---
id: KB-LG-013
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/logistics/working-with-a-freight-forwarder
idioma: en
categoria: sector-logistica
subcategoria: transitarios
audiencia: usuario
nivel: intermedio
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-LG-011, KB-LG-009, KB-LG-023]
citadoPor: [KB-LG-015, KB-LG-019]
---

# Working with a freight forwarder

_A good part of your documentation lives in their system, and that is fine until the day it is not._

**Responde a:** documentation held by the forwarder · changing customs agent · the forwarder holds my documents · which shipment copies should i keep

A good forwarder takes work off you: they prepare, file, resolve and store. The side effect is that over time your shipments' documentation lives in their platform and not in yours — and that only becomes apparent when something is needed and they are unavailable, or when you decide to change.

## What should also live on your side

| Document | Why yours | When it is missed |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Bill of lading and transport documents | It is the proof of the operation | In a claim, and in a hurry |
| Declarations and clearance receipts | They evidence what was declared and when | In a review, months later |
| Origin or health certificates | You requested them, or they did on your behalf | On the next shipment to the same country |
| The instructions you gave them | It is what gets compared if something went wrong | When deciding whose fault it was |

> [!IMPORTANT]
> The last row is the one hardly anyone keeps and the only one that defends you. In an incident, the forwarder's documentation tells **their** version: what they did and when. What says what you asked for is your instruction, and if it lived in an email from someone who has left, it does not exist.

## How to work without duplicating effort

1. **One file per shipment, with the essentials** — Not everything they handle: the bill of lading, invoice, packing list and what you instructed.
2. **Ask for copies at closing, not when claiming** — A closed shipment is documented in two minutes; an eight-month-old one takes two days.
3. **Keep what they send exactly as it comes** — Without retyping or reassembling: if there is a discrepancy, it is compared with the original.
4. **And record incidents on the shipment** — Delays, holds, extra costs: it is what supports the annual conversation with them.

> [!WARNING]
> The blind spot appears when you change forwarder. Their platform is theirs: access ends when the relationship ends, and with it your shipment history. **Nobody warns you of that on the day you sign with someone else** — it is discovered when someone asks for a clearance from two years ago and there is nowhere left to look. Taking copies before ending the relationship costs an afternoon; afterwards it can be impossible.

## What improves the relationship as well as protecting you

**En corto**

- Clear written instructions: half of all incidents are interpretation.
- Cargo details consistent across documents, which is what they cannot fix for you.
- And the incident history in front of you when tariffs are renegotiated.

The third changes the annual conversation: moving from "things are so-so" to "three holds for discrepancies and two for certificates" is what gets the problem fixed instead of debated.

> [!NOTE]
> The same applies to customs agents, shipping agents and operators handling documentation for you. The procedure changes; that proof of what you asked for and what was done belongs on both sides does not.

**Is keeping copies a sign of distrust?**

No: their archive answers their obligations, not yours.

**What if we use several forwarders?**

All the more reason: it is the only place where the whole picture of your shipments exists.

**How long should it be kept?**

Longer than the review period applicable to those operations, with margin.

## Ejemplos

**An importer changes forwarder and loses access to two years of clearance history.**

- Before ending the relationship, downloads and files the shipments in its own records

→ It can answer a later review without depending on a company it no longer works with.

**The forwarder keeps the history and you do not.**

- Keeps its own archive of every operation

→ Changing partner does not take the years with it.

**Instructions are given by phone.**

- Asks for written confirmation and keeps it

→ What was agreed stops depending on two memories.

**A document is missing and clearance goes ahead on a promise.**

- Records what was promised and who asked

→ The broken undertaking is documented.

**A client asks about an old operation.**

- Checks its own file

→ You answer without depending on the forwarder.

**Three forwarders are used and each reports differently.**

- Requests the information in an agreed format

→ What is received is comparable.