A freight broker is an individual or an organization that coordinates shippers with transport providers to ship products to various locations. A freight broker works on commission and is a transportation intermediary, providing merchants with transport resources to move goods. They help transport carriers load trucks, trains, or other shipping vehicles and help shippers find reliable transport carriers. Some organizations may hire brokers to manage their shipping departments, letting the broker coordinate all of their shipping and transportation needs.
There are many different types of freight brokers, depending on the industry. For example, a broker may work as an import-export broker who interfaces with customs, other government agencies, or they may work with international carriers and other companies and organizations that are involved in international freight transportation. Freight brokers also work in the agricultural industry and the shipping industry, ensuring that products and goods make it safely to their destinations.
Freight brokers work in an office environment or work on-site at a shipping or receiving facility, and their hours may vary depending upon shipping schedules. They should possess excellent communication, organizational and coordinating skills, and although most freight brokers might have an advanced degree in sales or a related field, an advanced degree is not necessarily required. However, most states do require that freight brokers have a license to operate. A freight broker can make up to $70,000 annually in the US.
What is a Freight Broker?
What Does a Freight Broker Do
There are certain skills that many freight brokers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed business skills, problem-solving skills and communication skills.
How To Become a Freight Broker
If you're interested in becoming a freight broker, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 51.6% of freight brokers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 3.7% of freight brokers have master's degrees. Even though most freight brokers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Freight Broker Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of logistics coordinator you might progress to a role such as logistics manager eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title terminal manager.
Average Salary for a Freight Broker
What Am I Worth?
Roles and Types of Freight Broker
The role of a freight broker includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general freight broker responsibilities:
- Participate in our safety initiative/culture and qualify carriers to meet strict safety
- Solicit additional freight commitments from customers solicit
- Identify, qualify and generate new business by adding
There are several types of freight broker, including:
Broker
Role:
A broker is a finance professional who manages business transactions. As a broker, you carry out investments such as insurance or real estate deals, liaising between banks and clients. Essentially, your job is to build relationships with customers and negotiate arrangements.
Being a broker is a kind of sales position often considered as a stepping stone toward a supervisor sales role. Brokers work for different industries and are expected to be knowledgeable about the products and services of the company they work for, in order to provide top-notch customer services.
Actually, customer service is the biggest part of the job. Brokers continuously work on relationships with clients, assessing their needs and offering solutions to their problems. The ultimate task, however, is to close deals by aligning the interests of buyers and sellers.
- Average Salary: $124,861
- Degree: Bachelor's Degree
Cargo Agent
Role:
A cargo agent is one of the most important parties involved in ocean freight. This agent advises on different relevant destination charges. He/she pays taxes, tariffs, and duties on behalf of the cargo owner. The cargo agent monitors the movement of the goods and cooperates with the port authorities during goods inspection. Plus, he/she keeps and presents the necessary documents like the packing list, commercial invoice, etc., to the customs authority.
Since a cargo agent handles import, export, and cross trades shipments, he/she or she needs strategic skills, organizational skills, management skills, business skills, networking skills, multitasking skills, and logistics skills. You must secure at least a high school diploma to work as a cargo agent. Most of these agents, however, learn about their duties informally, through training. A cargo agent earns an average of $28,473 annually, and that is $14 per hour.
- Average Salary: $35,411
- Degree: High School Diploma
Export Coordinator
Role:
An export coordinator sees the export process from the start to the end. They serve as middlemen between suppliers, forwarders, and agents to obtain the latest shipment information. Export coordinators also prepare bills and documents needed for shipping. It is their responsibility to communicate policies, shipping options, and other information to the clients.
You will often need to verify documents submitted by clients and provide the transportation companies with vital information to meet the needs of the customers. As an expert coordinator, you may be required to settle disputes and issues related to missing or damaged items, shipping delays, and other issues that may arise during the shipping process.
The minimum requirement for this position is a bachelor's degree or a high school diploma in business management or business administration. Besides this, you must possess good interpersonal skills, be organized, confident, and communicate effectively with clients. Export coordinators earn an average annual salary of $43,257.
