COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES OF INTERNATIONAL FREIGHT FORWARDER SERVICES IN CHINA

Abstract

Specialists are now handling the freight forwarding functions for shippers in China due to recent rapid decentralization and growth in international trade. This paper compares the perceived gaps between shippers' needs and the services that freight forwarders are providing. It shows that shippers put value on improved warehousing services, value-adding, and more tailored payment services. They see forwarders' value in improved logistics more than in facilitating goods flows. Forwarders are facing challenges from external state policies, the changing patterns of international trade, technical developments and availability of resources. A major test will be when China assumes full World Trade Organization stature, which will require domestic logistics processes to be able to interact with international systems and will require shippers to be able to ship partially filled unit loads. Re-engineering the information flow and using the Web more would facilitate streamlining, but the current environment is too volatile and too sparsely documented to permit a clear view of the ultimate outcomes. Immediate future work will be needed to monitor the WTO impacts and detailing specific re- engineering changes needed.