The Government of any country use a number of tools to manage their international trade operations. In general the tools can be categorised into tariffs, import quotas and subsidies. Tariffs are the taxes imposed on imports, Import Quotas are imposed to restrict the sale of foreign goods within the country to avoid monopoly of these goods in the domestic markets while Subsidies are the grants provided by the government to make the domestic markets more competitive.

As far as the export/import trade is concerned, it is important to have complete idea of various tools required/used for a smooth logistics management. Freight rates is one of the important tools used for export/ import of goods across countries as it is the price paid or collected for the delivery of a cargo from one one port to another. These rates differ on the basis of the cargo , mode of transport used like truck, ship, train or aircraft, dimensions or weight of the cargo and the distance to the destination port. In other words, freight rate is the cost that a shipper or consignee is charge for the transportation of goods.

CBM / load calculator is the tool used to calculate the weight and volume of consignments or shipping cartons for single container or multiple container in cubic meters. This helps the shipper in determining the mode of transporting the cargo i.e. by sea or air.

Container Tracking system or is a tracking software that enables the consignee to determine or track the location of the cargo across ports and determine the transit time of goods reaching the destination ports. With the use of details such as cargo number/ bill of lading/ Air cargo number shippers trace the cargo routes that further helps them in determining the time or days that the consignment will reach its destination.

The use of the above mentioned tools of international trade enables the customs house agents carry out the export/import of goods with efficiency and provide best custom clearing and international freight forwarding services to the clients.