For years I have used Flexport. And I have to give them a lot of praise. They have great customer service, an awesome interface (I mean just look at the map they show on your dashboard) and extremely easy to use!
However, recently I feel like their prices have been increasing every shipment. On my most recent shipment, I paid $3513 (excluding customs costs) for a 20′ container from Ningbo -> Amazon FBA warehouse in LA.
I feel like I am overpaying quite a lot for the customer service & interface of Flexport. So I decided to shop around a bit and ask other Amazon sellers what they use. I heard loads of other sellers about Freightos.
Freightos
Freightos is a comparison platform where you can request quotes from multiple suppliers. For me, this sounds like a great solution as I can imagine the prices will be a lot more competitive. So let’s check out how it works;
Requesting a Quote
I’m guessing that quite a lot of Amazon sellers use Freightos, as they have this nice little button when you want to request a quote;
So just like with my last Flexport shipment, I entered the exact same details: One 20′ container from Ningbo -> Amazon FBA in LA. I will leave the origin charges unchecked, as I ship FOB so my supplier will pay the origin charges (just like with my Flexport shipment).
Picking a Quote
Next up we will see all the
Freightos vs Flexport
So let’s now compare the forwarders:
Flexport 20′ container Ningbo -> LA: $3513
Freightos 20′ container Ningbo -> LA: $2432
Difference: $1081. Freightos = 30% cheaper!
So yeah, right now, I feel pretty stupid. For all those years, I have been overpaying a huge amount at Flexport. In 2018 alone, I have shipped 8 containers with them, and I bet the difference on a 40′ container is even bigger.
Anyway, I am glad I made the switch to Freightos at this point, as this will save me a lot of money in the future!
Are you happy with the switch to FreightOS? prices are lower indeed – how’s the service level?
Service is fine, but you mainly deal directly with the Freight forwarder. I once had an issue about delays with the forwarder. After contacting Freightos they took the issue to the forwarder and the issue was quickly solved.
Some forwarders are indeed cheaper, but do not have any API integrations which limits your visibility across platforms when you have multiple shipments.
Very true. Do you use API to manage your shipments? With which programs do you hook the API up?
We need API to get inbound shipment data for our Demand Forecast/Inventory Management tool. We can take it from ERP, but the most reliable source is always the forwarder.