International trade has greatly revolutionized in the past few years and one example of this is foreign-to-foreign shipping, also known as a triangular shipment or triangular trade. A foreign-to-foreign shipment is a transaction that involves three parties from three different countries. In many cases there is a wholesaler who has an order from a buyer and the wholesaler wants to ship those goods directly from their supplier to the buyer. 

In other words, if there is a wholesaler who is located in the United States and has a supplier in France and a customer in Italy. Instead of shipping the products from France to the United States and then to Italy, the wholesaler can reduce costs and transit time by shipping directly from their supplier in France to the buyer in Italy. 

These shipments can be tricky as the wholesaler does not want to reveal their supplier’s identity to the buyer as the buyer can potentially go directly to the supplier and cut out the wholesaler. 

With this in mind, it is of great importance that you find an experienced international freight shipping company for your foreign-to-foreign shipments. 

What are the positives of foreign-to-foreign shipping?


Reduction in Transportation Time, Lower Supply Chain Costs and Greater Efficiency 

The first benefit you will experience if you utilize foreign-to-foreign shipping is the reduction in transportation time as your product will be shipped directly from the supplier to the buyer. These shipments also do not need to spend unnecessary time going through the customs clearance process in the United States and can go directly through the destination country’s customs process. 

With that being said, by shipping directly from the supplier to the customer in triangular shipping, it can reduce your supply chain costs and can eliminate customs clearance charges in the U.S. 

Finally, triangular trade helps make your supply chain more efficient as your there is only a single point of contact, which is the overseas freight forwarding service provider

Tips For Your Foreign-to-Foreign Shipments

  1. The first thing you must focus on is choosing a highly reputable and trustworthy freight forwarder. They should be completely familiar with the triangular shipment process and know how to complete it efficiently. An efficient freight forwarder will have the right information about the buyer and supplier's details and be aware of the purchase and selling prices. They will also ensure to keep the identity of the supplier from the buyer. 
  2. Have your international shipping provider explain the switch bill of lading process to you to help ensure they have the providers to manage your shipment effectively. 
  3. When you are switching the B/L, make sure that you are detail oriented and provide the exact details. Whenever you make any amendments to the B/L, it may cost around $50 to $100. If you make any mistakes in the document, there can also be penalties. So, you should work with an international freight forwarding service provider with the right experience and can assist you with every little detail during the process.

When you rely on these tips, you can help ensure that there will be a successful execution of your triangular shipment. If you are seeking help with a foreign-to-foreign shipment, you should contact us at Diversified Transportation Services. We have a team of highly efficient and hard-working professionals who can help you with the process. 

Connect with us for more details!

When you load your car for a weekend getaway, you probably don’t randomly throw all your baggage and items into the trunk. You strategically place each piece of luggage and pack everything closely to ensure that it all fits without anything getting crushed or damaged.

This same strategy is relevant in LTL freight shipping when packing trucks. Understanding how density affects the many elements of freight shipping is important when loading up. For more insight, here’s why freight density matters in LTL shipping.

What Is Freight Density?

Freight density is the weight of the space an item occupies—meaning the higher the density of the item, the lower the classification and vice versa.

When the company has determined your shipment’s classification, it can affect the entire shipment’s cost—which is one of the main reasons freight density matters in LTL shipping. To stay on budget, you need to know the shipment’s density more than the weight so you can calculate to get an accurate classification.

Why Does Freight Density Matter?

Determining freight density is cost-effective. Since the overall cost of your LTL shipping depends on the density, it’s best to have a reliable scale on hand. This way, you can take measurements that are as accurate as possible to get an estimated classification and price.

This small step can make a big difference in your shipping operation. A small error could affect freight classification and your overall budget. When measuring, remember to take your packaging into consideration because carriers will consider packaging part of the total load.

How To Determine Density

As stated above, to accurately find the shipment’s class, you must find the density. This is essential to provide to your 3PL so they can accurately rate your shipment and for your team to gauge how much your shipment will cost. Here is how to determine the density:

  1. Multiply the measurements of your shipment (length x width x height).
  2. Divide that result by 1,728 to find the cubic feet of your shipment (#1 result/1,728).
  3. Finally, divide the weight by your result in #2 to find the pounds per cubic foot (PCF) or freight density (weight/#2 result).

