DHL, Fedex and UPS International Freight Service Comparison

Freight shipping involves the movement of large packaging such as pallets or even containers and is usually used by importer/exporters. The table below lists all of the different freight services available from DHL, Fedex and UPS. They are grouped into three sections: Air, Ocean and Ground/Rail. These services mainly address the unique needs of these business shippers such as expediency, security, temperature sensitivity, door to door delivery, consolidation etc.

Two words about freight forwarders

Many international importer and exporters choose to elect a freight forwarder to handle all the details for shipping their commodities internationally. One thing that they should be aware of is that freight forwarders outsource their services and many times use DHL, Fedex or UPS freight services as well for a portion of the shipping-especially if shipping air freight. In the case of air freight you may want to consider using these carriers directly. The nice thing about using these main carriers directly for your freight needs is that a price can be given up front that should not deviate much from the final price. Often freight forwarders cannot tell give a customer a final price because honestly they don't know what it will be.

Another notable difference between using a freight forwarder and using one of these carriers is that the delivery can be made door to door. Freight forwarders often only deliver to airports. As an importer you always want to maintain a good relationship with your trading company. If they are used to working with freight forwarders it may be to your advantage to continue to use a freight forwarder. However you can instruct your freight forwarder to use one of these shipping carriers and your shipping account to make the arrangements. Having previously arranged shipments through your freight forwarders using their means it would be an easy matter to do a cost comparison of the shipping using one of these carriers. If you decide that there are sufficient benefits to using one of these carriers, you can then try to negotiate greater volume discounts from your shipping carrier by including your import/export shipments in addition to your present shipping volume. Finally and equally important you this would give you better control on the actual final cost of the shipment plus option of door to door delivery if desired.

A changing market outlook...

Importer/Exporters usually are content to allow for a certain percentage of their profit margin to go to shipping and are happy to just pay what is needed. However the United States economy is slowing which means that orders will not be as large and profit margins will suffer. It is usually times such as these when "necessary" costs are more closely scrutinized.