Picking one that’s right for you is critical to export success

You’re exhibiting at a tradeshow, about to give up on finding new clients for the “miracle car wax” you sell to auto dealerships and retailing outfits in a few states, when a buyer from South Africa shows up and orders 20 cases of the stuff. The buyer plunks down the cash right there, too, and tells you to ship the order to Johannesburg. You’ve never exported anything in your life, but that’s not going to stop you. So you do the paperwork and shake hands with your new account.

No sooner does the buyer leave than the fertilizer guy in the neighboring booth saunters over, all buddy-buddy. He hopes your freight forwarder is better than his, he says. He complains that his company made the mistake of using the same forwarder who ships locally for them to ship overseas. Two orders got stuck on the docks for days because the paperwork wasn’t right, he says. He reveals that he got his forwarder from the Yellow Pages, but will be looking elsewhere for someone with international expertise.

“Any idea where to look?” he asks you.

In today’s world of Internet omniscience, finding a forwarder is relatively easy for the small or midsize company that is new to exporting, or that simply wants to change providers.

<b> Where to look</b> Going to the Yellow Pages — the hard copy or on the Internet — almost is instinctive, but that works best in major metropolitan areas, such as New York and Houston, where you are sure to find several entries whose services you can compare.

While you’re in directory mode, however, check out the “U.S. Custom House Guide: Ports of Entry and U.S. Import Regulations” and its sister publication, “The Official Export Guide.” Commonwealth Business Media, the parent company of Shipping Digest, publishes both guides, which offer a wealth of nitty-gritty information and resources. Ports of Entry, for example, lists relevant organizations, agencies and service providers in each customs district, including customs brokers and freight forwarders. The list for the New York-New Jersey District alone is six pages long.

The strictly online Directory of Freight Forwarding Services lists companies by city and state, in the U.S. and outside, with all the services they offer, such as airfreight, rail freight, trucking, breakbulk, specialized transportation, logistics management, international trade, insurance, export documentation and licensing and letters of credit.

The umbrella organization, National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America Inc., with its “Find a Broker/Forwarder” and “Useful Links” facilities, is an excellent resource. Submitting a forwarder query for a specific city and/or state yields a list of names with their contact information in the location specified. “Useful Links,” meanwhile, takes you to the local broker-forwarder associations, such as the Boston Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association and the Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of Northern California.

Other forwarder listing services include the commerce network 1800Miti.Com Inc., FreightGate and FreightNet, which allow you to find forwarders around the world.

Then there’s the U.S. government, one of your best friends when it comes to exporting. The U.S. Department of Agriculture maintains a directory of freight forwarders that serve shippers of agricultural products. The U.S. Department of Commerce’s international trade specialists at the regional Export Assistance Centers will at least steer exporters to a relevant list.

“We direct them to the New York Freight Forwarders Association and/or the NCBFAA. We’re not allowed to give the name of any single companies. Sometimes we refer them to the Buyusa.gov Web site because some companies are advertising on the site,” said Harvey Rubenstein, trade specialist at the Newark Export Assistance Center in New Jersey.

While all these sources provide names, contact information and, in some instances, a description of the services provided, they do not tell you the qualities you should look for, or the questions to ask, when choosing a freight forwarder.