5 Flawless Methods To Cut Down Freight Forwarding Costs

Businesses are fully aware that cost and time involved in freight forwarding directly affects their products’ landed cost and delivery time. To survive and fare better in the competitive market scenario, it is paramount to maintain a balance in these two. Undoubtedly, it is the freight cost which is a huge factor in determining MRP of your product. It is important to keep your freight cost low to keep your pricing competitive Optimizing your freight forwarding operations not only gives you economic benefits but also helps you gain operational excellence.

How can you take your supply chain strategy to another level in 5 simple ways? What follows in the next few paragraphs will give a crystal-clear picture:

Join hands with experienced and established freight forwarder : You must be wondering why to collaborate with a freight forwarding partner when you can do this activity on your own? One – since your core expertise lies in enhancing your product, you better focus on that. Two – they not only have a full-fledged fleet of carriers at their disposal to handle any volume of freight flawlessly, but they also have right connections in place wherever required. For this reason, they hold the upper hand all the time and can negotiate far better than what you could have on your own. So, don’t just wait, start looking for those who will make the difference.

A yearly contract won’t do any harm either : Business owners try to maintain product prices as constant as possible unless forced by unavoidable conditions. As freight forwarding costs directly influence product’s final price, if you do not have control over that, then you need a hiding place since product prices would always be overboard. For this specific reason, when you avail freight forwarding services from the experts, signing yearly contracts with them would ensure fixed and more economic costs throughout the year saving your large chunks of money.

Decide on the suitable transport : It is a given that when you need the product to reach you faster, you ought to utilize air freight which will obviously cost you higher. However, the economic sea freight will consequently take more time to complete its journey at the benefit of saving more bucks in your pocket. This is where experienced and learned freight forwarders will assist you the most – they will plan your freight better through the sea and intelligently build the roadmap where sufficient inventory would be at your helm all the time avoiding unnecessary urgency to transport via air. Additionally, they will get you best vessel options with different pricing options giving you the flexibility to go for what suits you better. Forget about the last-minute hassles when your decisions would be made well in advance.

Pack better, stuff better, ship cheaper : Professionals who have hands-on experience at the ground level understand the real benefits you might get with efficient packaging and proper stuffing. Since freight charges are a direct function of either volumetric weight or gross weight, whichever is higher; it is advisable to utilize the cubic capacity of the container in the best possible way saving you additional bills.

CAT documentation will save you of detention and demurrage charges : It is a given and mandatory requirement that complete-accurate-timely (CAT) documentation helps in avoiding the delays in customs clearance. Times when the documents are not in the order as they should be, there is bound to be a delay in the shipment leading to detention and demurrage charges. When this happens, a chain starts where these costs add up to landed costs causing you damage which can’t be undone. However, when you align with freight forwarders, they take care of every minute issue staying you clear of shaky waters.

Who doesn’t want to save on the freight forwarding costs? By adopting these 5 simple principles, businesses can reinvent the wheel without investing much of their time and money. It is better to align with freight forwarders who share your vision and enthusiasm because, with their expertise and clear-headed approach, they will provide you economic freight forwarding. However, a word of caution, you may fall for cheaper offerings available in the market where short-term savings would hide the long-term effects on the business. It is advised to select any freight forwarder with due diligence and research.

Holisol is a leading supply chain organization providing solutions in retail (end-to-end fulfillment), Auto & Engineering (packaging & supply chain) and Consulting. Holisol works on the value proposition of Design-Implement-Manage to offer customers an experience of working like their own extended team, with affordable strategic and operational expertise.

Holisol has a workforce of +300 supply chain enthusiasts who are continuously building value through leadership, innovation and relationships. For more information visits us at www.holisollogistics.com or emai us at [email protected]