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How to choose sea or air, FCL or LCL, FOB or CIF and the right bill of lading without breaking your payment or incentives. Rasp International arranges freight through vetted forwarders, air cargo and courier partners across India and checks every freight document before it is issued.
A freight forwarder books space with a shipping line or airline, moves your cargo to the vessel or aircraft and issues or collects the transport document.
The rate is only part of the decision. The Incoterm decides who carries the risk. The bill of lading decides who can claim the goods. Get both right and the rate becomes the easy part.
Verified as on 24 September 2026 against the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 2025, the Bills of Lading Act 2025, the Multimodal Transportation of Goods Act 1993 and the National Time Release Study 2025.
Freight forwarding is arranging international transport for someone else’s cargo: booking the carrier, coordinating pickup and terminal handling and issuing or releasing the bill of lading or air waybill. In India, a forwarder that issues its own document for a multimodal journey must be registered as a multimodal transport operator (MTO) under the Multimodal Transportation of Goods Act 1993.
The rule that decides everything: fix the Incoterm and the bill of lading before you ask for a rate. They decide who pays, who insures and who can take delivery.
The National Time Release Study 2025 found that exports spent 157 hours 50 minutes on average at seaports after the Let Export Order, against about 30 hours in customs. Most of that time is freight and terminal logistics.
Rasp International does not run vessels or issue bills of lading. We brief the partner forwarder, air or courier carrier that fits your cargo and check its documents against your invoice and letter of credit. We stay answerable for the result.
A freight forwarder is an intermediary who arranges carriage for a shipper. It either books space on a carrier’s bill of lading as your agent or issues its own house bill of lading as a principal.
The 1993 Act defines a multimodal transport operator as a person who contracts as a principal and takes responsibility for the whole journey. Under Section 3, no one may carry on that business without registration.
Exporters selling EXW or FCA to a buyer with its own forwarder hand most freight decisions to the buyer. Courier samples move on the courier’s own documents.
A vetted partner does the work. Our team checks it before documents are released.
Booking, factory stuffing, VGM and gate-in.
Air waybill checks and air cargo clearance.
Flat racks, breakbulk and RoRo for machinery.
Packaging, warehousing and insurance to the buyer.
Origin certificates that match the bill of lading.
Credits and cover that depend on clean documents.
Pick the mode from the cargo and the buyer’s deadline, then compare rates within that mode.
The Incoterm on your invoice decides where your risk ends and who pays the main carriage. The table names each rule and its transfer point without reproducing the ICC text.
Under FOB, CFR and CIF your risk runs until the goods are on board. For a container handed over at an ICD days earlier, FCA or CIP often fits better. Under Incoterms 2020, FCA parties can also agree on an on-board bill of lading for the seller.
This is the order a sea export follows. Stages 1 and 5 are where most freight disputes begin.
Agree the Incoterm, named place, payment method and bill of lading type with the buyer. Read the credit’s transport document clause first.
The partner forwarder books space. The confirmation gives the vessel, the cut-offs and the empty container release.
The box is stuffed, the Verified Gross Mass is filed and the container reaches the terminal before cut-off.
A licensed customs broker files the shipping bill on ICEGATE. After the Let Export Order the box is loaded.
Check shipper, consignee, notify party, ports, marks, package count and weight against the invoice and the credit.
Originals go to the bank or buyer as the terms require. The carrier then files the export manifest, which your IGST refund needs.
Unsure about a bill of lading draft or a letter of credit? Send it to us on WhatsApp before the original is issued or read our Incoterms and HS code guide.
Two Acts in force from 10 September 2025 replaced colonial-era laws. The rules are familiar but now sit in Indian statutes.
Banks, customs and the buyer’s port read these against each other. The third column is where payment gets held.
These failures surface when the bank or the buyer’s port rejects a document. Each starts with a term or draft nobody checked.
This is an illustrative composite, not a named client. A Moradabad brass exporter sells CIF to a United States buyer under a letter of credit. Nobody arranges marine insurance, so the bank refuses payment until the buyer waives the discrepancy. Checking the Incoterm against the document list before shipment would have caught it.
Compare quotes line by line, because two quotes with the same total can cover different things. No prices are given, as they change weekly.
A freight forwarder books carrier space, arranges pickup and terminal handling and issues or collects the bill of lading or air waybill. Many also coordinate the customs broker, insurance and the documents your bank needs.
FOB leaves freight and insurance to the buyer, which is simpler. CIF gives you control of the carrier and schedule but adds a duty to insure. For containers handed over at an ICD, FCA or CIP often fits better.
The shipping line issues the master bill of lading. The forwarder issues the house bill as a multimodal transport operator for its own contract with you. Check that the forwarder is registered with the DGMA.
Search the list of registered multimodal transport operators published by the Directorate General of Maritime Administration. Registration is valid for three years, so confirm it is current on your shipment date.
LCL suits small first orders because you pay only for the space used. It is slower: NTRS 2025 recorded LCL release 12% longer than FCL at seaports. Move to FCL once your volume fills most of a box.
The Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 2025 caps carrier liability at 666.67 SDR per package or 2 SDR per kilogram, whichever is higher, unless the value was declared on the bill. Marine insurance covers the rest.
Give written notice at discharge or within three days if the damage is not apparent. File suit within one year of delivery. The court can allow up to three more months.
No. It is marked non-negotiable and proves receipt and the contract of carriage. Goods go to the named consignee, so banks often name themselves as consignee when a credit covers air cargo.
No. Vetted forwarders, air cargo and courier partners in our pan-India network carry the freight. We brief them and check the booking and documents. We remain your single point of accountability.
The commercial invoice, packing list, shipping instructions for the bill of lading, the letter of credit if any and insurance details under CIF or CIP.
Rasp International is an ISO 9001:2015 certified EXIM and DGFT advisory firm in Agra with more than 500 exporters served. We match your cargo to a vetted partner and confirm its MTO registration. We then review the bill of lading draft against your invoice and credit before release.
See the full partner network on our customs house agent services page. Shipping to the United States or the UAE? Read our USA export guide and UAE export guide.
Send the invoice, the Incoterm and the credit. We will flag risk, insurance and bill of lading issues before shipment.
This page is general guidance. Laws, rates and carrier terms change. Verify against the current Act, the carrier’s terms and your letter of credit before you book or ship.
Related: container transportation and VGM, project cargo and ODC handling, e-BRC assistance and the logistics hub.
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