Freight Forwarders
Research rates, routings, or modes of transport for shipment of products. Maintain awareness of regulations affecting the international movement of cargo. Make arrangements for additional services, such as storage or inland transportation.
A wage reference for United States.
Published wage percentiles describe a distribution within the source occupation group. They provide context for a career decision; employer packages and job offers have their own terms.
This wage group may include multiple detailed occupations. The figures are for the source group, which may be broader than Freight Forwarders. They are not an exact-title, employer, experience or seniority match.
May 2025 · USD · United States. Annual and hourly figures are shown only when the source publishes them; neither is calculated from the other.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage data, distributed through the O*NET® OnLine service.
Annual wage thresholds
USD per year
Hourly wage thresholds
USD per hour
| Percentile | Annual wage (USD/year) | Hourly wage (USD/hour) |
|---|---|---|
| 10th | $38,340 | $18.43 |
| 25th | $45,710 | $21.98 |
| 50th · Median | $52,260 | $25.13 |
| 75th | $63,390 | $30.48 |
| 90th | $79,810 | $38.37 |
“≥” means at least the published amount; “≤” means at most that amount. These are bounds, not exact values. “Not published” means the source did not provide that figure. Occupational wages follow the source definition and do not establish an employer’s base salary, equity or total compensation.
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Compare an entered wage with the published thresholds for United States. Your entry stays on this page.
This compares wage amounts to published percentile thresholds. It does not estimate your personal percentile, adjust for your experience, or compare total compensation. Match the wage definition and occupation group before using the result.
What this career involves.
Occupation definitions describe common work. Responsibilities and requirements vary by employer and specific job.
Selected title examples
Expand more title examples (24)
Typical tasks
- Negotiate shipping rates with freight carriers.
- Arrange for special transport of sensitive cargoes, such as livestock, food, or medical supplies.
- Arrange for applicable duties, taxes, or paperwork for customs clearance.
- Inform clients of factors such as shipping options, timelines, transfers, or regulations affecting shipments.
- Prepare shipping documentation, such as bills of lading, packing lists, dock receipts, or certificates of origin.
- Complete customs paperwork.
Expand more tasks (25)
- Prepare invoices or cost quotations for freight transportation.
- Select shipment routes, based on nature of goods shipped, transit times, or security needs.
- Calculate weight, volume, or cost of goods to be moved.
- Arrange delivery or storage of goods at destinations.
- Arrange for transport, using a variety of modes, such as rail, short sea shipping, air, or roadways, to minimize carbon emissions or other environmental impacts.
- Determine efficient and cost-effective methods of moving goods from one location to another.
- Pay or arrange for payment of freight or insurance fees or other charges.
- Monitor or record locations of goods in transit.
- Keep records of goods dispatched or received.
- Reserve necessary space on ships, aircraft, trains, or trucks.
- Obtain or arrange cargo insurance.
- Consolidate loads with a common destination to reduce costs to individual shippers.
- Provide detailed port information to importers or exporters.
- Provide shipment status notification to exporters, consignees, or insurers.
- Verify proper packaging and labeling of exported goods.
- Verify adherence of documentation to customs, insurance, or regulatory requirements.
- Maintain current knowledge of relevant legislation, political situations, or other factors that could affect freight shipping.
- Recommend or arrange appropriate merchandise packing methods, according to climate, terrain, weight, nature of goods, or costs.
- Refer exporters to experts in areas such as trade financing, international marketing, government export requirements, international banking, or marine insurance.
- Make arrangements with customs brokers to facilitate the passage of goods through customs.
- Recommend shipping solutions to minimize cost or environmental impacts.
- Review the environmental records of freight carriers to inform shipping decisions.
- Analyze shipping routes to determine how to minimize environmental impact.
- Consider environmental sustainability factors when determining merchandise packing methods.
- Assist clients in obtaining insurance reimbursements.
Skills used in this work
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Active Listening
- Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Negotiation
- Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
Expand more skills (29)
- Service Orientation
- Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Persuasion
- Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Mathematics
- Using mathematics to solve problems.
- Systems Analysis
- Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
- Systems Evaluation
- Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
- Instructing
- Teaching others how to do something.
- Learning Strategies
- Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
- Management of Personnel Resources
- Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
- Management of Financial Resources
- Determining how money will be spent to get the work done, and accounting for these expenditures.
- Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
- Management of Material Resources
- Obtaining and seeing to the appropriate use of equipment, facilities, and materials needed to do certain work.
- Operations Analysis
- Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.
- Technology Design
- Generating or adapting equipment and technology to serve user needs.
- Programming
- Writing computer programs for various purposes.
- Quality Control Analysis
- Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.
- Equipment Maintenance
- Performing routine maintenance on equipment and determining when and what kind of maintenance is needed.
- Equipment Selection
- Determining the kind of tools and equipment needed to do a job.
- Operation and Control
- Controlling operations of equipment or systems.
- Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the needed tools.
- Troubleshooting
- Determining causes of operating errors and deciding what to do about it.
- Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or programs to meet specifications.
- Science
- Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.
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