International Journal of All Research Education and Scientific Methods (IJARESM), ISSN: 2455-6211

Volume 9, Issue 1, January -2021, Impact Factor: 7.429, Available online at: www.ijaresm.com

A Study on Problems Faced By Freight Forwarders with

Special Reference to Tirupur District
Dr. M. Ganesan1, G. Gowtham2
1
Associate Professor, Department of Commerce with Banking and Insurance Law, Dr. NGP Arts and Science College,
Coimbatore
2
Ph.D Research Scholar, Department of Commerce, Dr. NGP Arts and Science College, Coimbatore

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ABSTRACT

The study was conducted in Tirupur District with objective of assessing problems faced by freight forwarders in
Tirupur District. Freight forwarders typically arrange cargo movement to an international destination. Also
referred to as international freight forwarders, they have the expertise that allows them to prepare and process the
documentation and perform related activities pertaining to international shipments. Some of the typical
information received by a freight forwarder is the commercial invoice, shipper’s export declaration, bill of lading
and other documents required by the carrier or country of export, import or transshipment. Freight forwarders
organize the safe, efficient movement of goods on behalf of an exporter, importer or another company or person,
sometimes including dealing with packing and storage. Taking into account the type of goods and the customer’s
delivery requirement, freight forwarders arrange the best means of transport, using the services of shipping lines,
airlines or road and rail freight operators. Companies vary in size and type, from those operating on a national and
international basis to smaller, more specialized firms, who deal with particular types of goods or operate within
particular geographical areas.

Keywords: Freight Forwarders, Cargo, Port, Sea Freight, International Shipments

INTRODUCTION

Logistics is the management of the flow of good, information and other resources between the point of origin and the point
of consumption in order to meet the requirements of consumers (frequently and originally, military organizations).
Logistics involves the integration of information, transportation, inventory, warehousing, material handling and packaging,
and occasionally security. Logistics is a channel of the supply chain which adds the value of time and place utility. Today
the complexity of production logistics can be modeled, analyzed, visualized and optimized by plant stimulation software.

Freight Forwarders
A freight forwarder or forwarding agents a person or company that organizes shipments for individuals or other companies
and may also act as a carrier. A forwarder is often not active as a carrier and acts only as an agent.

In other words as a third party (non-asset-based) logistics provider that dispatches shipments via asset-based carriers and
that books or otherwise arranges space for these shipments. Carrier types include ships, airplanes, trucks and railroads.

Freight forwarders typically arrange cargo movement to an international destination. Also referred as international freight
forwarders, they have the expertise that allows them to prepare and process the documentation and perform related
activities pertaining to international shipments. Some of the typical information reviewed by a freight forwarder is the
commercial invoice, shipper’s export declaration, bill of lading and other documents required by the carrier or country of
export, import or transshipment.

Objective of the Study

 To know the problems faced by the freight forwarders at the transshipment of goods to ports.
 To analyze the level of risk in handling the cargo.
 To study the cargo handled by the freight forwarders in the logistics companies.

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 International Journal of All Research Education and Scientific Methods (IJARESM), ISSN: 2455-6211
Volume 9, Issue 1, January -2021, Impact Factor: 7.429, Available online at: www.ijaresm.com

Scope of The Study

This study includes direct interaction with the freight forwarders and this helps to know the level of problems faced by
them. This study is of importance to the company which will know the following factors: price factors, risk factors, quick
delivery time.

1. To find out how much customers/clients are satisfied with the services provided by the freight forwarders.
2. This study will help me to understand problems faced by the freight forwarders.
3. To adopt new techniques, methods and strategies for the business through customer satisfaction

Methods Of Data Collection

Data collection refers to the process of preparing and collecting data. The data for this study were collected through primary
and secondary data.

Primary data collection:

Primary data is the information collected by the researcher directly through instruments such as interview, observation,
questionnaire and schedule.

Secondary data collection:

Secondary data means published data and the data collected in the past. The secondary data used for this study is, various
resources are available namely books, internet etc., and also collected from various files, records etc.

Sampling Design
The sampling design used for this study is simple random sampling. It gives equal chance to the entire customers in the
sample size.

A sample design is a definite plan for obtaining a sample from a given population. It refers to the technique or the
procedure the researcher would adopt in selecting items from the sample. The sample design is determined before data
collection.
The descriptive research design is adopted for this project. Descriptive research is also called statistical research. This type
of research is done to describe the data and characteristics about what is being studied.

Sample Size
The sample size is 50 respondents.

Statistical Tools
The statistical tools used for analyzing the data collected are percentage method, chi-square method, bar diagrams and
pie diagrams.

Tools Used For Analysis

Simple percentage method
Rank Order

1. Simple percentage method:

Number of respondents
Equation = ∗100
Total number of respondents
Ranking Scale
A Rank Order Scale gives the respondent a set of items and asks them to put the items in some form of order. The measure
of ‘order’ can include such as preference, importance, liking, effectiveness and so on. Rank Order Scale is also known as
Raking Scale.

Cargo
Cargo refers to goods carried by a large vehicle, like a plane, ship, train, or truck. Cargo originates from the Latin word
“Carricare” which means “to load on a cart, or wagon”. Cargo can be loaded on a cart, but it’s usually loaded on something
much bigger. On a ship, cargo is stacked up in huge, colorful metal containers. Cargo is goods or produce transported,
generally for commercial gain, by ship or aircraft, although the term is now extended to intermodal train, van or truck.

