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A Handbook of Freight Management Secrets – Savings, Service and Supply Chain Continuity

This report was written by experienced shipping industry veterans, with the additional help of some of the best employees who worked in very high positions at the largest freight companies, as well as the largest shippers on earth.

These strategies work and have been proven in a large number of real-life freight management strategy consulting projects.

This report is also updated at regular intervals – and when you purchase this report, you will also get the next update of this report for free.

A CONSTANT PRESSURE TO JETTISON COSTS

Executives face constant pressure to shed cost burdens wherever they can in their business. Yet, it takes more than getting three quotes and picking the best one out of them. If only it was that easy!

In fact, just asking for competitive quotes, is a really ineffective way of managing freight. The quotes you are going to get will be equally bad because all the vendors immediately know that

(A) you are a novice (who might be pretending to be a veteran), and,

(B) you are merely going through the exercise for the sake of activity.  If you also engage a management consultancy while doing this exercise, there is an additional third signal to the market – that

(C) you still have spare cash in the cash box.

There is one more reason – we will come to it later.

Everyone who is experienced in freight management knows that freight buying is in fact very complex. Bosses and peers assume freight buying is simple and a piece of cake, till they are forced to face reality.

END-TO-END SHIPMENTS – UNEXPECTED SURPRISES AT EVERY TURN

Countless amounts of issues can occur in-between the whole end-to-end movement, a matter of fact, more than 70 hand-over points exist in some shipments. Imagine how many things can go wrong.

All these issues blow up the costs – and your reputation. That is unless you have a guide that clearly highlights all the more common traps laid out for you by the so-called scrupulous players in the game.

IF YOUR FREIGHT COMPANY STUMBLES EVEN ONCE, YOU WILL NEVER STOP HEARING ABOUT IT

We have all been there.

You know what happens when your service provider trips over even once. That constant reminder by your peers, your customers, and perhaps even your own boss, reminding you about that one time.

Not only that – your company can be exposed to onerous penalties for non-delivery. All because your freight company did not live up to its part of the bargain.

Remember those moments where you thought and were sure to have gotten the best price.

But then there are your intuitions telling you, “Did I really just get the best price, I could have got a lower price”.

FREIGHT MANAGEMENT BECOMES A 24 BY 7 JOB

You are on the hook to make sure that the whole shipment goes through smoothly end to end. But there they are, the unexpected calls you get past midnight hours- hassling you about your packages, boxes, cargos, and even paperwork. Asking all sorts of unholy questions, pushing costs way above what you thought your company would pay.

A STRANGE MARKET – THERE ARE TOO MANY SHIPS AND TRUCKS, YET NEVER ENOUGH WHEN YOU NEED THEM

• Highly cyclical nature of freight cycles.
• Takes time to put more ships and trucks on the sea/road – inflexible supply in short term.
• Sellers try to create misinformation and shortages by manipulating perception to their advantage.

STRATEGIC SOURCING IS ONE OF THE WORST METHODOLOGIES TO MANAGE FREIGHT TODAY

Yet your strategic consultants and software companies still try to tout it to senior management.

The resulting savings never really manifest – they are illusory.

A lot of money is spent on the consultants, a lot of activity is created, and the real freight costs remain the same in the end.

Why?

SHIPPING CONTRACTS  – ARCHAIC PRACTICES, INDECIPHERABLE LANGUAGE

You need an advanced degree in shipping law to JUST understand freight contracts. Yet buyers are forced to sign these things in order to continue to do business.

Most freight contracts are one-sided, favour the freight companies, and, are almost always used as standard forms. The language is difficult to understand, and most of it is out-of-date with the current business realities, and technology.

EXPEDITING REQUESTS ARE THE SINGLE BIGGEST CAUSE OF HIGH FREIGHT COSTS

When your production planners, procurement, customers and production controllers make last-minute requests to ship goods – little do they know the financial impact of this on freight purchasing.

HUGE RISKS INVOLVED – FREIGHT SPEND IS ALMOST INDEFENSIBLE IN ANY AUDIT

When the invoices are impossible to reconcile against the contracts. Records of your rates and activities are not helpful in this situation. They are not precise enough for you to stand up to the scrutiny of proper audits.

TIMING OF YOUR MARKET ACTIVITY IS CRITICAL

More than almost any other item that your company buys – freight is rife with difficulties. Timing is one of them. Freight cycles are regular, if not predictable. You will look for the right signs if you know the freight cycles in detail.

This report was written not only by experienced shipping industry veterans but with the additional help of the best employees who worked in very high positions at the largest freight companies, as well as the largest shippers on earth.

These strategies work and have been proven in a large number of real-life freight management strategy consulting projects.

This report is also updated at regular intervals – and when you purchase this report, you will also get the next update of this report for free.