International Transportation
Author: Kimberlie Hutson

Trading internationally can be a great way to improve your
businesses potential, by spreading the risk across a
different market you can expose your products to a whole
new audience and generate a new source of income. This is
not something you can rush into, before you start you need
to conduct extensive research, not just about the country
you're looking to trade with but also how you're going to
get your product to them and any legalities this may entail.

Once you've looked at where and how you're going to trade
internationally, there are many options available to you
when it comes to the transportation of your product so you
need to consider variables like how quickly your product
needs to get there, how much cost you can afford to incur,
as well as the logistics of your product (size, quantity,
hazards etc). The most obvious factor to consider is the
infrastructure of the country you're looking to export to.
A land locked country then shipping by sea may not be
practical, if however you're looking to export to a country
with developed ports and docks then using the services of a
freight forwarder may prove the most cost effective as long
as you can ensure a reliable transportation system will be
there to meet your products to deliver them to their final
destination. Another factor to take into consideration when
choosing a mode of transport, is that many freight
forwarders may be able to save you money by consolidating
consignments that they may be moving to or from your chosen
destination.

It might prove beneficial to find out if the UK already has
any trade agreements with the country you're looking to
trade with as this could save you time and money as well as
alleviate a few of the legal risks too. In addition, you
may want to consider working with a partner who knows your
new market and can help you make the right contacts and
connections.

Once you've decided where and how you're going to export,
you need to look at your labelling and packaging. There are
three types of packaging that need to be looked at when you
export your product, the first is the actual transport
packaging which is what will protect your product during
its transport and prevent it from getting damaged. Then you
need to look at the outer packaging, this is often what's
going to be used for promotion purposes and maybe placed
straight on the shelves if a box can contain multiple
units. Thirdly you need to make sure your sales packaging
is sufficient, like the outer packaging, your end customer
will be seeing this so as well as being atheistically
pleasing, it will need to comply with any regulations and
language issues the country your exporting to might have.

Once everything is packaged correctly, you will need to
ensure its labelled too, this must clearly state the
country of origin, destination country and identify any
hazardous goods included in the transport. If you are
transporting anything that can be deemed dangerous or
hazardous, you must ensure any regulations or laws are
complied with and you're also legally obligated to appoint
a dangerous goods safety officer.

All packaging must also be clearly labelled to identify the
goods in transit as well as how to deal with them if an
unforeseen accident were to occur. Lastly any dangerous
goods must have a dangerous goods declaration to accompany
them.


About the Author:

FT Groupage is a single source provider of daily Groupage
freight services to Ireland and all surrounding UK islands.
They are specialists in shipping to Ireland and all major
UK ports.
http://www.ftgroupage.net/index.html