Capability
Freight forwarding services in Singapore
Arranging and managing the movement of goods by sea, air, and land for shippers. Work covers booking carrier space, cargo consolidation, documentation, and coordination of customs and delivery. Buyers select on trade-lane coverage, carrier relationships, IATA/FIATA accreditation, and rate transparency.
Freight forwarding is the brokering layer of Singapore's position as the world's top logistics hub — the firms that book air, sea and road capacity, consolidate and deconsolidate cargo, arrange documentation and move goods across the country's ports and airport. The demand base is enormous and structural: PSA Singapore cleared more than 40 million TEU of containers in 2024, the first time its terminals broke that barrier, and Changi Airport handled 1.99 million tonnes of air cargo the same year, up about 15%. Singapore ranked first globally on the World Bank's 2023 Logistics Performance Index, including first for customs-clearance efficiency, and most of the world's top 25 logistics players run operations here — which is exactly the competitive backdrop against which the Index must position the homegrown champions. The capacity pipeline is still growing: Tuas Port is being built toward roughly 65 million TEU by the 2040s.
The buyer reads a forwarder on a specific stack: mode coverage (air, sea FCL/LCL, road/cross-border to Malaysia); NVOCC / consolidation capability (own LCL consolidation boxes and groupage network); network reach (own offices versus agent partners); in-house customs brokerage (most Singapore forwarders self-perform TradeNet declarations); and sector depth (electronics, chemicals/dangerous goods, pharma, aerospace, project cargo). The field is a barbell. At one end sit homegrown Singapore-HQ forwarders and consolidators — CWT (and its CWT Globelink NVOCC arm, one of the world's largest LCL consolidators), SGX-listed Vibrant Group/Freight Links, Yang Kee, Cogent, GKE and mid-size houses like M&P International. At the other end is a dense layer of foreign-HQ global forwarders with major Singapore operations — DHL, Kuehne+Nagel, DSV (which absorbed DB Schenker), Nippon Express, Kerry, Expeditors, GEODIS, Yusen and others — against whom the local players compete on service, specialisation and relationships.
Also known as: freight forwarder · freight forwarding companies · forwarding agent · sea freight forwarder · air freight forwarder · logistics forwarder
Capability specifications
- Modes
- Sea (FCL and LCL), air, road, rail, multimodal
- Accreditations
- IATA, FIATA, Singapore Logistics Association membership
- Documentation
- Bill of lading, air waybill, certificate of origin, packing list
- Consolidation
- LCL groupage, buyer's consolidation, transhipment
- Incoterms handled
- EXW, FOB, CIF, DAP, DDP
Companies with this capability in Singapore
- Halcon Primo Logistics
Halcon Primo Logistics is a Singapore-headquartered logistics group founded in 2003, running 838,000-plus sq ft of bonded, non-bonded and automated warehousing — including an owned seven-hectare zero-GST bonded hub — plus air, ocean and cross-border road freight, project logistics and customs brokerage. Its NVOCC arm, Vega Orient Line, operates 800 containers in the Intra-Asia trade. Offices in Singapore, Malaysia and China; ISO 9001 and ISO 45001 certified, bizSAFE Star.
- CWT
Singapore's largest homegrown integrated logistics group, offering air and sea freight forwarding, LCL consolidation (its CWT Globelink arm is one of the world's largest NVOCC/LCL consolidators), container depot, warehousing, contract logistics, self-performed customs declaration, and a CWT Project Logistics entity for project cargo with an islandwide bulk and container trucking fleet including FSB-licensed hazmat operations.
Website (opens CWT in a new tab) - Vibrant Group (Freight Links Express)
An SGX-listed, Singapore-HQ group providing ocean and air freight, cargo consolidation and deconsolidation, transshipment, cross-dock and LCL — one of the main independent LCL consolidators in Singapore, with a network cited at 140 agents and 700-plus destinations — alongside warehousing (formerly Freight Links) and in-house documentation and customs.
Website (opens Vibrant Group (Freight Links Express) in a new tab) - Yang Kee Logistics
A homegrown Singapore-HQ integrated group with international air and sea freight forwarding, warehousing (including dangerous-goods and temperature-controlled cold storage), trucking, distribution and contract logistics across a multi-country network, with self-performed customs.
Website (opens Yang Kee Logistics in a new tab) - Cogent Holdings
A Singapore-HQ integrated logistics-hub operator whose Cogent 1.Logistics Hub combines ramp-up warehousing, container depot and automotive logistics, alongside freight forwarding, contract logistics and transport supporting project and heavy-cargo moves. Now a subsidiary of COSCO Shipping International (Singapore).
