Shipping Line and Shipping Company are the same?

This article explains the common words of Shipping line and Shipping company in the field of shipping. These seem to be different. But shipping lines and shipping companies have the same meaning.

Are the shipping line and shipping company the same?

Shipping line and Shipping company are the same or not. This is a widespread question in the shipping industry. Most people are confused by this question. Here I’m trying to explain the actual meaning of the shipping line and shipping company according to shipping management theory. And also want to clear doubts about the meaning of shipping lines and shipping companies. This topic is a very complex and very sensitive question in the field of shipping and logistics.

I’m trying to answer the above question as well as relevant important details.

Shipping line

A shipping line is also known as a carrier.

A shipping line is a company that owns and operates the vessels from port to port. It is commonly known as a vessel operating from the loading port or origin to the destination port

Main Shippinglines in The world

Shipping company

Shipping lines and shipping companies have the same meaning. We can say the shipping line is a carrier. So, a shipping line company is known as a shipping company.

But most people think a shipping company means it is a company that can help transport goods shipped by sea. So commonly people think shipping companies and freight forwarding companies are the same. Most of the people are not aware of shipping and logistics terms. Also, most of the people who engage with international business do not have the theoretical knowledge of shipping. Most countries use the term shipping companies for freight forwarding companies as their domestic and industrial languages or terms. Because they do know the meaning of freight forwarding.

for example, most people are looking for a company to ship their cargo to another country. Then they search through the internet using the keywords “shipping companies near me” or “shipping companies in Sri Lanka(relevant country)”

Theoretically, shipping management has introduced shipping companies as shipping lines or carriers.

Why do people think shipping companies and freight forwarding companies are the same?

According to general speaking language, they think shipping company and freight forwarding is the same

lack of knowledge relevant to shipping management and shipping terms

What is the difference between a shipping line and a shipping company?

The actual meaning of shipping line and shipping company is the same. So there is no difference.

but according to general speaking languages of domestic industry terms and cultural differences of the countries people think shipping companies and shipping lines are different from they have identified freight forwarders as shipping companies.

Freight forwarders

Freight forwarders arrange all the processes of exporting or importing goods from one country to another country. Freight forwarder’s duties and responsibilities vary from shipment to shipment because it depends on the request of the importer or exporter.

For example, you can hand over your export shipment to a freight forwarder on your premises without packaging. From the packaging part and warehousing, loading to a truck to port, documentation part, and also all processes of the exporting can be done by a freight forwarder. In this case, as an exporter, you are required to send the correct shipment details to the freight forwarder and hand over the shipment to the freight forwarder only. Other parts of the export process are arranged by freight forwarders. But each and every service is added to the freight forwarder service invoice or bill, so the exporter is liable to pay that amount of service charges to a freight forwarder.

in this case, as an importer or exporter no need to know of shipping or international trading. This is an easy and mind-relaxed method of importing or exporting people who lack knowledge of import and export procedures and new people to the industry.

Another way is you can request freight forwarding services only for services as you wish. As an experienced person, you can arrange packaging and warehousing facilities and request the documentation and shipping parts to the freight forwarder. like you can customize your shipment with your freight forwarder. They will arrange your shipment with the coordination of transporting and logistics providers and shipping lines and wharft agents etc.

Freight forwarders do haven’t thein vessels. They act as agents of the shipping lines. So they lease the space of the vessel from shippinglines and resell it to their customers.

for more details on freight forwarding you can read the post Freight Forwarder: Everything You Need To Know