Speditions

Speditions, in the sense of freight forwarding, refers to the business of organizing shipments for transport from origin to destination. A freight forwarder acts as an intermediary between shippers and carriers, arranging the movement of goods by road, rail, sea, or air and often providing multimodal solutions. They do not typically own the transport assets themselves, but contract carriers to execute the shipments on behalf of the shipper.

Core services include route planning and transport optimization, carrier selection, cargo consolidation, packaging advice, and documentation such as bills of lading, commercial invoices, and customs declarations. They also arrange warehouse and distribution services, cargo insurance, and risk management, track-and-trace technology, and freight billing. For international shipments, forwarders handle customs clearance, duties and taxes, and compliance with trade regulations and Incoterms.

The industry serves a wide range of clients, from manufacturers and retailers to small traders. In domestic logistics, a forwarder may coordinate last-mile delivery; in international logistics, it may offer door-to-door service and multimodal solutions combining truck, rail, ship, and air transport.

Key players include freight forwarders and third-party logistics providers; the carrier network includes shipping lines, airlines, and trucking companies. Although a forwarder coordinates transport, unlike a carrier they usually do not own the transportation assets. The service model is typically fee-based, incorporating an upfront service charge and the cost of transportation, terminal handling, and documentation.

Speditions emerged with the expansion of global trade in the 19th and 20th centuries and were transformed by containerization and digital tracking in the late 20th century, leading to more integrated, data-driven logistics services.