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Laila’s shipment to Saudi Arabia has been delayed for two months with no delivery in sight. Unreliable freight forwarders can be such a headache.
Laila runs an e-commerce business in Saudi Arabia. Last time, she saw someone recommending a freight forwarder China to Saudi Arabia in a group chat, offering new customer discounts. It seemed more affordable and faster than her previous one, so Laila couldn't resist the temptation and shipped a batch of goods with them. The ship sailed on January 3rd, but as of March 5th, two months later,she hadn’t received the goods! The freight forwarder was just playing games, either not answering the phone or hanging up mid-conversation saying they were in a meeting.
After hearing Laila's complaint, I told her that many customers choose freight forwarders China to Saudi Arabia based solely on the cheap initial shipping quote. But that shipping cost is negligible compared to the subsequent operations involved. After all, it's international logistics between China and Saudi Arabia, involving both goods and money. If you happen to find a freight forwarder with an advantage in this route and they're reliable, then you've hit the jackpot.
But such good deals are rare. Buyers can't be as smart as sellers. Most likely, the freight forwarder is up to something. If a cheap freight forwarder ships ten batches, you're incredibly lucky if all ten go smoothly. If just one out of ten has a problem, the savings from the previous nine will definitely be lost on that one.
Laila's e-commerce business involves 2000 boxes of children's electronic toys and a batch of fruits, each loaded into a 40gp container. She required both containers to be sent to Dammam Port in Saudi Arabia together. The children's toys were made in advance, so they could wait, but the fruits, although preserved, were best shipped as soon as possible. So the toys were stored in a warehouse temporarily, waiting for the fruits to be ready before they were picked up and loaded together.
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