Objectives of this paper was to determine the important role of the freight forwarding in international trade. Following authors like Schramm (2012) In the era of globalization, which leads to massive production and outstanding services, transportation needs are increasing. Transportation or in general to transport, refers to the movement of any kind of good as well as animals and human beings, from point A to point B. From the very beginning and due to the increasing human consumptions, transportation has been one of the vital factors in enabling trade between people and countries that repeatedly leads to civilization. Supply and demand are the main reasons as well as the driving force of human history, which is directly related to transport. If we cannot produce the food we want to consume or use, they must be transported to us. Baluch (2005) in his article-The changing role of the freight forwarders- stated that “As people began to explore other trading opportunities, cross-country and cross continental travel began to spread. International transportation started to occur at the highest levels of mobility that demanded both intercontinental and inter regional movements. Road, water, Rail, Air are some modes of transportation that are being extended accordingly to the globalization and the importance of economic growth. The products that we consume today travel long distances along the globe and the global supply chain to reach us. As the supply chains become more geographically complex, their success depends more and more on the expertise of capable transport intermediaries such as freight forwarders”. Unfortunately, many of international businesses are unaware of the importance of having a professional freight forwarder in order to increase the Rate and the efficiency of international trade around the globe. Freight forwarders are known as ”transport architectures” which means that they are able to control and proceed the transportation process in the most efficient way. Freight forwarders can act as agents, principals and/or as a carrier. Due to the different roles of freight forwarders as well as the different conceptual and theoretical approaches which were made mostly by German and French laws, a draft was presented in an international convention in 1967,which was called

Unidroit, This was the first attempt in international unification of freight forwarders. Later in 1926, a nongovernmental organization , The so called -International Federation of Freight

Forwarders Associations- FIATA was found in Vienna/Austria which aimed to unite the freight forwarding industry globally. Fiata Improved the quality of transportation and helped the forwarders in many ways but it was not enough by itself. Moreover, The terms of sale in domestic contracts and international business might look similar but can have different meanings, which might lead to confusion at the end, and of course, the confusion will result in diminished profits or lost in sales. Therefore, in 1920’s, international traders gathered and decided to develop a set of terms concerning their rights and obligations with regard to the sale and transport of goods. Later, and aiming to improve this aspect of international trade, the international Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris developed INCOTERMS, which was a set of rules for the understanding of terms defining the costs, risks, and obligations of buyers and sellers in international transactions. As globalization makes the whole worlds economy more competitive, international traders found it vital to transport goods inside and outside the national borders. Freight forwarders could save these national and international traders a huge amount of money, time as well as giving them the security that the goods they need to import or export will be reached on time, safe and in the cheapest possible way. This research contains more details concerning the role of freight forwarding in international trade . The freight forwarding industry as well as all the other industries is influenced by globalization and it’s competitive market. there are challenges to be faced and factors threatening the industry (e.g. Pollution, weather conditions, Increase in fuel price and etc.), as well as great opportunities (e.g. improving IT based services, customer service, expanded relationship worldwide and etc.) to be taken which are all illustrated in details in the research. The aim is for the managers of this industry to be able to overcome the challenges with in time and strong strategies in order to improve the freight forwarding industry itself which of course at the end leads to an increased amount of trade and wealth globally.