Cargo and Freight Agent Expedite and route movement of incoming and outgoing cargo and freight shipments in airline, train, and trucking terminals and shipping docks. Take orders from customers and arrange pickup of freight and cargo for delivery to loading platform. Prepare and examine bills of lading to determine shipping charges and tariffs.
Cargo and Freight Agent is Also Know as
In different settings, Cargo and Freight Agent is titled as
- Air Export Specialist
- Drop Shipment Clerk
- Freight Broker
- Intermodal Dispatcher
- International Coordinator
- Load Planner
- Logistics Coordinator
- Logistics Service Representative
- Ship Broker
- Traffic and Documentation Clerk
Education and Training of Cargo and Freight Agent
Cargo and Freight Agent is categorized in Job Zone Two: Some Preparation Needed
Experience Required for Cargo and Freight Agent
Some previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is usually needed. For example, a teller would benefit from experience working directly with the public.
Education Required for Cargo and Freight Agent
These occupations usually require a high school diploma.
Degrees Related to Cargo and Freight Agent
- Bachelor in General Office Occupations and Clerical Services
- Associate Degree Courses in General Office Occupations and Clerical Services
- Masters Degree Courses in General Office Occupations and Clerical Services
- Bachelor in Traffic, Customs, and Transportation Clerk/Technic
- Associate Degree Courses in Traffic, Customs, and Transportation Clerk/Technic
- Masters Degree Courses in Traffic, Customs, and Transportation Clerk/Technic
Training Required for Cargo and Freight Agent
Employees in these occupations need anywhere from a few months to one year of working with experienced employees. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.
Related Ocuupations
Some Ocuupations related to Cargo and Freight Agent in different industries are
- Freight Forwarders
- Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks
- Customs Brokers
- Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors
- Postal Service Clerks
- Postal Service Mail Carriers
- Light Truck Drivers
- Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance
- Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators
- Order Clerks
- Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers
- Logistics Analysts
- Transportation Inspectors
- Logisticians
- Couriers and Messengers
- First-Line Supervisors of Material-Moving Machine and Vehicle Operators
- Railroad Conductors and Yardmasters
- Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Products
- Reservation and Transportation Ticket Agents and Travel Clerks
- Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers
What Do Cargo and Freight Agent do?
- Negotiate and arrange transport of goods with shipping or freight companies.
- Advise clients on transportation and payment methods.
- Determine method of shipment and prepare bills of lading, invoices, and other shipping documents.
- Estimate freight or postal rates and record shipment costs and weights.
- Enter shipping information into a computer by hand or by a hand-held scanner that reads bar codes on goods.
- Retrieve stored items and trace lost shipments as necessary.
- Pack goods for shipping, using tools such as staplers, strapping machines, and hammers.
- Direct delivery trucks to shipping doors or designated marshaling areas and help load and unload goods safely.
- Inspect and count items received and check them against invoices or other documents, recording shortages and rejecting damaged goods.
- Install straps, braces, and padding to loads to prevent shifting or damage during shipment.
- Keep records of all goods shipped, received, and stored.
- Coordinate and supervise activities of workers engaged in packing and shipping merchandise.
- Arrange insurance coverage for goods.
- Direct or participate in cargo loading to ensure completeness of load and even distribution of weight.
- Open cargo containers and unwrap contents, using steel cutters, crowbars, or other hand tools.
- Attach address labels, identification codes, and shipping instructions to containers.
- Route received goods to first available flight or to appropriate storage areas or departments, using forklifts, hand trucks, or other equipment.
- Maintain a supply of packing materials.
- Assemble containers and crates used to transport items, such as machines or vehicles.
- Track delivery progress of shipments.
- Notify consignees, passengers, or customers of freight or baggage arrival and arrange for delivery.
- Check import or export documentation to determine cargo contents and use tariff coding system to classify goods according to fee or tariff group.
- Prepare manifests showing numbers of airplane passengers and baggage, mail, and freight weights, transmitting data to destinations.
- Contact vendors or claims adjustment departments to resolve shipment problems or contact service depots to arrange for repairs.
Qualities of Good Cargo and Freight Agent
- Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
- Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
- Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
- Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
- Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
- Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
- Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
- Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
- Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
- Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
- Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
- Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
- Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
- Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
- Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
- Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
- Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
- Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
- Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
- Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
- Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
- Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
- Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
- Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
- Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
- Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
- Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
- Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
- Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
- Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
- Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
- Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
- Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
- Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
- Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
Tools Used by Cargo and Freight Agent
- Crow bars
- Desktop computers
- Electrical power unit
- Forklifts
- Hammers
- Hand trucks
- Laser facsimile machines
- Laser printers
- Mobile air-conditioning units
- Radio frequency identification RFID scanners
- Staple guns
- Steel cutters
- Straight trucks
- Strapping machines
- Tow tractors
- Two way radios
- Wheel chocks
Technology Skills required for Cargo and Freight Agent
- Brokerage software
- Corel WordPerfect Office Suite
- Database software
- Email software
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Office software
- Microsoft OneNote
- Microsoft Outlook
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Microsoft Word
- Operating system software
- Posting software
- SAP software
- Spreadsheet software
- Transportation management software
- Transportation management system TMS software
- Web browser software
- Web-based dispatch software
- Word processing software