Freight Insights
Industry news, guides, and best practices from the CargoLinked team.
Minimum Bill of Lading Charges: Weight, Volume and When They Kick In
Every freight rate has a minimum chargeable weight or volume behind it. Small shipments routinely pay for cargo they never actually sent because the minimum was never checked against the real numbers.
Customs Post-Entry Amendments: Fixing a Filing Mistake After the Fact
A wrong value, code, or quantity on a customs entry does not have to become a compliance problem, as long as it is corrected the right way and within the right window.
How to Respond to an RFQ: What Actually Wins Freight Forwarding Business
Most RFQ responses lose on completeness before price ever gets compared. What a shipper actually checks first, and how to build a response that survives that first pass.
Breakbulk and Project Cargo: When Your Freight Does Not Fit a Container
Breakbulk and project cargo cover the freight that containers were never designed for: oversized, overweight, or awkwardly shaped loads that need their own stowage plan, not a booking reference.
Free Trade Agreement Certificates of Origin: How to Actually Use Them
A certificate of origin under a free trade agreement only saves duty if the product actually qualifies under the agreement's specific rules of origin, not just because it was made in a member country.
Freight Forwarder Insurance: E&O, Cargo Legal Liability and Cyber Cover Explained
A freight forwarder needs different insurance than the cargo insurance sold to shippers. Here is what errors & omissions, cargo legal liability, and cyber cover each actually protect against.
Freight Payment Terms: Prepaid vs Collect and Who Actually Controls the Cargo
Prepaid and collect are not just billing preferences. The choice decides who can release the cargo, who absorbs a rate dispute, and who has leverage if something goes wrong mid-shipment.
Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duties: What Importers Actually Pay
Anti-dumping and countervailing duties can add far more to a landed cost than the regular tariff line. Here is what triggers them, how the rates are set, and how to check before you commit to a supplier.
How to Price a Freight Quote: Margin, Overhead and What Competitors Charge
A practical framework for pricing freight forwarding services: what to build into the margin, what overhead actually costs per shipment, and when to price against the market instead of your costs.
Stretch Wrap, Strapping and Getting a Pallet to Arrive Intact
Most pallets fail the same way: the film never gripped the pallet, so the load slides off the base as one piece. Thickness is not the measure that matters.
Shipper-Owned vs Carrier-Owned Containers (SOC vs COC)
A shipper-owned container stops the detention clock permanently. It also makes the empty your problem, which is the whole calculation.
Pre-Cooling and Loading a Reefer Without Breaking the Chain
The chain usually breaks in the twenty minutes the doors are open. Loading a reefer properly is a sequence, and one step of it is the opposite of intuition.