On this post, I will explain freight forwarders, freight forwarders association and the documents published by the freight forwarders association in a global scale.
Forwarding agents are also known as freight forwarders, freight brokers, transit agents, and they may also act as clearing agents or customs brokers.
In most instances buyers and sellers are not themselves in a position to carry out the necessary arrangements for the shipment of their cargo.
They rely on the services of specialized firms for this work and for processing customs formalities. (1)
Freight forwarders can arrange door-to-door shipments, decrease transportation costs by offering more competitive freight quotes, increase the efficiency of carriers, exporters and importers by giving professional logistics services, consolidate small orders, offer storage, handling, packing, distribution and customs breakage services to their clients. (2)
Freight forwarders around to world are gathered together and formed an association that shapes the international transportation.
FIATA stands for International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations. FIATA was founded in Vienna/Austria on May 31, 1926.
FIATA, a non-governmental organisation, represents today an industry covering approximately 40,000 forwarding and logistics firms, also known as the “Architects of Transport”, employing around 8 – 10 million people in 150 countries. (3)
Fiata has created several documents and templates in order to reach a uniform standard for use by freight forwarders in a global scale.
Fiata documents are known as FCR, FCT, FWR, FBL, FWB, SDT, SIC and FFI. These documents have been printed in different colors so that they can be distinguished from each other.
Fiata Documents
- FIATA FCR (Forwarders Certificate of Receipt)
- FIATA FCT (Forwarders Certificate of Transport)
- FWR (FIATA Warehouse Receipt)
- FBL (Negotiable FIATA Multimodal Transport Bill of Lading)
- FWB (Non-Negotiable FIATA Multimodal Transport Waybill)
- FIATA SDT (Shippers Declaration for the Transport of Dangerous Goods)
- FIATA SIC (Shippers Intermodal Weight Certificate)
- FFI (FIATA Forwarding Instructions)
Main Features of Fiata Documents
Here are some important features of Fiata documents:
- Fiata documents are highly standardized.
- Only national freight forwarders associations (general members of FIATA) can issue FIATA documents.
- Fiata documents can only be used by Fiata members.
- Every Fiata document must bear the Fiata logo at the right head section of the documents.
- Only negotiable FIATA Multimodal Transport Bill of Lading and non-negotiable FIATA Multimodal Transport Waybill are accepted as a transport document in terms of letter of credit rules. Other Fiata documents are not considered as a transport document in UCP 600 latest L/C rules.
- Some major countries that are using Fiata documents are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, South Korea, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, Sri Lanka, China, Taiwan, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, the United States, Vietnam.
References:
- Shipping and Incoterms, Practice Guide, UNDP Practice Series, Page.10
- What are the functions of freight forwarders in international transportation?
- Who is FIATA
