June 20

Shipping Nightmares! How can you avoid them?

Shipping is an arduous process. There are so many i’s to dot, so many t’s to cross.

Requirements vary wildly. You have insurance rates to think about. You have customs declarations to clear, and codes to decipher. Not to mention proper packaging of your goods and the actual shipping itself. When shipping goes wrong, it can go very, very wrong.

Shipping Nightmares revealed!

Whether it be single container cargo shipment or Project Cargo shipment, it is essential that is is done efficiently for your company. When Cargo shipment (single and/or project) goes wrong, it goes seriously awry. It can potentially cost you millions of dollars, time and your reputation. This is a complete nightmare.

Example: A project manager or was devastated when his company ended up paying BD600,000 in fines. All for improper shipment of oil field project cargo. The machinery was not dismantled properly. Their shipping company did not bother to check. This was a recipe for disaster. The client had to pay fines and customs of an extortionate amount. His work and reputation suffered as a result.

Mars Freights has long standing experience shipping oil field project cargo and single container shipments . We know the importance and procedure of proper handling / dismantling / loading / unloading / shipping and customs declaration of your equipment or cargo. We know how to get around customs fines, tariffs and taxes properly. We make sure that your cargo arrives safely and your project can go ahead as planned. Check out our blog post for the Need to Know process of handling project cargo.

Shipping high value art and collectibles can be a nerve wracking process. You’ve invested a lot of time, effort and money into your art collection and you want to ship it safely. We have heard horror stories of mishandling precious art. art shipping - freight disaster- mars Freights

Example:A shipping customer once had a nightmarish experience. They shipped art, enclosed in an expensive frame. However, their shipping company did care to ensure that this was properly packaged. Upon arrival, customs inspectors ended up actually cutting the art out of its frame!

Mars Freights has professional packers. We properly and carefully pack your valuable fine art and gallery collections. You can check this out on our website. We shipped precious art from KSA to UK / US / and other GCC countries. See the professional packing process at work. We have successfully packed, shipped and declared numerous works of fine art. Our experience and professional care means that your nerves can rest easy. Your precious and valuable fine arts collection is in safe and competent hands. We guarantee that with Mars Freight, your goods will arrive in tact and accounted for.

Customs and insurance rates seem to go up and down with the wind. Making heads or tails while preparing your shipment for freight is so frustrating. Trying to decipher all the freight codes yourself is like learning hieroglyphics. You could spend hours trying to translate, or just resort to guesswork. But, one wrong move could mean cost and penalty. You could end up forking over much more money than expected. Or, even worse, having your goods seized by customs. All because your rates are improperly calculated or customs declarations are not sufficiently prepared. What a nightmare that would be.

Mars Freights can help take the guesswork out of customs clearance and tariff rates. We have years of experience with customs clearing. We help clear shipments through air, sea and land freight. We know the codes and the terms, and take guesswork out of the equation. Check out our freight code dictionary on our website, and allow us to decipher the rest for you.

Don’t leave your shipping documents to guesswork. Don’t get caught in the shuffle. Let Mars Freights help relieve your stress and get your goods to where they need to go. Our experience is there for you, whatever the process requires. Sleep easy, Mars Freights will handle it.

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April 7

How to Save Money on Your Shipping

Shipping cost

Trade is the essence of business and economic stability, but what you may not know is that it’s not as simple as buying and selling! You need to agree on shipping costs, assumed risks, responsibilities and a whole lot of terms that would have your head spinning.

Well, worry no more! At Mars Freights, logistics is our business and as a service to humanity, we’ve put together this post to help you understand the two most common and preferred freight forwarding methods.

You can also watch as Inco-Man demystifies these methods in our animated video below.

Ok…so you bought or sold an item, congratulations! Now you must move that item from its origin to its destination. The best way to do that is to negotiate at the point of purchase how that’s going to be accomplished.
In order for both parties to understand and agree on the particulars, you both need to speak the same language and agree on what the desired outcome is in terms of communicating the tasks, roles and risks.
And that’s where Incoterms come in. These are a series of predefined commercial terms published by the International Chamber of Commerce, and with that you can rest assured that expectations are met and you wont find yourself charged with an insurance policy that you hadn’t agreed on.

So what does this all really mean? Here’s a real life example:
You’ve purchased some goods from a factory in China (point A), and want them delivered to your business headquarters set up in Oman (point B), There are a number of ways your freight forwarding company can do this.

Let’s see what’s the difference between EX Works (a.ka. EXW) and Free on Board (FOB) which are the two most popular methods in the above situation.

1- EX Works

With this method you the buyer (point B) are assuming all the costs of transport from the seller’s (point A) place of work to its final destination (point B). The freight forwarding company you appoint, will handle all export documentation, and although as a buyer you are assuming the maximum risk, this pays off with the control and reduced cost of shipping, making you the most competitive in your market. You will also have routing control over your shipping and as you will purchase the necessary insurance, you will realise good gains from that too.

2- Free on Board (FOB)

Free on board is probably the most important and most used. FOB means that the seller fulfils its obligation to deliver when the goods have passed over the ship’s rail, at a particular port of shipment and requires that the seller clears the goods for export.
What that mean in our example above is basically that; the seller in China is responsible for all transport costs from his location of business (warehouse, factory etc) to the Chinese port (whether it be air or sea). This will also include custom clearance to get the goods on board. Once the goods are on that plane or ship making their way to you in Oman, the seller is released from any responsibility.
You the buyer will now have to assume the costs of getting the goods from the Oman port to your place of business. This includes insurance costs, shipping costs paid to your appointed freight forwarding company and any additional costs that arise from transportation of the goods from port to your location.

So there you have it. Two very important freight methods that can make you feel at ease when chartering the trade business. For more freight term clarification, watch our complete video here.

Next month, we’ll talk about how you can apply freight forwarding methods to shipping your high valued items, be it furniture, jewellery or your latest acquisition from Christie’s.

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