FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions for shipping from Thailand

How to find the perfect freight forwarder ?

Finding your forwarding agent in Bangkok is difficult because there are many. With the increase in exports and the number of wholesalers, Bangkok is becoming one of the main purchasing platforms of Southeast Asia. Maybe you’ve already done some research on the internet. Before to choose a carrier, you must evaluate it.

Of course, International Courier are present in Thailand. DHL or Fedex. However, we advise small structures, able to offer you a tailored service with competitive offer. We also use such service through a partnership on all our Express shipping service.

If you want to hire a forwarding agent, here are some tips:

-Do your own research

It is obvious that to do this research, internet is the best option. Check the quality of the site and the information proposed. Do not let yourself be seduced by beautiful words, check the opinions of past customers. If the communication goes wrong or the transporter does not identify your needs, ask for another.

-Ask questions

Only an experienced forwarding agent can lift doubts about your queries. Make a list of your questions. A serious carrier will respond immediately and without hesitation. You have to ask questions about transport time, risks, taxes, and even other extra-transport matters. A forwarding agent must be a multi-tasking partner.

-Do you want the forwarding agent to take care of everything?

Many customers prefer FOB, DAT or DAP sales. If you do not understand the Incoterm, read this article:

– Ouversized item

Don’t forget to mention if you want to ship oversized item such big furnitures, vehicles or boat.. We can handle such volume but we have to confirm every details with you to provide proper information and prices. Some shipper don’t handle big item so it’s better to know as soon as you can.

– Manpower

It could be interesting to save money, implicate yourself in the move and get a super competitive offer ! If you pack, load or unload yourself, the price will be reduced and at the end, you can really reduce the bill.

– What is the insurance policy for disputes?

If you have any questions about insurance, you can contact us directly or check our dedicated article : Insurance

 

 Transport by Sea or by Air ?

Several differences of costs, deadlines, reliability

Everybody tries to get short deadlines because the retailers of bricks and mortars, the on-line sellers, the wholesalers and the manufacturers through the supply chain try to maintain their thin stocks. Acquisition costs must be minimized, in a way that the sea freight remains the best solution. If you are new on-line, you will certainly have to try to obtain small margins to create your company. But on one side, you cannot have a delivery which will arrive too early or too late, the late deliveries make lose future sales, thus the air freight could suit you.

Q: If I send by sea road, will my delivery be made in time according to the terms of my customers or my own customers?
R: There are certainly “standard” delivery deadlines or “ways”, but these can vary. The time affects transit times, of course. Docshipper can help you with your personalized service and your unwavering attention to our customers. Another way of insuring the expeditions in time is the delivery by air traffic.

Q: If I send by air, its more expensive ?
R: Maybe, maybe not! It depends on several factors (see the second paragraph)

The freight cost depends of the oil prices. We are in touch with international airlines company to get last prices in real time. We helped many customers with the expedition and the reception, and we can help you to avoid the expensive errors and even to help you to avoid going bankrupt! Here are some points to consider on the air freight.

 

Advantages and Inconveniences

When the time is the highest priority, you wish that our network of partners and agents worldwide manages your shipments.
The expedition by air traffic decreases the time of shipping and pulls better one coverage of the state of the goods on arrival, allows a better inventory control for the manufacturing and the storage just-in-time, and for certain products, lowers the costs of expedition.How is this possible?

Calculation of the costs of shipping

Historically, the costs of expedition were calculated according to the gross weight or to the real weight in kilograms or in pounds sterling. But it is not so easy these days.There are two types of weighty calculations:
1) Gross weight or real weight
2) Dimensional Weight.
As you can imagine, by loading only by real weight, packagings with low density are not profitable for airline companies because of the quantity of space which they occupy in a plane. For example, if a carrier charged the same thing for the expedition of a pound of feathers as for a pound of products or electronics, it would be inequitable.
Feathers take much more place. Sizing If a sending is lower than the minimal density of the standard of the industry, the real weight is not relevant and the carrier takes care according to the dimensional weight. The dimensional weight is calculated in length x width x height / dimensional factor. The dimensional weight is also known under the name of weight DIM, volume weight and weight in cubes. Besides, if the weight is certainly a factor in the price of shipping companies, their responsibility is usually based on the size of the sending. Thus, if you transport less that a cargo of container, your price is often determined by a cubic meter. With the more important and heavier expeditions, it is often much less expensive to send by maritime freight.However, as the expedition decreases, the margin between the prices decreases and sometimes the shipping by air freight will eventually less expensive even. The answer is false. Sometimes, the shipping by air traffic is lower.
Yes, it seems complicated, but because we are in the company for more than 15 years, we can help you to make the best choice for the expedition of your products to arrive at any time of the year at the best price.

You can use this tool made buy DHL to calculate automatically the volumetric weight according to the dimensions. Click here to try it : DHL Tool calculator

Good reasons for calling the experts

The senders, in particular the new or almost new senders, would be wise to call us and to experiment our practical and personalized service. Even the experimented senders would be informed well to call our advice’s. The rules of delivery change all the time. And we handle every international rules as well as the national rules of delivery!To see the other manners of which we can help you, click here to read the many more reliable and innovative solutions which we supply to forward your products towards or from almost any destination all over the world. We offer a unique personalized service which you will not find with other companies.

Why Docshipper ?

In order to optimize our services, Siam Shipping and Siam Relocation are now part of the Docshipper group. Our customers can now benefit from total supply chain coverage.