What our customers say

Second year running with First Base Freight for our Rotterdam groupage. What I actually value is that when something goes wrong — and on short-sea something always eventually does — I get a phone call explaining it before I have noticed, rather than a vague email after I chase.

We import furniture from Vietnam and had been stung twice by surcharges nobody mentioned at quote stage. The quote here included THC and BAF up front and the invoice matched it to the penny. Genuinely refreshing.

First time exporting and I had no idea what I was doing. They walked me through the paperwork twice without making me feel stupid about it, and the container cleared without a single query.

Consistently good on the operational side and the tracking updates are better than the last forwarder we used. Knocking one star off only because getting the initial quote took longer than I would have liked during peak season.

Had a booking rolled at origin and expected the usual week of silence. Instead they had us on the next sailing and told me the new ETA the same afternoon. That is the entire difference between a forwarder and a booking agent.

We move machinery that never quite fits a standard box. They sorted a flat rack, briefed our packers on bracing for the voyage, and it arrived without a mark. Clearly done this before.

Solid service on our Mombasa lane and the customs side was handled properly. The indicative rates published per country are a nice touch for budgeting, though the final quote came in a little above the estimate once inland delivery was added.

Been shipping with them for three years across four different lanes. Same account manager the whole time, which sounds like a small thing until you have dealt with a forwarder where it is a different name in every email.