For those who are unfamiliar with the freight forwarding industry,  a short word of info: 

"Freight forwarders typically arrange cargo movement to an international destination. They have the expertise that allows them to prepare and process the documentation and perform related activities pertaining to international shipments."

For what it's worth, a freight forwarder is typically described as  'The Architect of Transport'. 

What it basically comes down to: if a company/person has goods that need to be transported over a certain distance (this will typically be an international tranport move), he will contact the freight forwarder, who will arrange all that is necessary to make this happen.   

You can find more info via wikipedia.

Employees working for a freight forwarding company are active in various sectors. As such, there is an the operational staff that handles the import and export of goods and all entailing documents and arrangements, there are people involved in customs matters, there is a customer service department which assists the customers. Furthermore there is also a legal department, an accounting department, an HR department, a dispatching department, a warehouse and entailing staff and so on.

In summary: Lots of people with different backgrounds are needed for a freight forwarder to function properly.