Alternatively, it’s always best to use a density calculator.

Finding a trustworthy 3PL company that provides LTL services is essential to your business. At Diversified Transportation Services, we provide LTL freight services. We provide concierge transportation services and proactive customer service to make shipping easier for you and your team. For more information, please don’t hesitate to contact us for a quote today.

Expanding your business beyond your community or your country is a major move. However, with such a big move, it’s important that you know the customs clearance process. Your country’s customs department and the receiving country handle the rules and regulations. All parties involved will ensure the authorization of your shipment.

Before shipping your items internationally, here’s everything you need to know about customs clearance to prevent future issues.

What Is Customs Clearance?

Customs clearance is the process of getting permission to import goods into another country. Before shipping your items internationally, you must clear them through customs. Your shipment must meet the receiving country’s requirements for successful delivery to its destination.

Customs clearance is an essential procedure that ensures countries only transport authorized goods. All parties involved in this journey must follow procedures to ensure unauthorized goods aren’t entering the country and that authorized shipments arrive on time.

What Is the Customs Clearance Process?

Shipping globally is a complex process with many document requirements, deadlines, and policies. It’s important that you know the entire customs clearance process to ensure your shipment arrives at its destination on time.

Below are the steps to take for your shipment to move through customs.

Document Examination

One of the most important elements of shipping globally is ensuring you have all your documents and that they’re correct and complete. These documents, especially the shipping label and commercial invoice, should be accurate with all the necessary information.

The commercial invoice is a key piece of the entire operation. Why? Because it lists the appropriate contact information for the shipper, receiver, export date, and more.

The documents you need for customs clearance are:

Tax and Import Duty Assessment

The import fees vary depending on what you’re shipping—i.e., the type of good, its value, and the receiving country’s regulations. Goods that exceed the minimum taxable amount determine the import duty assessments. Your choice of freight can also impact the import fee’s calculation.

Customs May Request Payment for Duties and Taxes

If you’re shipping items that are worth beyond the tax threshold, then the customs officer will double-check to ensure pre-payment of the duty fees and taxes. You will then have two choices: shipping with Deliver Duty Unpaid (DDU) or Deliver Duty Paid (DDP)

Deliver Duty Unpaid means the receiver has yet to pay the import duties. Placement in this category results in the customs officer contacting the receiver once the goods have arrived. This placement can also include extra fees, such as handling, storage, insurance, inspection, and disbursement.

Conversely, Deliver Duty Paid means the seller pays the import taxes and duties, so the shipment can move on in the customs process. We highly recommend that you pre-pay these fees for a smoother delivery experience.

Customs Releases Your Shipment

Once customs reviews your permits, licenses, and documents and you’ve paid all outstanding duties and taxes, they will release your shipment. Your chosen 3PL or courier service can arrange the transportation for your cargo to reach its destination. Although shipments rarely get stuck in customs, it’s important to ensure your paperwork and licenses are accurate and valid to prevent delays.

Additional Tips Before Embarking on This Journey

International shipping is a great way to expand your business. However, with it comes new requirements and responsibilities. Staying on top of deadlines, international policy changes, and documentation requirements is necessary for your shipment’s timely delivery.

We’ve compiled a few additional tips to further your understanding of customs clearance. You can prevent shipment delays or holds by having the right information and avoiding making simple mistakes.

Know the Rules Beforehand

Shipping internationally has a few more steps than shipping within the country. Every country has customs regulations and rules to follow before releasing your shipment. Some countries require certain import licenses or documents and have different clearance processes than others.

When creating a shipping plan, it’s important to remember that your customs process can vary based on what you’re importing. Not having the documentation or licenses for the country to which you’re importing goods can also delay your shipment.

Work With Experts

Mistakes can happen, but it’s always best to prevent them by working with experts. Shipping globally isn’t cheap or a leisure activity. It takes a lot of effort and planning to ensure these operations run smoothly. Working with a 3PL that offers DHL international shipping services can help you ensure you complete all the steps to avoid delays and other mishaps.

Expect the Unexpected

Shipping internationally is a complex process. Whatever authorized goods you ship must go through customs. Understanding this is valuable when planning and deciding which freight to choose. Expecting the unexpected and preparing for changes or delays is also best.

Many factors, like changing regulations or new license requirements, can affect clearance customs. Keeping up with changes can be challenging, but staying on top of them is essential. Doing so will prevent delays or cancellations in the future due to changing rules.

Ensure Your Paperwork Is Accurate and Complete

Your documents play a major role in the process of clearing your shipment. Having incomplete or inaccurate paperwork is a costly mistake. Even if you make the smallest mistake on your documentation, the customs department won’t clear your shipment.

Customs will hold your shipment, and you will be responsible for paying holding fees. In addition to this inconvenience, customs will be unable to release your shipment in time, delaying your entire operation. That’s why it’s crucial that you ensure your paperwork is complete and 100% accurate.

At DTS, we want to help ensure your shipment makes it to its destination on time. We hope our quick guide helps you understand everything you need to know about customs clearance and its processes. We also offer DHL international shipping services for those needing expedited shipping. Our seasoned staff is always ready to help. If our services interest you, don’t hesitate to contact us today for more information.

Everything You Need To Know About Customs Clearance

Believe it or not, exporting beyond your community isn’t only for large businesses. Small businesses are often discouraged from exporting their goods due to high shipping costs and the fear of less demand, but these factors are not that impactful. Smaller businesses can emerge in more competitive markets with detailed planning, expertise, and patience.

If you’re ready to take your business to the next level, follow these five tips for successfully exporting your products.

Research Your Market

Research is the key to successfully exporting your products. This is the time to identify your target demographics and competitors. While researching, you should look into the import and consumption figures to gauge your business’s success in a potential new market.

Create an Export Plan

How will you enter a new market? It would be best if you considered the following questions while creating your export plan:

Choose a Marketing Route

You have four options for marketing routes:

Whatever option you choose, it’s always best to weigh each one and see what’s best for you financially and time-wise. This is also a great time to establish policies and procedures for managing your sales presence in these new markets.

Set Aside Your Resources

You’ll need more resources, time, money, and information to succeed in your venture into a broader market. While large companies have many resources, you may have a different experience. When entering a large market, it’s best to learn more about exporting, new requirements, and in-house procedures, like packaging or processing sales.

This is a great way to scope out your competition and see what works and what doesn’t in their operations. Then, you can change your methods to stand out in the market.

Have a Trusted Partner

The best way to get your operations rolling is by having a trusted partner with experience in exporting goods throughout the country. Your partner should walk you through the processes of labeling, invoicing, packaging, and anything else your shipments may need. Your partner should also be aware of any state or city laws your market may have so you won’t run into unnecessary trouble down the line.

Ready to watch your business grow? We’re an international freight forwarding company. DTS provides freight services for your specific needs. Our focus is to ensure our customers are satisfied and that their truckloads arrive at their destinations on time. We have it all, from expedited shipping to volume shipments. Contact us today for all your transportation and logistics needs.

When you see shipping containers, the colors may mean nothing to you. However, the more closely you interact with the shipping industry, the more important it becomes to know what those colors mean. They’re not chosen at random. If you want to learn more, keep reading for a quick guide on why shipping containers have different colors.

Container Identification

A container’s color can tell you a lot about its origin. For instance, if you see a maroon-colored container, then it’s most likely from a leasing company. This is because a darker color shows its age less than a lighter color, enticing leasing companies.

Lighter colors—such as white—also commonly appear on shipping containers. Generally, white containers signify perishable cargo that requires special handling, such as refrigeration.

Brand Identification

The above section only accounts for maroon and white, but what about the other colors you see on containers? Additional colors, such as blue and orange, will often appear as brand signifiers. Thus, if you know the brand, you know if you’re looking at the right container with a simple glance. The color can reflect the brand logo to make the cargo easy to identify from a distance. Now, you should have a better understanding of why shipping containers have different colors regarding visual identification.

Moving Forward

Now you know that shipping container colors indicate either a container’s purpose or brand. You can start using this knowledge to understand your business better. Even though container color may mean nothing to passersby, to those involved with each shipment, the color of each container explains a lot visually. Now that you also have a better understanding of these factors, you can have a firmer grasp of why your shipping system runs so efficiently.

As a provider of international freight shipping, Diversified Transportation Services knows even the finer details of container paint color. For all your shipping needs, contact us today!

Finding the best way for a business to ship its products requires optimizing every step of the process. That may sound complex but thanks to the tools available today, businesses can find the right approach for their shipments. Partnering with professional transportation partners, such as freight transportation services, allows businesses to ship goods more accurately and productively. However, today’s technology gives businesses even more control over their delivery, right down to the last mile.

The final mile of a package’s delivery might sound like the simplest step, but it can be quite complicated. Today’s technology helps shipping services make that step easier; last-mile delivery software is a go-to tool for optimizing the delivery process. If your business doesn’t currently utilize this technology, or you are unclear about its effective properties, explore these ways last-mile delivery benefits your business. No matter your scenario, expanding your understanding of delivery software will only add more tools to your inventory to ensure better deliveries.

Clear Communication With Customers

Communication with customers is essential, but there are different forms of communicating in this business. For instance, customer service representatives help customers easily contact the manufacturer with questions or concerns. Likewise, the online product listings for an item need to successfully communicate what the product is. In this scenario, we will focus on communication during the delivery phase.

Last-mile tracking software provides companies with the precise location of their shipments at all times. This level of transparency between a business and its shipping team is critical, as it ensures everyone has a clear view of where a shipment is at any given moment. Not only does this give the business a way to assess the shipping service’s performance, but it also enables them to pinpoint where issues in the production chain are occurring.

For example, having a last-mile delivery software system in place during instances where a shipment reaches its destination well after its intended delivery date can enable you to find where delays or diversions occurred in transit. There are many moving parts in the last-mile delivery process, from ensuring shipments can make it onto the next delivery truck in a timely manner to ensuring they wind up at the right address. A lot can go wrong in this final stretch of transit, but the titular software solution will help you avoid those issues in the field. In the next section, we will explore how you can assess your data and start making improvements for a better customer experience.

Measuring and Improving Efficiency

One benefit that any business gains from analyzing its current productivity level is the opportunity to become a better service provider. An example of this improvement is finding the best route for every shipment. If you notice that the driver delivering the shipment took a particularly out-of-the-way route that results in an unnecessarily long delivery time, you can start taking steps to reduce that excessive travel time.

Many companies listen to feedback for a reason—they want to make improvements to ensure a better customer experience. Hearing ample customer feedback about shipping delays gives you the chance to analyze your last-mile delivery software to determine whether the optimal techniques are being used in transit.

Of course, the issue may not be within that last-mile delivery process but having the tools to make an informed decision about where the issue occurs is invaluable for improving as a company. Remember that having the data is one thing, but it takes more effort to strategize and complete updates to your last-mile shipping process. The topic of finding the perfect route doesn’t stop here; let’s take a closer look at how the titular software allows for an easier experience.

Simplifying the Search for Perfect Routes

“Perfect" may seem like a daunting standard to strive for because it isn’t always impossible. When it comes to finding the perfect last-mile delivery route, the tools are certainly available for achieving the aforementioned standard.

The perfect route is essential for the entirety of a shipment’s travel, but it becomes particularly critical during the last mile since taking the wrong road can lead to a worse customer experience. The sooner the customer gets the item, the better. In addition, the sooner the delivery team can get the package to the customer, the sooner they can focus their efforts on more of their ever-growing incoming shipment list. That sounds like an excellent goal, but how do you actually approach improvements?

This is where paying close attention to the features of your software becomes particularly beneficial. For instance, you can choose a last-mile delivery software that presents the most productive delivery route available at any given time. The best route for any shipment can change at a moment’s notice, and the right software can account for this fact. By putting this last-mile delivery software in your drivers’ hands, you ensure they can always follow the best path and provide the speediest experience for the customers waiting at the end of the last mile.

Saving Time and Fuel

The next way last-mile delivery benefits your business is by impacting the fuel costs associated with each shipment. If your driver is taking unnecessarily long routes to reach their destination, they are mismanaging both time and fuel consumption. However, the shorter the distance, the less gas your delivery trucks need to use to reach their destinations. Following the quickest route is helpful for the customer experience but it can have a substantial effect on your company, too. If you want that effect to be positive, use your last-mile delivery software to make any necessary changes to the shipment process. Thankfully, you shouldn’t have to take too many extra steps to optimize fuel consumption. If the driver is taking the quickest route, the gas tank will exemplify those benefits.

At Diversified Transportation Services, we specialize in freight transportation services. Our team uses modern tech and substantial experience to keep shipments productive and problem-free, but we want to pass these essential tips on to you so that you can also avoid pitfalls in the shipping process. Make the most out of your last-mile delivery software today to ensure you’re experiencing the above benefits during every shipment.

4 Ways Last-Mile Delivery Benefits Your Business

Shipping cargo quickly is no easy feat for businesses. However, with reliable 3PLs and freight forwarders on your side, you can transport shipments quickly, effectively, and efficiently. However, it’s beneficial to learn the basics of the industry before diving into the details with your 3PL or freight forwarder. Here’s what you need to know about freight transportation services.

What Is Freight?

The best way to dive into the world of shipping and logistics is to define freight. Freight refers to products or items that your freight forwarder transports via air, rail, sea, or road. The difference between freight and shipping is that freight generally refers to large quantities of cargo while shipping refers to a small amount of goods. However, professionals often use the two terms interchangeably.

Types of Transportation

There are multiple ways to transport cargo domestically and internationally. The most reliable ways to ship your cargo is by air, sea, rail, and road. The best transportation method to choose for your business depends on your budget, timeline, and the type of cargo you need to move.

Transportation Processes

There’s a lot more that goes into transportation than moving your cargo from point A to point B. Logistics, distribution, and warehousing all ensure that your cargo reaches its destination safely and on time. Instead of handling all the logistics and transportation processes, businesses often work with 3PLs and freight forwarders who have more experience and knowledge of the industry.

Partner With a Dependable 3PL

And that’s what you need to know about freight transportation services. If you require shipping and logistics services for your business, reach out to us at Diversified Transportation Services. Our services transform your logistics and transportation processes to make them faster, more reliable, and more cost-efficient. Give us a call today to learn more about our array of services!

While some businesses can ship their products regardless of the outside temperature or environment, others are not so lucky. Businesses that sell perishable or temperature-sensitive products have to put much more effort into their logistics and shipping processes to control the external temperature throughout the entire journey. Industry experts often refer to this type of logistics as cold chain logistics. While this sounds complex, many businesses find that transporting temperature-sensitive products is an easy process when they have the right 3PL and freight forwarders on their sides.

When you know how temperature control plays a role in freight delivery, you’ll have the information you need to guide your business’s logistics and shipping department to success.

1. Preserves Perishable Items

Of course, the first reason why temperature control is essential in the shipping and logistics world is because it preserves perishable items. Milk, eggs, frozen vegetables, meat, ice cream, fresh fruit, specific medical items, and certain electronics all require a constant temperature in order to arrive intact at their destinations. Without temperature-control, these items would arrive moldy, unusable, or destroyed, thus being unsafe for consumers.

2. Ensures Quality or Freshness Arrives Intact

Although some items, such as certain fresh fruits, are not as temperature-sensitive as others, businesses choose to ship them in temperature-controlled environments to ensure the quality and freshness of the product. While a business might be able to ship flowers in an environment without temperature control, the flowers might arrive wilted and in poor condition. Although the products are technically intact, they are not fresh or quality items anymore.

3. Follows Government Regulations

The majority of temperature-sensitive foods can make consumers sick if a business does not ship them properly. One of the most well-known temperature-sensitive foods is meat. Meat must remain in a temperature-controlled environment to prevent the growth of bacteria that can cause horrendous illnesses such as salmonella. To keep consumers safe, the FDA and DEA of the U.S. government require businesses to keep their temperature-sensitive foods at or under a specific temperature.

4. Keeps Your Customers Safe

Even if the U.S. government did not require businesses to maintain a constant temperature for certain products, corporations would do their best to keep their customers safe. After all, if a large number of consumers become sick from a product, the business selling the good can expect sales to decrease significantly. So, learning how temperature control plays a role in freight delivery and implementing cold chain logistics will greatly benefit your business and your consumers.

