What to include in a request
Four answers get you a usable reply: what the cargo is, how much of it there is, where it is now and where it has to be, and the date it actually needs to arrive. Everything else - which mode, which carrier, which surcharges apply - follows from those. A rough weight and volume is far more useful than a precise description without them, because both air and ocean pricing turn on weight and volume rather than on what the goods are called.
The deadline is the part most people under-specify, and it changes the answer more than any other single input. A date that is genuinely fixed justifies air freight or a premium on space; a date that is merely preferred usually does not, and saying which it is can save a disproportionate amount of money. If the deadline is tied to something specific - a production start, a contractual delivery, a retail season - say so, because it determines how much buffer the plan needs.
What we send back
You will get a recommended mode with the reasoning, a transit range rather than a single date, and a costed breakdown of the chain: inland legs, terminal handling, the main leg, clearance and final delivery, with any surcharge that is likely to apply identified at that point rather than at destination. Where a shipment sits near a break-even between two modes, we quote both so the trade-off is visible rather than implied.
If something in the request is unclear or looks inconsistent - a volume and a weight that do not match, a deadline that is not achievable at the cost implied, documentation that will not support the destination - we will say so in the reply rather than price around it. An unrealistic quote returns later as an unpleasant conversation.
Before you send anything confidential
We do not need commercial invoices, customer names or pricing to prepare a quote; a plain description of the goods is enough to establish the mode and the route. We do not provide customs, legal or tax advice, and nothing in a quote should be read as a ruling on how goods are classified or valued - those are matters for your declaration and, where relevant, your own adviser. Where a shipment needs a licence or permit, the requirement is confirmed against current regulations rather than assumed.
Choosing between modes?
The services overview sets out what each mode covers and which constraint decides between them.