It's the best of times to take your business global. It's the worst of times to take your business global. With apologies to Charles Dickens, we are living in roilingly uncertain times when it comes to global trade, driving both risks and opportunities as high as they've ever been. Further, the disadvantages of staying safely domestic are rising. Most manufacturers and retailers who want to remain competitive will simply have to expand their businesses internationally. E-commerce has made borders virtually disappear for consumers; a 21st-century phenomenon they have embraced with eagerness. They buy products from all over the globe with the click of a mouse, and they expect prompt delivery. If you’re not going global, you can be sure your competitors are.

Even if you’re not in the business of delivering finished goods across borders, efficiencies in transportation and supply chain management, combined with fluctuations in economic fortunes around the world, mean even companies selling exclusively domestically are nevertheless almost certain to be sourcing raw materials, parts and finished product from an ever-changing roster of overseas providers. So, of course, the problem for the makers and sellers of goods is that borders are just as solid as they ever were when it comes to moving physical cargo around – be it inbound or outbound. For a shipper, the world is not at all how it looks on the internet.

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