The International Trade Blog 
International Sales & Marketing
The Case of the Disappearing Export Shipment
On: February 29, 2016 | By: 
Roy Becker |
2 min. read
For many exporters, freight forwarders can be invaluable partners to move goods around the world. Forwarders can save you time and money, especially if you’re new to exporting and have little experience.
However, choosing the right forwarder can sometimes be tricky business. If you don’t properly vet a forwarder for trustworthiness and integrity, your decision to partner with what you think is the perfect freight forwarder could backfire.
The Case of the Disappearing Export Shipment
A company in Colorado received an order to ship goods to Chile. The buyer in Chile provided instructions to have the goods delivered to a freight forwarder in Miami that would then handle the shipment from Miami to Chile. After trucking the goods to the freight forwarder in Miami, the exporter received a receipt from the freight forwarder.
Later, the goods were reported to have disappeared. The exporter produced the receipt as proof that the goods were delivered to the freight forwarder and argued that the forwarder must take responsibility for the lost goods.
The freight forwarder, on the other hand, claimed that the signature on the receipt wasn’t valid. They insisted the receipt was signed by an imposter who then disappeared with the goods.
How Freight Forwarders Operate
As is the case with most transactions involving freight forwarders, a previous agreed upon Incoterm dictates who contracts the freight forwarder. The freight forwarder then becomes an agent for moving cargo to an overseas destination. A freight forwarder can free the exporter from dealing with many logistics-related details by handling cargo from dock-to-door or other agreed upon responsibilities.
Since the goods in this true story supposedly disappeared, the buyer refused to pay the exporter for the goods. No one knows for sure what happened. However, one plausible theory had the buyer colluding with the freight forwarder in a scheme resulting in the buyer receiving the goods without paying for them.
What’s the lesson? Any time one of your buyers insists on a specific freight forwarder, thoroughly vet the forwarder with a background and reference check.
Finally, remember if you hire a freight forwarder to help you with your exports, it does not obviate you from your responsibility to follow export compliance regulations.
