Forwarding agents of Malta

Abstract

According to Rowe, the Forwarding Agent (F.A.) is "a person or firm who undertakes to see that the goods or correspondence of another are transported without himself acting as a carrier". Many F.A.s were merchants, ship brokers, bankers and Consuls. They operated on international routes, forwarding commercial letters, which formed the bulk of the mail. There were two reasons for forwarding. The first was that sometimes it was not possible for the sender nor for the addressee to pay the postage to destination (letters could not be sent with postage paid nor with postage due): in some cases part of the route was not covered by official postal services; in other cases the postal route crossed countries which had not any treaty for mutual exchange of mail or were at war. In situations like these, the presence of F.A.s was mandatory for having mail arrived at destination. [excerpt]