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You’d think moving freight around the country (or across borders) would be as simple as loading a truck, hitting the road, and showing up at the other end. Yeah… no. Between licensing, safety rules, emissions limits, cross-border logistics, and what feels like a never-ending checklist of “you need a permit for that,” it quickly becomes obvious: someone has to be coordinating this mess. That someone—at least in the UAE—is the Federal Transport Authority (FTA). Or, more accurately, the FTA – Land & Maritime. (Yes, that last part matters.)

If you've ever dealt with importing or exporting cargo—especially in or out of a Free Zone—you already know: it's not just paperwork and trucks. It's forms that don’t make sense, systems that barely talk to each other, and that one document you always forget until it’s 5 PM on a Thursday. Free Zones are supposed to make life easier. Duty exemptions, faster processes, fewer rules. In theory. In practice? You still need to know the dance. Let’s break it down so it actually makes sense.

Let’s be honest — freight forwarding sounds straightforward until you actually need it. You find a company. They give you a quote. Everything seems fine. Then you get the final bill and… hold on—what’s that fee? And that one? Why is there a “documentation charge” when I already gave them the documents? We’ve seen it too many times.

You’re trying to move goods from A to B—same route, same volume, maybe even the same carrier—and boom: the rate has doubled. Or tripled. And no one seems to give you a straight answer why. Sound familiar? We get asked this a lot. “Why is shipping so expensive right now?” Well, settle in. It’s not one thing—it’s a cocktail of issues. Some you’d expect. Others... kind of ridiculous. Let’s break it down.