Are you a freight forwarder or a customs broker?

Neither, and we do not hold either licence. We coordinate the document set and introduce forwarders and brokers who are licensed to do that work. Anyone claiming to be all three is worth a second question.

Our forwarder says they handle the documentation. Do we need this?

Forwarders handle the transport documents well. What sits outside their scope is the regulatory set (export certificates, registration evidence, origin documentation for a preference claim) and that is where consignments get held.

Which incoterm should we use?

It depends on how much control you want over the destination leg and how much risk you are willing to carry. The mistake we see most is agreeing a term that hands over responsibility at a point where you still carry the commercial consequence of a delay.

Can you help with the first shipment only?

Yes, and that is the common shape. The first consignment is where the set gets defined; after that you have a checklist your own team can run.

Service

Export Documentation

Shipments get held for missing paperwork far more often than for anything wrong with the product. The documents a country expects change by product and by route, and they come from several different places: you, CFIA, your freight forwarder, your customs broker. Nobody owns the whole set, so a gap tends to show up once the container has already moved.

What’s included

The document set your destination and product actually require, listed and owned
Coordination between your team, CFIA, the forwarder and the customs broker so nothing sits in a gap
Review of commercial documentation (invoice, packing list, origin declaration) against destination expectations
Introductions to freight forwarders and customs brokers with real experience on this route
Guidance on incoterms and what each one actually commits you to
A repeatable checklist for subsequent shipments, so the second one does not relearn the first

Who else you will need

These sit next to this engagement and we do not do them. They are licensed or credentialed work, and we would do them worse than the people who do them all day. We will introduce you, and coordinate across them so nothing falls in a gap.

Moving the freight and clearing customs: A freight forwarder and a customs broker with live Canada to ASEAN lanes. We introduce them, coordinate the document set across them, and never take a position on the cargo.
Cold chain design and reefer capacity: The forwarder and the carrier. It is where deals fail after the distributor is signed, so we raise it early and put it in the hands of people who own the equipment.
Letters of credit and receivables cover: Export Development Canada, your bank, or a trade finance broker for what sits beyond what EDC covers directly. Getting paid on a first shipment to a new distributor is a financing question, not a documentation one.

Commercial terms

Fee range: Scoped per engagement
Typical timeline: Confirmed at scoping

Questions

Are you a freight forwarder or a customs broker?: Neither, and we do not hold either licence. We coordinate the document set and introduce forwarders and brokers who are licensed to do that work. Anyone claiming to be all three is worth a second question.
Our forwarder says they handle the documentation. Do we need this?: Forwarders handle the transport documents well. What sits outside their scope is the regulatory set (export certificates, registration evidence, origin documentation for a preference claim) and that is where consignments get held.
Which incoterm should we use?: It depends on how much control you want over the destination leg and how much risk you are willing to carry. The mistake we see most is agreeing a term that hands over responsibility at a point where you still carry the commercial consequence of a delay.
Can you help with the first shipment only?: Yes, and that is the common shape. The first consignment is where the set gets defined; after that you have a checklist your own team can run.

Read before you brief us

The reasoning behind this work, written out in full and free to read. You will brief us better for having read it, and you may decide you do not need us for part of it.

What Singapore buyers need from Canadian food producers
Singapore charges no duty on almost everything a Canadian food producer sells, which sounds like the easy market and makes it the demanding one. With price at the border identical for every supplier on earth, the account is won on documentation and reliability.
CPTPP on this route: which three markets it reaches, and what it asks of you
Preference is not a property of the agreement, it is a property of your tariff line plus your origin documentation. Where CPTPP applies among these six markets, where nothing applies, and how a claim is actually made.
The Philippines: no plant approval, and four ways to lose the container anyway
The Philippines does not vet the Canadian establishment before export, which makes it look like the easiest of the six. The detentions happen at labelling, consignment composition and the annexes instead.

Markets this covers

Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore