Meaning & use
freight forwarder
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountablebusinessspecialist
A company or person who arranges the transport, storage and paperwork needed to move goods from one place to another, often across borders.
Grammar: Has a plural: freight forwarders handle many shipments.
Patterns
- hire a freight forwarder
- a freight forwarder for something
We hired a freight forwarder to ship the furniture to Canada.
A good freight forwarder handles customs forms for you.
The small exporter relied on a freight forwarder to book space on ships.
Word forms
| plural | freight forwarders |
|---|
Common combinations
- hire a freight forwarder
- The company hired a freight forwarder for its overseas orders.
- international freight forwarder
- An international freight forwarder can find the cheapest route.
- through a freight forwarder
- They shipped the machinery through a freight forwarder.
- freight forwarder fees
- Freight forwarder fees were added to the invoice.
- contact a freight forwarder
- Contact a freight forwarder before the goods leave the warehouse.
Synonyms and how they differ
- shipping agent
- This is a broader everyday phrase for someone who arranges shipping, while freight forwarder points to the whole supply chain including customs and storage.
- carrier
- A carrier actually moves the goods in its own vehicles, whereas a freight forwarder arranges the journey with various carriers.
- logistics provider
- This is a wider term covering warehousing and planning too, whereas freight forwarder focuses on arranging shipments.
- customs broker
- A customs broker deals only with customs clearance, while a freight forwarder organizes the whole transport.
Word family
- freight noun
- goods transported in bulk
- forward verb
- to send on to another place
- forwarding noun
- the act of sending goods on
- freighter noun
- a ship or plane that carries cargo
Commonly confused: freight forwarder or carrier? freight forwarder or freight forward?
freight forwarder vs carrier
A carrier owns and operates the trucks, ships or planes, whereas a forwarder arranges everything but may not own any.
freight forwarder vs freight forward
This is not the standard noun; the person is a forwarder, and the service is called freight forwarding.
Practice
The small company does not own any ships, so it uses a ___ to organize customs papers and book space on cargo vessels.
Choose one answer.
A freight forwarder arranges transport and paperwork for goods. A ticket agent sells passenger tickets, a travel guide leads tourists, and a bank teller handles money.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “freight forwarder”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.