How to Find a Freight Forwarder in China: 7 Checks Before You Pay a Deposit

Three different businesses answer to "freight forwarder"

Before you can check one, you need to know which one you are talking to. The words get used interchangeably and the liabilities are not the same.

One company can hold more than one of these roles. That is fine. What matters is that you ask which hat it is wearing on your shipment, because it changes who is liable when something goes wrong.

The licence that no longer exists

This is the single most common mistake buyers make when vetting a Chinese forwarder, and it has been wrong for years.

As part of a State Council decision abolishing a batch of administrative licensing items, approval for NVOCC business (无船承运业务审批) was cancelled, and the International Maritime Transport Regulations were amended accordingly. In its place, NVOCC business became a filing (备案) made with the provincial transport department. The consequence is explicit in the implementing documents:

What replaced it is weaker, and worth understanding: provincial transport departments maintain the NVOCC filing list and are required to publish the list of NVOCC enterprises in their province periodically, to run "double random, one public" inspections, and to fold NVOCC operators into credit information management with public credit records and joint punishment for seriously untrustworthy enterprises. Shenzhen's transport authority confirms the position is still current in 2026: the item is no longer approved, and filing is done through the provincial water transport information system.

The practical reading: there is no Chinese NVOCC certificate to ask for any more. There is a filing, held at provincial level, and a public credit record. Anyone who produces an old certificate as proof of status either has not kept up, or is counting on you not having kept up.

Four checks you can run in an afternoon

1. Look up the legal entity, not the brand

Chinese companies are registered with an 18-character unified social credit code (统一社会信用代码). It appears on the business licence, on the company's invoices, and usually in the footer of a legitimate quote. Enter it into the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System (国家企业信用信息公示系统). It is free and it shows whether the entity exists, its registered capital, its business scope, its registered address, and whether it has been flagged.

Ask for the code. A forwarder that will not give you its own registered entity name and credit code is asking you to wire money to a trading name.

2. Check the FMC lists if your cargo goes to the United States

The US Federal Maritime Commission licenses and bonds ocean transportation intermediaries — both ocean freight forwarders and NVOCCs. Two public lists matter:

• FMC Licensed and Bonded OTIs — confirms the company holds a licence and has proof of financial responsibility on file.
• Non-Compliant NVOCCs — the FMC's own list of NVOCCs that have failed to meet tariff, bond or licensing requirements. Being on this list is a hard stop.

Under 46 CFR 515.27, a common carrier may not knowingly accept cargo from an NVOCC that lacks a published tariff and bond, and carriers satisfy that duty by checking the Commission's website. In other words, the carrier is already running this check. You should run it before you book, not after.

3. Look for the licence number on the paperwork

This one is free and takes ten seconds. Under 46 CFR 515.31, a US-licensed OTI must carry on business only under the name and number on its licence, and when its name appears on shipping documents, the Commission licence or registration number must appear too. The same rule says the name and licence number must be permanently imprinted on the licensee's office stationery and billing forms.

So: look at the quote and the invoice. If the company claims an FMC licence and there is no licence number printed alongside its name, ask for it.

4. Ask who issues the bill of lading

One question, and it tells you who is on the hook. If your forwarder issues a house bill of lading, it is acting as an NVOCC and is your contractual carrier. If the vessel operator issues the master bill of lading, your forwarder is an agent and your claim runs against the carrier. Neither is wrong. Not knowing which one you have is.

Six questions to ask before you pay a deposit

1. What is your registered Chinese entity name and unified social credit code?
2. Who issues the bill of lading, you or the carrier?
3. Show me ocean freight, origin charges and destination charges as three separate figures. One all-in number hides the part that will surprise you.
4. What exactly does "delivered" cover? Drayage? Chassis? Prepull? Customs clearance? Duty?
5. How many days of free time at destination, and what are the demurrage and detention rates per day after that?
6. Is cargo insurance included, and can I see the policy? If the answer is "don't worry, it's covered", it is not covered.

The pattern to watch for is not rudeness, it is vagueness. A forwarder who cannot separate ocean from destination, or will not say who issues the bill of lading, will not become clearer after your money is in their account.

The number that exposes a bad quote: USD 500 per package

Here is a reason to read the insurance line properly. Under the US Carriage of Goods by Sea Act, the default carrier liability limit is:

That figure has not moved since 1936. Two consequences follow, and both are in your control:

• Declare a higher value in the bill of lading and pay the surcharge, or the cap applies.
• Make sure the bill of lading actually describes what is inside. If it says only "1 container" with no breakdown, the container can be treated as a single package — which caps recovery at USD 500 for the whole box.

Cargo insurance is a separate product with a separate premium. A freight quote is not insurance, and a forwarder's own liability policy is not cargo insurance.

Where scope, not price, causes the dispute

Most bad outcomes we see are not fraud. They are two people using the same word to mean different things.

A 40HQ from Shenzhen to New York quoted at USD 7,000 ocean freight came to USD 9,120 before duty once destination charges were added — USD 155 per bill of lading, USD 1,500 delivery, USD 165 chassis, USD 150 prepull and USD 150 clearance. Nobody lied. The buyer heard "shipping" and the forwarder meant "ocean freight".

The other direction is worse: a supplier offering the whole shipment delivered duty paid for USD 800 when your own duty calculation on that commodity comes to roughly USD 3,500. That quote cannot be met honestly. Either the goods will be under-declared, misclassified, or you will be asked for more money once the cargo is on the water.

Both cases are prevented by the same habit: make the forwarder state the service scope in writing before you pay.

This page describes publicly available checks and does not assess any individual company. Licensing and filing requirements differ by country and change; confirm the current position with the relevant authority before relying on it.

Frequently asked questions

References

• US Federal Maritime Commission, Licensing and Certification — OTI licensing, licensed and bonded OTI list, Non-Compliant NVOCC list, OTI Licence Status Changes. fmc.gov · Non-Compliant NVOCCs
• 46 CFR Part 515 — Licensing, Registration, Financial Responsibility Requirements and General Duties for Ocean Transportation Intermediaries; § 515.27 proof of NVOCC compliance, § 515.31 licence number required on shipping documents, stationery and billing forms. ecfr.gov
• 46 U.S.C. § 30701 note § 4(5) — Carriage of Goods by Sea Act, USD 500 per package limitation of carrier liability. govinfo.gov
• 国务院关于取消和下放一批行政许可事项的决定 — 取消「无船承运业务审批」，改为备案；《国际海运条例》相应修改；交通运输部及上海市交通委员会已签发的《无船承运业务经营资格登记证》废止；省级交通运输主管部门定期公布本省无船承运企业名单并纳入信用信息管理。
• 深圳市交通运输局，如何申请无船承运人（NVOCC）资质？无船承运证如何办理？，2026-01-09 — 该事项已取消审批，改为在广东省水运信息网备案办理。
• 国家企业信用信息公示系统（www.gsxt.gov.cn）— 按统一社会信用代码查询企业登记与信用信息。

Links checked 16 October 2026. Chinese government domains reject automated link checkers from outside their networks; they load normally in a browser.