The Inside Story of Low-Cost air freight to UAE and How to Avoid Being Scammed
Mr. Shi from Xiamen wanted to ship a batch of petroleum catalysts via air freight to UAE. He found a forwarder in a logistics chat group who offered an unusually low price. They made big promises, but shortly after he paid, they disappeared.
Mr. Shi is part of several UAE logistics groups and often ships goods by sea to the UAE. This time, his client was developing a new product and needed to send 3 tons of petroleum catalysts quickly for testing. He was suspicious at first and asked why their quote was so much lower than market rates. The forwarder claimed it was because of their large volume and well-established routes, which kept costs low. Mr. Shi considered visiting their office in Shenzhen for due diligence, but due to time constraints and his prior experience shipping to the UAE, he decided to proceed without further checks.
After sending the cargo to the forwarder’s warehouse and paying the fee, he realized something was wrong. Eventually, he couldn’t reach them at all. Later, he found out he wasn’t the only one who had been scammed.
This is a classic case of low-price fraud. Many people choose air freight to UAE based solely on low quotes, but often these offers come from small, unreliable forwarders. Since their prices are below operational costs, they attract large volumes of cargo, especially from clients who aren’t familiar with common pitfalls or can’t easily visit their offices. While some remain cautious, many still fall for the low-price trap.
These scammers typically collect payment per shipment—often tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars—and then transfer the funds to pre-prepared accounts of other companies before handing the cargo to their upstream partners.
I advised Mr. Shi that while finding low-cost air freight to UAE is great, reliability should always come first. Unfortunately, trustworthy forwarders offering sustainably low prices are rare. So, when shipping to the UAE, prioritize finding a reliable partner first, then consider the price.
How to Find a Trustworthy air freight to UAE Forwarder?
The process of air freight to UAE involves many steps. The key is to confirm whether the forwarder is a direct consolidator (also known as a "first-hand consolidator") for UAE routes. Don’t just take their word for it—you need evidence.
If you can’t visit their office regularly, how can you verify their status and volume? Here’s a tip: Communicate thoroughly with the forwarder and ask for documentation from previous shipments. These records are hard to fake. If necessary, you can even verify customs data for authenticity.
Why Choose Us?
Our company was established in 1998 and has 27 years of experience. We are a direct consolidator for air freight to UAE. While there are many first-hand consolidators in the market, very few offer two dedicated routes like we do:
1. A direct route from Guangzhou/Shenzhen to the UAE, with 30 fixed airline pallet spaces per week—6 every day from Monday to Friday. Most other first-hand consolidators only have 2-3 pallet spaces per week.
2. An additional route from Guangzhou/Shenzhen to the UAE via Beijing, with daily flights from Monday to Sunday.
These two dedicated routes ensure timeliness and stability, setting us apart from ordinary forwarders.
We lease pallet spaces directly from airlines, giving us full control over cargo loading. This allows us to adjust flexibly—for example, if an airline cancels a shipment, we can quickly implement a backup plan without affecting delivery times. Ordinary forwarders, on the other hand, have to search for available pallet spaces last-minute, often compromising on efficiency.
I showed Mr. Shi previous shipment documents for air freight to UAE and answered all his questions. Satisfied, he arranged to send his cargo to our warehouse. The goods arrived at his designated warehouse in the UAE within 7 days, right on time.