International Transportation and Freight Forwarder Selection: An Exporter’s Perspective

Abstract

International transportation is playing a signifcant role and increasing its importance in international trade because it moves goods from source countries to destination countries. Economics integration is also continuously growing in every region. Furthermore, free trade agreement and
reduction in trade barriers have contributed to vigorous export expansion in many exporting countries. Exporting goods is major revenue of Thailand. A freight forwarder is one of the important links in the global trade. A freight forwarder is an agent who handles export shipments. Therefore, the more export transaction is, the more freight forwarder will be. There are many freight forwarders in Thailand, so the competition is very high in global transportation. As a result, an exporter has negotiation power on selection of a freight forwarder. From literature review and own experience, it was found that six factors including reliability, assurance, tangibility, empathy, responsiveness, and cost have an impact on freight forwarder selection. In addition, this article has come up with suggestion for a freight forwarder on improvement of quality of service to gain customer satisfaction in the highly competitive market.