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Shipping companies · Logistics

Be the line or agent an exporter calls the day a container is rolled and the buyer waits.

An exporter of garments in Tiruppur has a buyer in Hamburg insisting on a sailing date. The forwarder has asked three lines for space and a rate, and the one who answers first with a clear sailing, a free-time period and a transit plan gets the booking. A reply that comes tomorrow is a reply to a booking already made elsewhere.

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Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.

Realistic editorial illustration of freight and transport companies at work in India

In one paragraph

A shipping company moves cargo by sea, either as a line operating vessels or as an agent, NVOCC or coastal operator selling space on them. Marketing makes exporters, importers and forwarders choose you for their lanes. Sales turns a rate request into a booking and keeps the shipper's next sailing in view.

Forwarders place cargo with a line or NVOCC, so the forwarder's desk is a customer in its own right, with the exporter or importer behind it. Direct shippers come through large accounts and tenders, and through Google when they begin exporting. Your site and your replies are judged by people with a cut-off time.

Last updated 18 Oct 2026.

How buyers decide

How shipping companies are chosen.

Forwarders and large shippers choose on space availability, rate, transit time, sailing frequency, transshipment risk, free days at destination and how the line behaves when cargo is delayed. A shipper new to exports starts with a forwarder's advice and only later asks which line they use. Large shippers with regular volume run tenders for contract rates, in which service reliability weighs as much as price.

The person who decides is a logistics manager or export head, with finance checking the total landed cost. Reputation travels among forwarders through ports and trade bodies, and one missed cut-off can lose an account. Customers check documentation quality: bill of lading accuracy, delivery orders, container tracking and who answers at the port.

The problem

What usually goes wrong for shipping companies.

What owners tell us on the first call, in their words.

  • “Forwarders take the relationship”

    We carry the box but the forwarder owns the customer, so we cannot reach the exporter who would book direct.

  • “Rate enquiries arrive in every direction”

    Email, WhatsApp, phone and portals all bring requests, and replies depend on who is at the desk.

  • “Reliability is not visible”

    Our schedule integrity is strong on some lanes, but a buyer cannot see it before booking.

  • “New exporters do not know us”

    First-time exporters search for how to ship and find forwarder pages and global lines, not a regional operator.

  • “Documentation errors damage the brand”

    A wrong bill of lading draft costs a shipper days, and they remember the line, not the clerk.

  • “Tender season is a scramble”

    Large shippers send contract enquiries to many lines, and our response is rebuilt each time.

What we do

What we do for shipping companies.

Everything included for shipping companies.

  1. Lane and port pages

    Pages for each major trade lane and Indian port you serve, covering schedule patterns, equipment and documentation, written in plain language.

  2. A quote enquiry that asks the right things

    A short form for commodity, port pair, container type, readiness date and incoterm, routed to the right desk with the details attached.

  3. Forwarder partner pack

    A document for forwarders listing sailings, space commitments, contacts and escalation steps, with a page forwarders can bookmark.

  4. Commodity pages

    Pages for garments, auto parts, spices, engineering goods and chemicals, explaining the shipping steps and paperwork each involves.

  5. A tender response library

    Master answers on service, equipment, claims handling and contacts, ready to edit for each contract enquiry.

How the result is measured

  • Rate enquiries by lane and by source
  • Enquiries that arrived with commodity, port pair and readiness date
  • Bookings from direct shippers versus forwarders
  • Repeat bookings from new accounts
  • Forwarder desks actively quoting your sailings
  • Tender responses sent and won

Recorded as a baseline before work starts, so every later report has an honest comparison.

Every service, written for shipping companies

Each has its own page: what it involves for shipping companies, what you get, and what it is measured on.

Worth a page and a campaign of their own

Container bookings on named trade lanes · LCL consolidation services from major Indian ports · Contract rates for regular shippers · Port agency and vessel husbandry services · Reefer and special equipment bookings · Project and out-of-gauge cargo handling · Direct shipper accounts, not only forwarder volume · Clear schedules and transit information per port pair

Priority campaigns

Campaigns for what shipping companies most want to sell.

Each one planned around when your buyers decide, and measured against the baseline.

  • Lane search campaign

    Search ads and landing pages for specific port pairs and commodities, such as cotton garments to Europe or spices to the Gulf.

  • Direct-shipper outreach in an export cluster

    A campaign to exporters in one cluster, such as Tiruppur knitwear or Ludhiana engineering, that explains how to book direct and what documents you need.

  • Forwarder desk calls

    A list of calls and meetings with forwarder desks at your key ports, each backed by a short message that restates your sailings and who to call.

