Freight Shipping of Shoes

When people think of what pair of shoes to wear, they do not often think of the shipping process of how the shoes made it to the store. Most of the shoes sold in US stores were imports from overseas. International shipping plays a major role in transporting all of our footwear to the United States. China has always been the number one manufacturer of the shoes in the US, but times are changing. A recent Journal of Commerce article spotlighted how rising labor costs in China forced a 6 perfect market decrease in 6 years. Meanwhile, shoe imports in the US have seen year over year growth. Hong Kong has dropped to the third-largest shoe importer, and now Vietnam is number two. The trend is anticipated to continue into the New Year and beyond. The shipping shoe industry is certainly changing.

For shoe manufacturing, the shipping landscape is changing. There are numerous fees for vessels, warehousing and domestic trucking. To help improve the supply chain, shoe manufacturers should seek a trusted freight forwarder who can provide very specific services. The best freight forwarders for shipping containers of shoes should be an NVOCC and they should be able to consolidate shipments to help save money. The freight forwarder should offer bullet rates and instant quote rates online. As far as service, shoe manufacturers should find a freight forwarder who has a reputation of worldwide shipping daily to all major base ports. And the freight forwarder should offer door-to-door service.