If you came looking for Freightbook, the short version is that it is gone. The domain no longer resolves to the forwarder directory it used to host. For anyone who had a listing there, the more useful question is what to do now, and what the disappearance says about relying on any single directory.
The short answer
Spread your visibility across several channels rather than one. A directory listing is rented ground: you do not control the domain, the traffic or whether it exists next year. The channels that survive a directory closing are the ones you own, chiefly your own website and the relationships you have already made.
What Freightbook was
Freightbook operated as a freight forwarder directory and networking service, with company profiles, a searchable directory and a trade-news element. It sat in the same category as the network and directory services forwarders have used for decades to find partners in countries where they have no office.
Its disappearance is not unusual. Directories in this sector consolidate, get acquired, or quietly stop being maintained. What is unusual is how often forwarders discover it only when a customer says they could not find them.
Where to list instead
Roughly four categories, and they do different jobs.
Agent networks
Paid membership organisations whose core product is vetted partner matching, often with financial protection on transactions between members. WCA, the Conqueror network, X2 and similar operate this way. Membership is typically an annual fee, often exclusive by city or territory, and the value is the counterparty assurance rather than inbound enquiries from shippers.
Good for: finding a partner in a country you do not operate in. Not for: generating shipper demand.
Open directories and marketplaces
Public listings that shippers can search, and which rank in search engines. This includes CargoLinked, alongside various regional and national directories. The distinction that matters is whether a listing is visible to a shipper searching Google, or only to other members behind a login. A profile nobody outside the industry can see does a different job from one that ranks on a lane or city search.
Good for: being findable by shippers who do not already know you. Not for: vetted partner matching, which is the networks' job.
Trade association membership
FIATA internationally, BIFA in the UK, and the national association wherever you operate. These are not primarily lead sources, but membership is a credential shippers can verify, and it appears in the directories those bodies publish. It is also one of the credentials a careful shipper will check.
Channels you own
Your own site, ranking for the lanes and services you actually sell. Your Google Business Profile, which is what surfaces for local searches. Your existing customers, who are the cheapest source of the next shipment. None of these can be switched off by someone else.
The lesson worth taking
Freightbook's users did not lose a listing because they did something wrong. They lost it because it was never theirs. Three practical consequences:
- Keep your company data somewhere you control. Descriptions, service lists, coverage, certifications and photographs should live in your own records, so re-listing elsewhere is an afternoon rather than a project.
- Be present in more than one place. Two or three directories plus your own site is resilience, not duplication.
- Check your listings once a year. Dead directories, stale phone numbers and superseded certifications all quietly cost enquiries, and nobody tells you.
Choosing where to spend
Ask three questions of any directory or network before paying:
- Who can see the listing? Public and search-visible, or members-only behind a login? These are different products.
- What does the enquiry actually look like? A contact form to your inbox, a shared lead sent to several companies, or nothing but a profile view.
- Is the price published? Where it is not, expect the quote to depend on territory exclusivity and to be negotiable.
And judge the outcome on enquiries received rather than profile views, over at least a couple of quarters. Directory traffic is seasonal and slow to build, and a listing that produced nothing in month one is not evidence of much.
