Abstract
The shipping sector has become the backbone of international trade and globalization. Therefore, the freight transportation selection is of vital importance for the shippers and International Freight Forwarder (IFF). Accordingly, assessment of requirements and trends of freight forwarding while understanding key factors that rule its efficacious movement is a timely want to provide high quality service to societies. This study aims to determine the factors that affect both shippers and IFF’s when selecting an ocean carrier preference to the Sri Lanka. Primary data is collected through Questionnaires and 174 questionnaires have been collected. Descriptive analysis has been carried out to check the association between the response variables and explanatory variables. Due to the availability of collinearity between explanatory variables, factor analysis has been carried out. Hypothesis testing has been carried out for ordinal data using Kruskal Wallis test. The factors which affect the buying behaviour of the shippers and international freight forwarders when selecting an ocean carrier with orientation to Sri Lanka can be mainly categorized into facilities, accuracy, frequency and relationship, capacity, reliability and competence, general reputation, service capabilities. service capabilities are dependent on the organization type, Number of employees, Average volume per month and estimated average income per month. General Reputation is dependent on the organization type, Number of employees, Average volume per month and Frequency. Capacity is dependent on the organization type, Firm age and Average volume per month.