Website (opens Cogent Holdings in a new tab) - GKE Corporation
A homegrown, SGX-listed integrated logistics and infrastructure-materials group providing freight forwarding, warehousing, distribution, contract logistics and transportation.
Website (opens GKE Corporation in a new tab) - YCH Group
Singapore's flagship homegrown supply-chain champion, running its entire Asia-Pacific network from the purpose-built Supply Chain City at Bulim Avenue, with specialised Singapore nodes (YCH ChemPark for chemicals, YCH DistriCentre), multi-temperature cold-chain warehousing and a control-tower 3PL/4PL model on proprietary WMS technology. Serves electronics, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and FMCG, and provides international freight forwarding across the region.
Website (opens YCH Group in a new tab) - Bok Seng Group
A Singapore-HQ project-logistics specialist with regional reach: heavy lifting and transport of oversized cargo, project-cargo storage and load-outs, skidding, positioning and crating, and transport-and-lifting engineering (rigging, sea-fastening, stability analysis), plus breakbulk freight forwarding and warehousing. Equipment includes SPMTs, mobile cranes (100-750 t), crawler cranes (250-750 t), 1,000-tonne hydraulic gantry cranes, jacking and skidding systems, barges and tugs.
Website (opens Bok Seng Group in a new tab) - M&P International Freights
A Singapore-HQ forwarder providing container trucking, chartering, transshipment, pick-and-pack, warehousing and air and sea freight logistics, with self-performed customs.
Website (opens M&P International Freights in a new tab) - DHL (Singapore)
The Singapore operations of DHL Group (Germany), spanning DHL Global Forwarding (air and sea forwarding and customs brokerage from a regional hub) and DHL Supply Chain (the world's leading contract-logistics provider), which runs the Advanced Regional Centre at 1 Greenwich Drive and a Life Sciences & Healthcare pharma hub near Tuas Biomedical Park with GMP/GDP-compliant ambient and 2-8 degrees C cold rooms.
Website (opens DHL (Singapore) in a new tab) - Kuehne+Nagel
The world's largest sea-freight forwarder, with a large Singapore operation and a 46,000 sqm Logistics Hub (over 40% temperature-controlled, with 2-8 degrees C and 15-25 degrees C zones, vault storage and reefer bays; Green Mark Platinum / LEED Gold), delivering forwarding, contract logistics and cold-chain warehousing, and self-performing customs.
Website (opens Kuehne+Nagel in a new tab) - DSV
A global air, sea and road forwarder and contract-logistics provider (its Solutions division), whose largest Singapore warehouse, DSV Pearl, is a five-storey facility of roughly 66,000 sqm with Autostore automation and temperature-controlled zones for retail and e-commerce, healthcare and technology, plus a site at Changi North Way; self-performs customs.
Website (opens DSV in a new tab) - Nippon Express
The Singapore operation of the Japanese logistics major (NX Group), providing air and sea freight forwarding, warehousing and self-performed customs.
Website (opens Nippon Express in a new tab) - Kerry Logistics
An integrated forwarding and contract-logistics provider with a Singapore operation, part of Hong Kong's Kerry Logistics (SF Holding).
Website (opens Kerry Logistics in a new tab) - Expeditors
A global air and ocean freight forwarder and customs broker with a Singapore operation.
Website (opens Expeditors in a new tab) - GEODIS
A global forwarding and contract-logistics provider with a Singapore operation, part of France's SNCF group.
Website (opens GEODIS in a new tab) - Yusen Logistics
A forwarding, warehousing and contract-logistics provider with a Singapore operation, part of Japan's NYK group.
Website (opens Yusen Logistics in a new tab) - Mitsui-Soko (Singapore)
The Singapore operation of the Japanese logistics group, providing freight forwarding and warehousing.
Website (opens Mitsui-Soko (Singapore) in a new tab) - Bansard International
An Asia-focused independent freight forwarder with a Singapore office, self-performing customs.
Website (opens Bansard International in a new tab) - Chiang Huat Transport
A customs-led Singapore logistics firm with a dedicated customs-brokerage arm registered with Singapore Customs: import GST, export and transhipment permits, Certificate of Origin and Strategic (controlled) goods declarations, with staff stationed at Keppel and Changi; serves FMCG, pharma, precious metals and oil-and-gas, alongside freight forwarding, warehousing and cold storage.
Website (opens Chiang Huat Transport in a new tab) - E-Smarts
A Singapore declaring agent and customs broker offering all types of import and export permit declaration and customs clearance, with secondary container, sea and air freight and supply-chain services.
Website (opens E-Smarts in a new tab)
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