5. Increases Your Customer Satisfaction Rates

Every business desires to increase its customer satisfaction rates. When a business has happy customers, sales and profits are sure to follow. Additionally, when a business has rising customer satisfaction rates, that means it will keep its current customers while attracting new consumers. Temperature-controlled logistics allows companies to transport perishable items efficiently and successfully to ensure that they arrive in pristine condition. Today, consumers expect high-quality products, and cold chain logistics allows companies to provide just that.

6. Protects Your Business’s Reputation

When a business has a glowing reputation, it opens the doors for growth and expansion. Temperature-controlled shipping and logistics allows businesses to provide the highest-quality items to their consumers. As consumers continue to receive items in excellent condition, your business’s reputation will begin to grow. However, if a business does not take the proper steps to ensure quality and the safety for its consumers, its reputation will diminish quickly.

7. Maintains Relationships Between Partners

Many distributors rely on their retailers to sell their products to the public. However, retailers expect the products to arrive in the best possible condition. In fact, many retailers examine their products to ensure that they are quality items before putting them on shelves. To maintain beneficial relationships with retailers, businesses use cold chain logistics to ensure that perishable products arrive safely and intact.

8. Expands Your Market

Without cold chain logistics, companies would not be able to access certain markets. For example, a business selling meat would not be able to transport it out of the local area without cold chain logistics. So, the creation and operation of temperature-controlled logistics allows many businesses to expand their markets and grow their businesses to new heights.

9. Opens a Whole New World of Logistics

As you can imagine, cold chain logistics opens up a whole new world in the industry. Maintaining a constant temperature throughout the shipping process is no easy feat. Today, 3PLs and freight forwarders rely on specialized equipment to ship temperature-sensitive items. From refrigerated trucks to dry ice, there are numerous methods businesses can use to transport these sensitive products. We’ll go into more detail about these methods in the following point.

10. How To Ship Temperature-Sensitive Goods

Shipping perishable goods can take some effort. Even when you ship these sensitive goods in temperature-controlled environments, the whole process is simply a race against the clock, attempting to deliver items while they are still fresh or whole. When a business needs to transport a shipment quickly, they rely on 3PLs, such as Diversified Transportation Services, and their partnership with numerous reliable expedited freight carriers. With a 3PL on your side, your business will be able to make its cold chain logistic processes more successful and efficient.

As previously mentioned, businesses often use refrigerated trucks and dry ice to keep products at low temperatures. There are many other effective methods that companies use as well, such as refrigerated warehouses, reusable gel packs, and Styrofoam coolers. Additionally, it’s important to take the handling of the products into consideration as well. Personnel and employees should never leave these shipments out of the temperature-controlled environments for long periods of time. There are so many details that companies must take into consideration with this type of shipping.

If you want to partner with a reliable and concierge transportation provider, contact the team at Diversified Transportation Services. We’ll not only help you find the most reliable carriers or freight forwarders, but we can also help you navigate the shipping and logistics world with ease. Invest your time in other matters and let us handle all your temperature-sensitive shipping and logistics needs.

How Temperature Control Plays a Role in Freight Delivery

To ship your cargo quickly and efficiently overseas, use air transportation. Air transportation offers a wide array of benefits for businesses, and it’s one of the fastest ways to ship cargo internationally. Take a look at these common international air freight questions to learn more.

1. How Fast Is Air Freight?

For businesses, time is money. If you want to ship your freight overseas as quickly as possible, choose air transportation. Air freight is the fastest form of international transportation, and if you expedite your shipment, you can expect your cargo to arrive at its destination as soon as the next day.

2. Why Is Air Freight More Expensive?

When you compare air versus sea transportation, you’ll notice that air freight is significantly more expensive. There are a few reasons why air freight is more costly than shipping your cargo by sea, but the main reason is that airlines prioritize your shipment so that it arrives quickly. In addition, air freight is usually safer than shipping by sea, which brings us to our next question below.

3. Is Air Freight Safe?

Without a doubt, air freight is the safest method of international transportation. If you need to ship delicate or expensive cargo, air freight is your safest option. Because air freight reaches its destination so quickly, there are not a lot of workers handling your cargo. When you ship by sea, however, there are many workers handling your cargo every step of the way, thus slowing down the process.

