Freehand freight is cargo you won yourself: the shipper is your customer, and you choose the routing and the overseas agent. Nominated freight is cargo where the other end controls the routing — typically a buyer purchasing on FOB terms who nominates their own forwarder, whose routing order tells you exactly what to execute at origin. On freehand you sell to the shipper; on nominated your real customer is the nominating agent overseas.
What does an FOB nomination actually do?
Under FOB terms the buyer arranges and pays for the main carriage — so the buyer’s forwarder controls the shipment, not the seller’s. That forwarder issues a routing order to an agent at origin: pick up this cargo, clear it for export, hand it to this carrier on these terms. The origin agent executes someone else’s plan. The shipper is standing right there, but the commercial decisions — carrier, schedule, and who earns what — were made an ocean away.
Who is your customer on each side of the same container?
On freehand, the money and the loyalty both come from the shipper: you quoted them, you own the relationship, and you pick the destination agent who delivers. On nominated, the shipper pays somebody — but your revenue and your next shipment come from the nominating agent who sent the routing order. Sell accordingly: freehand is won with customer-facing rates and service; nominated is won by convincing an overseas forwarder that you are the origin leg they should keep choosing. Two containers on the same vessel, two entirely different sales motions.
Why does nominated cargo dominate Indian imports?
In India, nominated and routing-order cargo is the dominant import pattern: the Indian importer wins the routing decision at home, their forwarder controls the move, and the origin work goes to whichever overseas agent that forwarder trusts. Which is why partner selection isthe business there — an Indian forwarder’s import book is only as good as the origin agents executing its routing orders, and the empanelment culture around approved vendors reflects exactly that.
What’s the catch with freehand cargo at destination?
Control inverts at the far end. Your freehand box arrives into the hands of a destination agent you chose — and if a settlement dispute erupts, that agent physically holds your customer’s cargo. WCA warns members about precisely this freehand-at-destination risk, and lien disputes can extend to subsequent consignments. Vet the destination agent’s settlement behaviour before the first box lands, not after.
How do you win a nomination you don’t control?
With a performance argument. The nominating agent is choosing an origin leg on response speed, execution record and clean settlement — so show up with your side of the scorecard: quoted in hours, milestones hit, documents right first time, SOA clean. The desk keeps those numbers ready, and tracks whether the partners you send freehand to reciprocate with nominations. The full freehand-versus-nominated chapter is in the complete guide, and the calculator will put a number on what each lost routing order costs you.
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