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 International Journal of All Research Education and Scientific Methods (IJARESM), ISSN: 2455-6211
Volume 9, Issue 1, January -2021, Impact Factor: 7.429, Available online at: www.ijaresm.com

Port
The port at which foreign goods are admitted into the receiving country. Ports of entry are officially designated by the
importing country’s government. A port can be defined as a harbor or an area that is able to provide shelter to numerous
boats and vessels (transferring people or cargo), and can also allow constant or periodic transaction of shipment.

In laymam’s language, a port is a place to facilitate loading as well as unloading of vessels. Technically speaking it is a
convergence point between freight circulation domains.

Sea Freight
Sea freight is a method of transporting large amounts of goods using carrier ships. Goods are packed into containers and
then loaded onto a vessel. A typical cargo ship can carry around 18,000 containers, which means that sea freight is a cost-
efficient way to transport high quantities over large distances.

International Shipments
International shipping is the term used to describe a parcel delivery or group of parcel deliveries in which the parcel is taken
from one country and delivered to an address in another.

Analysis and Interpretation

Data analysis is considered to be important step and heart of the research work. After collection of data with the help of
relevant tools and techniques, the next logical step, is to analyze and interpret data with a view to arriving at empirical
solution to the problem. The data analysis for the present research was done quantitatively with the help of both descriptive
statistics and inferential statistics. The descriptive statistical techniques like mean, standard deviation and for the inferential
statistics analysis of co variance were used during analysis. For the analysis of opinionnaire Chi square test was used. Data
analysis also plays a key role in data quality assessment by pointing to data quality problems in a given survey

Table Showing Problems Faced by the Respondents in Transshipment in Ports

Problems Total Percentage

Port Traffic 14 28
Storage 11 22
Handling of goods 13 26
Others 12 24
TOTAL 50 100

Interpretation
The above table shows the problems faced by the respondents in transshipment in ports. 28% of the respondents face
problem in traffic, 22% of the respondents face problem in storage, 26% of the respondents face problem in handling of
goods and 24% of the respondents face other problems.

Table Showing Type of Cargo Handling that Involves more Risk

Type of cargo Total Percentage

Containerized cargo 13 26
Bulk cargo 7 14
Liquid cargo 12 24
Coal & POL 5 10
General cargo 3 6
Others 10 20
TOTAL 50 100

INTERPRETATION

The above table shows the type of cargo handling that involves more risk. 26% of the respondents said containerized cargo
involves more risk, 14% of the respondents said bulk cargo involves more risk, 24% of the respondents said liquid cargo
involves more risk, 10% of the respondents said coal and POL involves more risk, 6% of the respondents said general cargo
involves more risk and 20% of the respondents said other cargo involves more risk.

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 International Journal of All Research Education and Scientific Methods (IJARESM), ISSN: 2455-6211
Volume 9, Issue 1, January -2021, Impact Factor: 7.429, Available online at: www.ijaresm.com

Table Showing Cargo Handled by Freight Forwarders in their Companies

TOTAL MEAN RANK

TYPES OF 5 4 3 2 1
CONTAINERS

Containerized cargo
6 8 13 12 11 50
2.7 III
30 32 39 24 11 136
Liquid cargo
3 8 11 16 12 50
2.4 V
15 32 33 32 12 124

Coal & POL 7 9 13 11 10 50

2.8 II
35 36 39 22 10 142

General cargo 9 11 8 13 9 50
2.9 I
45 44 24 26 9 148

Roll On-Roll Off 5 9 13 10 13 50

2.6 IV
25 36 39 20 13 133

Interpretation
From the above table it is inferred that by applying weighted average mean the ranking for the handling general cargo 2.9
ranked first conduct standards and the liquid cargo ranked the least within a 2.4.

Suggestions
The respondents should appoint skilled persons to overcome from their problems.
As Tirupur is the place for industrial goods the freight forwarders can concentrate more on trade with industrial persons to
develop their business.

CONCLUSION

The study about problems of freight forwarders in Tirupur region reveals that most of the respondents are facing high
competition in international market. So this is the opportunity for them to formulate good strategy to face the competition
from international market.

The freight logistics industry demands consistent, healthy, public/private partnerships in,
 Private investment in infrastructure
 Advanced information and communication technologies
 The implementation of e-commerce
 Growth in infrastructure to be accompanied by laws, policies and procedures.

The more timely, reliable and efficient the logistic supply chain, the more efficiently and reliably goods can be delivered
from the point of production to point of consumption.

I hereby conclude that all the data collected states good solution for the problems of freight forwarders in forwarding the
goods both in domestic level and international level. The data collected are very vital and effective for future studies.

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 International Journal of All Research Education and Scientific Methods (IJARESM), ISSN: 2455-6211
Volume 9, Issue 1, January -2021, Impact Factor: 7.429, Available online at: www.ijaresm.com

REFERENCES

[1]. Appels Ton, Struye De Swielande & Henry (1998), International Journal of Logistics Management, 9(1), 111-11.
[2]. Houlihan, J.B. 1985. International Supply Chain Management. International Journal of Physical Distribution and
Materials Management, 15,1,22-38.
[3]. Lee , H.L., and C.Billington. 1993. Material Management in Decentralized Supply Chains. Operations Research,
41,5,835-847.
[4]. Pierre David, “International Logistics”, An Indian Perspective, text cases, Sultan Chand & Sons.

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