  • Delay and disruption notices

    A clear page and WhatsApp broadcast for customers whenever a port or vessel is disrupted, with plain facts.

Beyond search

Where we reach buyers of shipping companies, beyond Google.

Search matters, but it is rarely the only way this industry's buyers find a supplier.

  • Forwarders and customs brokers

    A list of forwarders at your key ports and the people who allocate space, with a way to tell them about new sailings.

  • Exporters and importers in clusters

    Export clusters that ship on your lanes are mapped, and the export or logistics manager at each plant hears from you directly, with the lane and free days stated.

  • Trade bodies and export promotion councils

    Export promotion councils and chambers of commerce run member sessions on shipping and documents, where a speaker from a line can take questions on the day.

  • Commodity associations

    Spice, garment, engineering and chemical associations, whose members all ship the same kind of cargo and read the same circulars.

Who it is for

This is written for these shipping companies.

  • Container shipping lines serving Indian ports
  • NVOCC and consolidators selling LCL and FCL space
  • Ship agents handling port calls and husbandry
  • Coastal and feeder shipping operators
  • Bulk and break-bulk charterers moving commodities
  • Project cargo and out-of-gauge shipping specialists
  • Ro-ro and car carrier agents
  • Inland waterway and short-sea operators

Not for

It is not the right fit if.

  • You want a guaranteed Google ranking or a guaranteed number of leads. Nobody honest can promise either.
  • You need enquiries by next week and have nobody to answer them.
  • You want posts and reach reported, not enquiries and orders.

How it works

How the work runs for shipping companies

The work itself, in order. How an engagement starts, from your brief to a written scope, is set out on our method page.

  1. 1

    Listen to the desks

    Time with your sales, pricing and documentation teams shows how quotes, bookings and complaints are handled today.

  2. 2

    Pick lanes and clusters

    You decide which trade lanes and shipper clusters get pages and outreach first.

  3. 3

    Write the lane pages and forms

    Lane, commodity and partner pages are drafted with the enquiry form, and your pricing team checks the wording.

  4. 4

    Start outreach

    Direct-shipper and forwarder outreach goes out, and each enquiry is recorded from first message to booking.

  5. 5

    Read the bookings

    Which enquiries became bookings, and which stalled at the rate stage, is read with your sales head, and the pages and outreach are adjusted.

Where this fits

Three pieces of sales work, in this order.

GullySales builds every engagement from three pieces of sales work. This page is not one of them, but the same three steps apply to the business behind it.

  1. Step 1

    Sales audit

    Find where deals are being lost and what to fix first.

    Start here if you cannot say where orders are lost.

  2. Step 2

    Sales process design

    One written way to sell, from first enquiry to repeat order.

    Start here if every salesperson sells differently.

  3. Step 3

    Sales management

    A target, a review routine and someone who owns the number.

    Start here if the team has targets and no routine.

Tell us what you need Your brief is read before we call. Scope, fee and term in writing.

FAQ

Questions shipping companies ask before they call.

Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.

Tell us what you need
Can we publish our rates?
Ocean rates move with space and season, so we advise against fixed rates online. Show lanes, equipment, free days and what a quote needs, then quote on request.
How do we win direct shippers without annoying our forwarders?
Choose the segments forwarders do not serve well, such as mid-sized exporters with regular volume. Be open with forwarders about where you sell direct.
Does SEO matter for a shipping company?
It does, for lane and commodity searches by new exporters. For large accounts, tenders and relationships matter more.
Will you handle our schedule or tracking pages?
We write and structure the pages around the information your operations team gives us. Live tracking and booking systems stay with your technology team.
Do you work with ship agents as well as lines?
The buyers differ, since agents sell port services to owners and charterers, so the pages and outreach are built separately.
How much does it cost?
There is no price list, because the work differs by business. The fee is scoped after we have read your brief and spoken to you, and put in writing before anything starts, split into our time, your media spend and production.
How long is the contract?
The term is agreed in writing after we have spoken, along with the fee and the reporting. It is never a default twelve months, and renewal is decided on the numbers against the baseline recorded at the start.
How soon will we see results?
Fixes to reply time, follow-up and your Google Business Profile are the quickest to show, because the enquiries already exist. Ads can follow soon after follow-up is in place. SEO and content take longer. How long each takes depends on your business, and we tell you which applies to you after we have spoken. Nothing here is guaranteed.
Who will actually do the work?
The person you speak to before anything starts. We work from one office in Nagarbhavi, Bengaluru, with no account managers in between.
What do you need from us?
To start, last month's enquiries in any format and time with whoever handles them. After that, access to the accounts the work touches, such as the website, Google Business Profile or CRM.

Part of Logistics. See the other industries in the sector.

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