Freight forwarding is the business of organising the shipment of goods from one place to another on your behalf. A freight forwarder doesn't usually own the ships or planes — it arranges collection, consolidates cargo, books space, handles customs paperwork and delivers to the door, acting as your single point of contact across the whole journey. Rolats is a UK-to-Africa freight forwarder based in Dagenham.
What does a freight forwarder actually do?
Think of a freight forwarder as the project manager of your shipment. Sending goods overseas involves many separate moving parts — collecting the cargo, packing and consolidating it, booking space with an airline or shipping line, preparing customs declarations, paying the right duties, tracking the journey and arranging final delivery. A forwarder coordinates all of it so you deal with one company instead of a dozen. The core jobs are:
- Collection — picking your goods up from your address.
- Consolidation — combining your shipment with others to fill a container efficiently (this is what makes sea freight affordable).
- Customs — preparing and lodging the export and import paperwork so cargo clears cleanly.
- Delivery — getting the goods to the recipient's door at the other end.
Forwarder vs courier vs carrier vs customs broker
These terms get mixed up constantly. Here's the difference:
- Courier (DHL, UPS, a parcel firm) — handles small, standardised parcels door-to-door on a fixed network. Fast and simple, but expensive per kilo and not built for barrels, furniture, cars or bulk cargo.
- Carrier — the company that physically moves the goods: the shipping line (the vessel) or the airline (the aircraft). A carrier owns the transport but doesn't usually arrange your door-to-door journey or your paperwork.
- Customs broker — a specialist who clears goods through customs. A broker handles the declaration, but not the collection, shipping or delivery.
- Freight forwarder — ties all of the above together. The forwarder books the carrier, handles (or coordinates) customs, and manages collection and delivery — one accountable party for the whole shipment.
In practice a good forwarder often is your courier-alternative, your booking agent and your customs broker rolled into one.
When do you need a freight forwarder?
You need a forwarder when a courier won't do or would cost a fortune — for example when you're sending barrels, boxes, household removals, a car, commercial stock or a full container, when your destination has complex customs (much of Africa does), or when you simply want one company to own the whole journey rather than juggling a shipping line, a customs agent and a delivery firm yourself. For most diaspora and small-business shipping to Africa, a forwarder is both cheaper and far less stressful than the alternatives.
Rolats: your UK–Africa freight forwarder
Rolats Services has forwarded cargo from the UK to Africa since 2007. From our Dagenham depot we collect across the UK, consolidate your goods, handle customs as an HMRC Customs Authorised and EORI-registered forwarder, and deliver door-to-door across around 45 African countries — by sea (from £70 per bag) or air (£5.90/kg plus £20 handling), all-in GBP. One company, the whole journey.