In essence, freight forwarding is a customer service-based business, yet there have been very few empirical studies which have considered what actually drives customer satisfaction in this industry, particularly in the context of the Indian mid-market. This study attempts to answer that question by utilizing primary data collected from 54 international freight forwarding logistics professionals and examining the impacts of six service quality dimensions Documentation Accuracy, Customs Clearance, Cargo & Warehouse Handling, Shipment Coordination, Reliability & Responsiveness and Technology Adoption on customer satisfaction. The analysis employs Pearson Correlation, Multiple Regression analysis, Cronbach's Alpha coefficient and ANOVA; all six service dimensions are statistically significant predictors of customer satisfaction, although the degree of significance varies by dimension. Cargo & Warehouse Handling had the highest correlation (r = 0.6655; ß = 0.3952). While the correlation between Technology Adoption and customer satisfaction was modest, the regression coefficient indicates strong predictive power when controlling for other factors. The evidence supports the hypothesis that digital capabilities add additional satisfaction value over and above standard operational performance. All six hypotheses were supported at the 95% significance level and were found to be consistent across respondent groups; therefore, a single, well-designed performance improvement initiative could be implemented with little change to the degree of satisfaction achieved by the different groups.

Keywords:  Service Quality, Freight Forwarding, Customer Satisfaction, SERVQUAL, Cargo Handling, Technology Adoption, Indian Logistics.