Lao Guo never thought a drama like something from a movie would happen to him. He had 50 boxes of medical supplies, total weight 350 kg, volume 2.5 cubic meters. Among them, three boxes weighed 80 kg each, for air freight to Middle East.

The freight forwarder gave him a quote for direct flight from Shenzhen to Dubai, with a transit time of 7-9 days. But 6 days after the goods arrived at the warehouse, there was still no news about arrival. Lao Guo kept asking the forwarder. At first, the forwarder hesitated, then had to tell the truth. It turned out the forwarder was just a shell company with no capacity for Dubai, so they passed the goods to another forwarder.

That other forwarder was no better. To save on freight, they secretly changed the route to a flight via Beijing. The problem was during the transfer in Beijing, the three heavier boxes were being handled. Because they were too heavy and the cardboard boxes weren’t strong enough, the tape at the bottom broke. The goods scattered all over the floor and missed the flight.

Lao Guo was furious when he heard that. In the end, the goods only reached Dubai after 14 days. This fully exposed the chaos in the freight forwarding industry: goods are subcontracted layer by layer, and the forwarder has no real control over the cargo. After subcontracting, the forwarder has no sense of responsibility. They just ship the goods as soon as they arrive at the warehouse, no matter what the packaging is like. To make more profit, they secretly change direct flights to connecting flights.

Lao Guo learned his lesson. He realized you can’t just look at the price – you need a reliable forwarder. For air freight to Middle East, the reliability of a forwarder is proportional to its size. The bigger, the more reliable. So Lao Guo searched around and found me.

He asked me straight up: “You say DL is a big forwarder with nearly 100 employees. Are all those photos on the internet just photoshopped? I need to verify!” I immediately made a video call with him and said, “Look, we didn’t prepare anything beforehand. Let me show you our office right now.” When Lao Guo saw our 1,800-square-meter Grade A office, crowded with about 100 people, he knew we were many steps ahead of those small forwarders with just 3–5 people in a 20-square-meter room in some old building.

I told Lao Guo, “We bought this 1,800-square-meter Grade A office with full payment. That’s something you only dare to think about if you have a bit of money. Just this fact puts us in the top 5% of the freight forwarding industry.” Lao Guo is a straightforward guy. He said, “Enough said. You handle the shipment!”

This time there were 75 boxes of medical supplies. I helped Lao Guo book a pallet space on a direct flight from Shenzhen to Dubai – air freight to Dubai. After the goods entered the warehouse, we inspected the packaging according to regulations. Only when everything passed did we release them for palletizing. After the plane took off, I shared real-time tracking updates with Lao Guo until the goods were delivered to the customer. Finally, Lao Guo sent me three words: “I trust you!”

DL Logistics – one of the top five for air freight to Middle East. We have bought out 20 pallet spaces per week from two major airlines. We have priority lane for customs clearance at UAE air ports. We can pick up cargo at the warehouse without waiting in line. For local delivery in UAE, someone answers the phone at 2 a.m. – deliver in the morning if sent at noon, deliver in the afternoon if sent at noon. Truly one of the top five. For air freight to UAE, everyone who has used DL says it’s smooth.