Brokerage

An importer usually ends up corresponding with five or six parties at once — the factory, the forwarder, the shipping line, customs, the warehouse and the bank. Each has its own paperwork, its own deadlines and its own vocabulary. Under a brokerage agreement all of that correspondence sits with us: on your side there is one person to talk to, and that is our manager. You make the decisions; we run the conversations.

A broker is not a substitute for a carrier, and it is not the same thing as customs clearance. Clearance is one stage: the declaration and the codes. Brokerage is the chain around it — choosing the mode, collecting rates, agreeing the contract, representing you where a power of attorney is needed, and keeping every party on the same shipment number. The first response is within two hours. A quote on this service comes with at least three options on the same corridor, not a single take-it-or-leave-it figure.

Under a power of attorney we can sign contracts in your name, agree rates, represent you before the customs authorities and formalise payments. If you only need negotiation and coordination, we work without one. The power of attorney is required when we have to appear as you, not when we are only asking a line for a rate.

Because we track market rates continuously, the three options on a quote are real alternatives: sea against rail against road, or three carriers on the same mode, with transit and a landed-cost estimate next to each. The choice and the final word stay yours. We do not book the cheapest option by default and tell you afterwards.

Regular shippers can lock an annual rate agreement so every consignment does not start from a blank enquiry. Banking and currency support, and a legal reading of the supplier’s contract, are optional and quoted separately. They exist because a freight problem is often a payment problem or a contract problem wearing a different hat.

The service is priced either as a fixed fee per shipment or as a monthly retainer for customers who ship every week. Which one is cheaper depends on volume; we look at the last few months of cargo and say so plainly. A one-off import of a single container does not need a retainer. A factory that receives weekly groupage usually does.

Brokerage is the right fit when you do not have an in-house logistics person, when the supplier will not speak to a forwarder directly, or when the shipment involves more than one mode and more than one border. It is the wrong fit when you already have a contracted line and only need a truck from the port — that is a single haulage job, and we will quote it as such rather than wrapping it in a brokerage mandate.

Send the packing list, the origin, the destination in Azerbaijan and any date that actually matters. The first reading, with three options where the corridor allows them, is the quote. Representation at customs, rate agreements and contract review are added when you ask for them, not bundled in to inflate the fee.

The two-hour first response is an acknowledgement with the questions we still need, not a finished rate. A finished rate needs the same facts as a freight quote: cargo, volume or weight, origin, destination, and the date that matters. Three options on the same corridor are the point of the service. One option is a carrier’s offer; three is a choice.

A power of attorney is a specific paper for a specific act — signing, appearing at customs, paying — not a blank cheque. We tell you which acts need it. If you want us only to collect rates and keep the parties in copy, we do that without one. If you want us to stand at the post as you, we do not improvise that on the day.

Regular volume is what makes a retainer cheaper than a per-shipment fee. We look at the last few months, or at the plan for the next few, and say which side of the line you are on. An annual rate agreement with a line is a different product again: it is useful when the corridor and the commodity are stable. It is useless when every consignment is a different mode. We will not sell you the retainer to make the relationship look larger than the cargo.