Cooperation with a new carrier. How to make it safe?

When freight volumes fluctuate significantly and long-term market conditions are difficult to predict, customer retention is critical to business operations. From the perspective of forwarding, one of the bottlenecks in this area is cooperation with carriers – especially new and occasional ones.

Not surprisingly, it can raise concerns about not only the quality of the service provided, but also the security of goods themselves. We often hear about of increasingly sophisticated methods of stealing loads, and it is not always possible to protect against them. However, is it possible to reduce the risk of such cooperation and how to do it?

First: verify

Nowadays, all parties to the transaction – shippers, forwarders and carriers – try to check each other to minimize the risk associated with the execution of orders. Therefore, carriers are selected not only on the basis of price, but also a number of other important criteria to guarantee the quality and security of transport. The process of selecting a subcontractor may also include verification whether it meets the requirements specified by specific customers or for a particular category of transport.

The fact remains, however, that time plays a huge role in forwarding. Load transport often requires finding a carrier immediately. In addition, the same shipper’s offer can go to multiple forwarders at once, and the first-come, first-served rule applies, resulting in an even greater race against time among forwarders. Unfortunately, haste does not go hand in hand with security, as it limits the ability to thoroughly verify a subcontractor before entering into a contract.

Therefore, the role of every forwarder is to find the golden mean between speed of action and ensuring the security of loads.

Carrier selection criteria

Many shipping companies implement their own security procedures and develop criteria that a new carrier must meet; sometimes they are really strict. Some larger freight forwarders even have separate departments for verification matters.

The criteria that are used include:

• company size
• fleet size
• links with other entities (personal or property)
• seniority on the market
• documents and certificates, such as transport license or ISO
• current OCP liability insurance and a specified minimum amount of insurance, its scope and timely payment of premiums
• no gross negligence clause in the contract
• positive customer ratings and reviews, e.g. on Google, social media and Trans.eu.

Cooperation on the freight exchange

The most common way for freight forwarders to find carriers is through freight exchanges. A common myth, however, is that working with them involves considerable risk. In fact, it is quite the opposite – cooperation on the freight exchange is much safer than looking for a subcontractor on Facebook groups or WhatsApp, for example.

Below we show what mechanisms the Trans.eu freight exchange uses to make forwarders feel as safe as possible.

Strict authorization and reauthorization

As part of the security processes on the Trans.eu Platform, we use authorization, i.e. a thorough verification of a new company during registration on the Platform, reauthorization – control as a result of a report or detected violation, and monitoring – ongoing analysis of user activity on the Platform.

As part of the authorization, we analyze:

• data and documents presented by the user (confronting them with government databases)
• licenses held
• references issued to the company (required if the carrier has been on the market for less than 12 months)
• existence of the company confirmed by an authorization transfer from the company account.

The data shows how thorough our security procedures are. In 2024, every 10th carrier that registered on the Platform raised our suspicions at the verification stage and was directed to a deeper check before being granted access to the Platform. As a result, every hundredth transport company was categorically denied access to Trans.eu. Some existing users have been removed from our community, mainly due to violations of important provisions of the regulations, e.g. impersonating a forwarder.

Ratings, comments and references

Each transaction and freight accepted on Trans.eu is subject to evaluation. Ratings are one of the most reliable methods of checking a potential subcontractor. That is why we encourage all users to rate not only partners with whom they have had a great cooperation, but also those who failed to exercise due diligence during the implementation of the order. The Platform also allows you to add a more detailed comment, including a summary of cooperation, as well as to give references. In this way, everyone on the freight exchange can contribute to security.

Quality certificates

On the Platform, we also distinguish companies that are reliable partners to work with. In the case of carriers, it is worth checking the TCC certificate, i.e. Trans Certified Carrier. These companies have the right experience, high ratings, a modern fleet, a solid liability policy and regularly carry out orders on the Platform.

Finally, forwarders are becoming increasingly aware of security issues and are already able to catch the most common fraud themselves. An example of a popular method is to find loads on Trans.eu and impersonate other transport companies by contacting carriers outside the Platform.

Thanks to the growing commitment to security, Trans.eu users sent twice as many reports of suspicious behavior in 2024 as in the previous year. Our security department handles every such report – without exception.