- Average Salary: $43,911
- Degree: Bachelor's Degree
States With The Most Freight Broker Jobs
Number Of Freight Broker Jobs By State
| Rank | State | Number of Jobs | Average Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 562 | $54,416 |
| 2 | Pennsylvania | 454 | $48,452 |
| 3 | New York | 364 | $59,217 |
| 4 | Texas | 354 | $44,879 |
| 5 | New Jersey | 286 | $55,633 |
| 6 | Florida | 277 | $53,716 |
| 7 | Illinois | 272 | $47,918 |
| 8 | Georgia | 270 | $45,274 |
| 9 | Ohio | 240 | $47,411 |
| 10 | Michigan | 203 | $51,020 |
| 11 | Maryland | 134 | $40,632 |
| 12 | Washington | 131 | $57,029 |
| 13 | North Carolina | 123 | $50,811 |
| 14 | Tennessee | 115 | $52,127 |
| 15 | Massachusetts | 114 | $50,298 |
| 16 | Minnesota | 114 | $46,216 |
| 17 | Missouri | 112 | $37,809 |
| 18 | Arizona | 111 | $51,886 |
| 19 | Colorado | 109 | $52,029 |
| 20 | Virginia | 108 | $42,978 |
| 21 | Indiana | 104 | $45,853 |
| 22 | Connecticut | 89 | $50,879 |
| 23 | Oregon | 87 | $47,123 |
| 24 | Wisconsin | 84 | $47,216 |
| 25 | Alabama | 83 | $47,709 |
| 26 | Oklahoma | 71 | $47,986 |
| 27 | Utah | 68 | $48,062 |
| 28 | South Carolina | 67 | $49,060 |
| 29 | Louisiana | 64 | $39,701 |
| 30 | Kansas | 59 | $47,929 |
| 31 | Iowa | 57 | $47,376 |
| 32 | Kentucky | 51 | $47,954 |
| 33 | Arkansas | 46 | $50,092 |
| 34 | New Hampshire | 39 | $49,444 |
| 35 | Idaho | 38 | $52,127 |
| 36 | Maine | 36 | $47,728 |
| 37 | Mississippi | 36 | $38,857 |
| 38 | Nevada | 31 | $56,863 |
| 39 | Rhode Island | 26 | $39,675 |
| 40 | New Mexico | 21 | $54,555 |
| 41 | Nebraska | 21 | $37,248 |
| 42 | Hawaii | 17 | $38,131 |
| 43 | Delaware | 17 | $40,762 |
| 44 | Montana | 17 | $36,877 |
| 45 | West Virginia | 16 | $47,370 |
| 46 | Alaska | 14 | $40,200 |
| 47 | Vermont | 13 | $45,462 |
| 48 | Wyoming | 11 | $48,944 |
| 49 | North Dakota | 8 | $43,723 |
| 50 | South Dakota | 7 | $36,586 |
Top Skills For a Freight Broker
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 19.2% of freight brokers listed tms on their resume, but soft skills such as business skills and problem-solving skills are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Freight Broker Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Freight Broker templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Freight Broker resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Freight Broker diversity
Freight Broker Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among freight brokers, 35.4% of them are women, while 64.6% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among freight brokers is White, which makes up 58.3% of all freight brokers.
- The most common foreign language among freight brokers is Spanish at 42.5%.
Online Courses For Freight Broker That You May Like
1. Customer Analytics
Data about our browsing and buying patterns are everywhere. From credit card transactions and online shopping carts, to customer loyalty programs and user-generated ratings/reviews, there is a staggering amount of data that can be used to describe our past buying behaviors, predict future ones, and prescribe new ways to influence future purchasing decisions. In this course, four of Wharton’s top marketing professors will provide an overview of key areas of customer analytics: descriptive...
2. Freight Broker Training
Learn How To Become A Freight Broker...
3. Broker U - Gateway to Becoming a Freight Broker
Online Freight Broker Training - Learn the skills necessary to become a Freight Broker or agent...
How Do Freight Brokers Rate Their Jobs?
Top Freight Broker Employers
We've made finding a great employer to work for easy by doing the hard work for you. We looked into employers that employ freight brokers and discovered their number of freight broker opportunities and average salary. Through our research, we concluded that Landstar System was the best, especially with an average salary of $53,678. Total Quality Logistics follows up with an average salary of $48,331, and then comes GlobalTranz with an average of $48,962. In addition, we know most people would rather work from home. So instead of having to change careers, we identified the best employers for remote work as a freight broker. The employers include Watco, Logistic Dynamics, and Beemac Logistics
Most Common Employers For Freight Broker
| Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Western Express | $65,645 | $31.56 | 6 |
| 2 | Stevens Transport | $65,604 | $31.54 | 7 |
| 3 | Covenant | $65,214 | $31.35 | 6 |
| 4 | Landstar System | $53,678 | $25.81 | 64 |
| 5 | Cavalry Portfolio Services | $52,511 | $25.25 | 7 |
| 6 | BNSF Logistics | $51,623 | $24.82 | 8 |
| 7 | Coyote Logistics | $51,555 | $24.79 | 6 |
| 8 | Rmx Global Logistics | $51,123 | $24.58 | 7 |
| 9 | England Logistics | $51,017 | $24.53 | 9 |
| 10 | J.B. Hunt Transport Services | $51,005 | $24.52 | 8 |
Freight Broker Videos
Becoming a Freight Broker FAQs
Freight Broker Vs. Dispatcher
A freight broker is someone who coordinates the connection of freight shipments between shippers and carriers, while a dispatcher is an employee of a freight carrier.
A freight broker connects with multiple carriers, and can often negotiate better rates for the shippers. With multiple clients and higher shipping volume, brokers have more bargaining power than an individual business with only a few regular clients. They can handle international movements, but these movements are usually in one specific area.