Why the brief comes before the rate
Most quotation requests start with a route and a question: how much? The question is reasonable, but a price is a statement about a specific cargo, moved a specific way, on a specific date. When those specifics are missing, the person preparing the quotation has two choices. They can ask, which costs a day, or they can assume, which produces a figure that changes later. A brief is the habit of answering the questions before they are asked.
A brief does not need to be long. It needs to be unambiguous. One page, written once and kept, can be reused for every supplier or forwarder you ask, which also makes the answers comparable.
The nine items
These are the items a forwarder reaches for first. Each one changes either the method of transport, the cost basis or the paperwork.
| Item | Why it matters | What to write |
|---|---|---|
| Cargo description | Decides handling, documents and whether special acceptance is needed | Plain words: "office chairs, flat-packed", not only a product code |
| Packing | Decides how the cargo can be stacked, lifted and loaded | Cartons, pallets, crates or loose; number of each |
| Gross weight | Basis for charges and for equipment limits | Total in kg, and per package if they differ |
| Dimensions | Volume can set the charge for light cargo | Length × width × height in cm for each package size |
| Ready date | Sets which departures are realistic | The date the goods can be collected, not the date you hope to ship |
| Route | Defines the lane and the handover points | Origin and destination at city or port level, with addresses for door service |
| Trade term | Shows who arranges and pays each part | The Incoterm agreed with the other party, with the named place |
| Access | A site with no loading dock or a height limit changes the vehicle | Dock or ground level, vehicle limits, receiving hours |
| Scope | Defines what the quotation must include | Pickup, main leg, customs, delivery: which are in, which are not |
An example, incomplete and complete
The two requests below are hypothetical. They are written to show the difference and do not describe a real customer or a real quotation.
Hypothetical request A (incomplete)
"Hello, please quote a shipment of furniture from Surabaya to Singapore. Urgent. Thanks."
Request A leaves the forwarder with eight open questions: how much furniture, how it is packed, how heavy and large, when it is ready, by air or sea, who pays at destination, whether pickup is needed and whether the buyer clears customs. None can be guessed safely.
The same request, complete
Hypothetical request B (complete)
"Route: Surabaya (factory, ground-level loading) to Singapore (warehouse with dock). Cargo: 24 flat-packed office chairs in 6 cartons of 4. Each carton 80 × 60 × 40 cm, 22 kg. Total 132 kg. Ready for collection on a stated date. Sea freight preferred; air acceptable if the difference is shown. Trade term agreed with the buyer: delivered to the buyer’s warehouse, import clearance by the buyer. Please quote pickup, main leg and delivery to the dock, and state what is not included."
Request B can be quoted, and just as usefully, it can be questioned. The forwarder can answer "this carton size is awkward for this mode" because the numbers are there.
Which unknowns prevent a firm quote
Some gaps can be bridged with a stated assumption. Others cannot. A forwarder can quote with an assumed ready date if the quotation says so. A forwarder cannot responsibly give a firm figure when any of the following is unknown:
- The packed dimensions and weight, because they set the cost basis for both air and sea, and the equipment.
- The mode and the scope, because a door-to-door price and a port-to-port price answer different questions.
- Whether the cargo needs special acceptance, such as batteries, liquids or restricted goods.
- The trade term, because it decides which costs belong in the quotation and which sit with the other party.
If you do not yet know one of these, write "not known yet" rather than leaving it out. A stated unknown tells the forwarder what to treat as an estimate.
A checklist you can reuse
- Describe the goods in plain words.
- State how many packages and how they are packed.
- Give the gross weight and the size of each package, with units.
- Give the ready date and what limits access at pickup and delivery.
- Name the route and the agreed trade term with its named place.
- Say which steps you want quoted and which stay with another party.
- Mark anything you do not know yet.
- Attach the supplier’s packing list or a photograph when you have one.
A note on units and honesty
Write every figure with its unit and state whether it is measured or estimated. "About 130 kg" and "132 kg, weighed" lead to different conversations. If a figure comes from the supplier and has not been checked, say so. A forwarder who knows which numbers are firm can quote the firm parts at once and flag the rest as assumptions, which is faster than discovering the difference after the cargo has been collected.
Keep the brief with the booking so that later questions are answered from the same page, and send the updated version to everyone who received the earlier one.
Limits of this guide
A brief improves a quotation; it does not fix the price. Carrier and airline rates, surcharges and exchange rates move, and a quotation is valid for the period it states. Packing suitability is a property of the cargo itself, and a forwarder can flag a concern but cannot certify your packaging. The chargeable-weight basis for air freight is set by the carrier’s own conditions, so confirm it in the quotation.