. So the uh the documents issued by the freight forwarder is are only regarding the shipment right the status of the shipment and the responsibility of the shipment not the ownership.
So the the ownership of the of the goods uh are a thing that belong to the to the buyer and the shipper. It depends on how how um the product are paid. Uh the freight forwarder is considered as a carrier or shipping agent in front of customs authorities.
So the freight forwarder acts as the shipping agent. So when something must be declared in customs. All right.
So let's let's see now the the combined transport the multimodal transports main uh points. Combined multimodal or intermodal transport are roughly the same thing. We're going to see the difference but the idea is the same right.
uh when so what the combined transport is when uh two or more modes of transport are used to make the shipment happen. So when uh truck and railway are needed for the same shipment, we call this combined transport, right? So why do we use the combined transport?
The physical handling is easier, right? Uh so the container is unloaded from from a truck and loaded uh onto a a train, for example. So it's it's easier to handle things, right?
Transit time is reduced. Security is improved. A shipment might be moved by water, road, air, and rail in its journey.
So the same container might be moved with different modes of transport in the same shipment when combined transportation is the choice. Shipping documents are issued by carriers and forwarders. So standardized shipping documents are used in the combined transport.
There's no need to issue new documents. So reasons to choose the combined transport uh road transport can reach to every destination which has a road uh infrastructure. Right?
So uh road is usually part of the of the combined transport as trains uh and the ships and even airplanes are cannot reach to the to the final destination usually. So the the road transport uh is is usually part of the combined transport because of that reason because it it can reach anywhere. The water transport is the cheapest type of all.
So when talking about u u volumes when large quantities of items to be shipped uh the cost is is is vital right uh for for the companies to survive. So usually things are sent part of the journey is is by the sea right. Air transport is the fast is the fastest but the most expensive and not flexible.
What is that? So air transport is not the the choice uh for every shipment because of the costs, right? And like I said the the airports are not always located near to the to the end customer and there's no flexibility, right?
So there's uh the capacity of air cargo is limited. So that's why uh sometimes the the air transport is just part of the journey not the complete journey. So let's see some advantages of uh of combined transport.
Freight forwarders need to constantly offer advantages to their customers. So when when combining uh the transport with different modes, usually the the prices get lower, right? Because part of the journey the journey is made by train, part of the journey is made by the sea and uh it can drop the costs, right?
It's it's more advantages. So the cost efficiency is achieved through combined transport. Can you imagine transport everything by air?
No way. Right? So it's it's so expensive.
The combined freight forwarding services reduce the length of the route and consequently decreases environmental pollution. So when especially when using uh uh railway, right? So the the railway is the is the mode that impacts the environment the least.
So um so there's a tendency to use uh green transportation cooperation between the member companies offers better delivery terms and prices. So the the companies that operate internationally cooperate with each other. So whenever a company is not able to uh to make a route, it chooses a partner that makes that route and transfers the shipment to that partner.
So they they act like that to offer uh options and better services. Right? All right.
So this is the end of uh of this lesson, right? So please reveal the advantages of having combined transport as well as uh the the main functions of the freight forwarders once again right so uh hopefully things are becoming a little bit clearer for you right as as we are dealing so far we have deald with an overview right of the logistics processes so hopefully things will be uh clearer when we start uh seeing um uh the the the day-to-day use of the English used for the for the logistics and foreign trade. But you know the bases are really important, right?
In order to communicate well, right?
