China's total import and export volume in 2022 reached 42.07 trillion yuan, marking a 7.6% increase. Specifically, the value of imports totaled 23.97 trillion yuan, while exports amounted to 18.10 trillion yuan, reflecting respective growth rates of 4.3% and 10.3%. The robust domestic import and export demand has significantly stimulated market activity within the international freight forwarding industry. Statistics indicate that the market size of China's international freight forwarding industry in 2022 is approximately 2,947.63 billion yuan, representing an impressive growth rate of 11.42%.

Key words: international freight forwarding, international freight forwarding, cross-border logistics

1、Overview of international freight forwarders

The international freight forwarding industry involves the acceptance of import and export goods by consignees, consignors, or their agents on behalf of the principal or in their own name. It encompasses the organization and handling of international goods transport and related business activities, making it a professional logistics service industry. The core operations include supply chain management, warehousing, documentation and customs clearance, transportation arrangement and tracking."

Freight forwarders act as intermediaries for goods, responsible for handling various matters related to international cargo transportation to ensure that goods are safely and efficiently transported from the point of origin to the destination. Freight forwarders are intermediaries, brokers, and organizers of transportation between shippers and carriers; they can accept either the carrier's or the shipper's instructions. Due to the complexity of international logistics (dispersed supply and demand, long supply chains, non-standardization, and complex policies), international freight forwarders are the most typical type of freight forwarders. Based on the mode of transportation, international freight forwarders can be classified into sea freight, air freight, road, rail, and multimodal freight forwarders.

International freight forwarders are responsible for managing international logistics distribution and providing value-added services. Based on their position in the industry chain, international freight forwarders can be categorized as level 1 agents, level 2 agents, and N-level agents:

1) Level 1 agents directly reserve cargo space with carriers and primarily generate revenue from agency fees, carrier commission returns (based on cargo volume), and LCL business. The profits of level 1 air freight forwarders mainly stem from agency fees and charter prices.

2) Level 2 agents directly engage with customers and primarily profit from value-added services. Some level 1 agents can bridge the one- and two-level channels to establish long-term stable customer resources and transportation resources.

2、International freight forwarding industry chain

The upstream linkage of the international freight forwarding industry involves the port industry and packaging, etc. The middle linkage participants are international freight forwarding enterprises, and the downstream linkage is the ocean transport industry and consignees.

International freight forwarding is mainly carried out through cross-border logistics, and ocean transport, also known as deep-sea transport, is the main transportation mode of international freight forwarding. From the perspective of transportation forms, ocean transport mainly includes container transport and bulk cargo transport.

Container transport refers to the transportation of a certain number of single items of goods packed in containers.

Bulk cargo transport refers to the organization form of sea bulk cargo transport. Bulk cargo transport is usually organized in the form of unscheduled vessel transport. In recent years, the domestic ocean transport industry has maintained a steady growth trend.

According to the data, the total cargo volume of China's ocean transport in 2022 was 4.151 billion tons, and the cargo turnover volume was 1.0197 trillion tons kilometers, up 2.48% and 4.23% year-on-year respectively.

3、Analysis of current situation of international freight forwarding industry

In recent years, the amount of China's imports and exports has been increasing year by year. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, China's total import and export volume reached 420.7 trillion yuan in 2022, up by 7.6% from the previous year.

Of which, the import volume was 23.97 trillion yuan, up by 4.3% year-on-year, while the export volume was 18.10 trillion yuan, up by 10.3%. The domestic import and export demand has driven the active market of international freight forwarding industry. According to statistics, the market size of China's international freight forwarding industry in 2022 was about 2947.6 billion yuan, up by 11.42% year-on-year. The increase of the international freight forwarding industry market size is mainly due to the growth of international piece trade demand. With the return of supply and demand, the growth rate of the international freight forwarding market is expected to slow down.

The data indicates that the revenue of the top 100 international freight forwarding enterprises in China surged from 347.6 billion yuan in 2014 to 867.1 billion yuan in 2022. Looking ahead, the international industrial chain and supply chain layout will undergo significant adjustments, leveraging China's comprehensive strength in global manufacturing, combined with the conclusion of the pandemic and the upsurge in global trade demand, as well as the flourishing development of new business models such as cross-border

 e-commerce. Consequently, it is anticipated that the revenue of relevant enterprises within this industry will continue to ascend.

In the global freight forwarding industry, Kuehne+Nagel holds the top position in both ocean and air freight markets, boasting a total volume of 4.386 million TEU and 223.2 thousand tons in sea freight and air freight respectively. China Foreign Trade Transportation Group secures the second spot in the sea freight market with a volume of 3.89 million TEU, followed by DHL at third place with a volume of 3.294 million TEU. In the air freight market, DHL takes second place with a volume of 1.902 million tons, followed by DSV at third place with a volume of 1.558 million tons.

Development trend of international freight forwarding industry

1, The industry tends to digital and intelligent development:

（1）In the realm of digital transformation, freight forwarding companies are increasingly leveraging digital technologies such as the Internet of Things, big data analysis, and cloud computing to enhance the transparency and efficiency of logistics operations, optimize transportation plans, and allocate resources more effectively.

（2）Automation and Intelligence: Introduce automated warehouse and transportation systems, use autonomous vehicles and robots to improve operational efficiency and reduce labor costs.

（3）Blockchain Applications: Driving Forward

The application of blockchain technology in supply chains ensures the security of transactions, the authenticity of data, and simplifies financial processes.

2.The industry is trending towards sustainability and environmental protection. 

（1）Green Transport

Advance sustainable transportation by promoting the adoption of environmentally friendly methods, such as eco-friendly shipping and electric vehicles, to mitigate carbon emissions and environmental pollution.

（2）Advocate for the use of eco-friendly packaging materials and promote the reutilization of packaging, thereby mitigating the environmental impact of packaging waste.

3.The industry tends to cross-border e-commerce and global cooperation:

（1）Offer tailored and efficient logistics solutions for cross-border e-commerce clients to address the rapidly increasing demand in this sector.

（2）Enhance multi-modal transportation by integrating various modes of transport to optimize cross-border logistics, enhance transport efficiency, and reduce costs.

（3）Foster cross-border collaboration and a global network by establishing strong partnerships with international freight forwarding companies and logistics partners to expand the global logistics network and offer comprehensive global freight forwarding services.