4. Can You Use Air Transportation for All Cargo?

Another common international air freight question is whether you can use air transportation for all cargo. Although you can ship many types of cargo by plane, there are certain restricted items that you will need to ship by sea instead. These restricted items can include ammunition, explosives, fireworks, dry ice, gasoline, and most hazardous substances. If you need to ship these items, work with your 3PL and freight forwarder to find the best transportation options.

5. What Documents Do You Need for Air Transportation?

When you ship cargo overseas, you need to provide all the correct paperwork for customs. This paperwork includes certificates of origin, packing lists, bills of lading, commercial invoices, and more. The most reliable way to ensure that you ship your international air freight safely and legally is to work with a well-known 3PL, such as Diversified Transportation Services. We work with freight forwarders to ensure that your air freight reaches its destination safely and efficiently.

It’s no secret that the fastest and safest way to transport cargo overseas is by plane. So, when you need to ship your cargo overseas quickly, expedited air freight is the best solution for your business. Keep reading to learn more about the process for expediting international air freight.

What Is Expedited Shipping?

When you look at Diversified Transportation Services’ international shipping solutions, you’ll notice that we offer expedited shipping. Our air cargo expedited shipping service transports your shipments as quickly as possible to their destinations. We make the process seamless from pickup to delivery by providing best in class customer service, international shipping experience, and assisting with the required documentation. When you set up expedited shipping with us, we arrange the transport of your cargo on the next flight out to its destination. We’ll go over the steps for expediting international air freight so that you know exactly what to expect for your shipments.

Schedule the Service

The first step for expediting your freight is to schedule the service with a 3PL, such as Diversified Transportation Services. Contact your 3PL and let them know you need to expedite your freight. When you enlist our trustworthy services, we ensure that you receive the best prices and service to successfully expedite your cargo.

Pick Up and Transportation

The next step for expediting international air freight is for a carrier to pick up your freight and load it onto the next flight out to the destination. Since you want to expedite your shipment, we will find the most direct path for your freight to ensure that your freight arrives as quickly as possible.

Delivery

After the plane carrying your cargo reaches its destination, the freight carriers unload your shipments and prepare them for delivery. Since you paid for expedited shipping, your shipments should not sit in storage or stay still for long. The carrier should then deliver the freight as quickly as possible from the airport to its destination.

Businesses rely on 3PLs and their services to ship their cargo safely and efficiently. 3PLs, also known as third-party logistics providers, offer warehousing and transportation services for their clients. When companies want to make their shipping and transportation faster and more efficient, they outsource to 3PLs. One of the helpful services that 3PLs offer is international freight forwarding services. Learn about the basics of international freight forwarding services below.

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Driver detention can increase your transportation costs significantly, especially if it occurs on a regular basis. If a business has trouble managing driver detention times, they can work with 3PLs that offer freight transportation services to lower their costs and make their processes more efficient. Before a business can begin lowering its driver detention costs, it’s helpful to learn more about the effects that driver detention has on a business.

What Is Driver Detention

Before you can lower your driver detention costs, you must know what driver detention is. Driver detention is when a driver runs into delays while transporting freight. These delays can occur at the origin of pickup or the destination. For freight transportation, there is generally a two-hour window for pickup and delivery free of detention costs. After that two-hour window passes, driver detention costs come into play.

The Costs of Driver Detention

The purpose of driver detention costs is to compensate the freight carrier and the driver for their time. Unfortunately, driver detention not only affects one shipment but also all following shipments, so it’s easy to see how detention can cause shipments to fall behind schedule. There are many other effects that driver detention has on a business besides detention costs, such as dissatisfied customers, overtime pay, and reduced capacity. Over time, these costs can take a serious toll on your business.

How To Reduce Detention Times

There are many ways that businesses can reduce their detention times. One of the best ways is to work with an experienced 3PL, such as Diversified Transportation Services, who can help you lower not only your driver detention costs but also your transportation costs overall. A few other helpful tips that businesses can use to reduce driver detention time are to increase warehouse staff, adjust your scheduling, and prepare your shipments early.

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