How to ship 1,000 four-wheelers smoothly?
A leading automobile company supplies two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and four-wheelers to approximately 50 countries, which amounts to more than 30,000 containers a year. Recently, the company received an order to build and ship around 1,000 four-wheelers from India to Nigeria within a set timeframe. As the entire shipment was on a cost, insurance, and freight (CIF) basis, the seller was solely responsible for the cargo until it reached the buyer’s port.
Basically, from arranging the transporter to unloading the cargo at its destination, the seller was involved at every stage of the shipment. As the entire shipping process involved multiple parties, the seller was required to maintain constant communication with the buyer, freight forwarder, custom broker, transporter, shipping line, port authorities, bank, insurance provider, and other stakeholders involved to track the cargo's progress.
Get a grip on complexity!
The company went through a lot of complexity while getting a reliable freight forwarder on board who could determine the most cost-effective and efficient shipping method to satisfy the seller’s delivery specifications.
In addition, the seller:
- had to ensure that all the documents for customer clearance are in place and the cargo arrives at the port in time for loading;
- reached out to an insurance provider to insure the entire cargo while in transit;
- had to be aware of the transporter’s movement to avoid delays.
With multiple stakeholders, there were numerous possible scenarios to evaluate and implement.
Challenging
The challenge of delivering 1,000 four-wheelers from a plant to a single point of destination was abruptly magnified when the seller could not keep track of his communication with multiple stakeholders on different platforms.
This resulted in the disorganisation of his shipment and fostered distrust among stakeholders. The seller lost control of his cargo and faced issues pertaining to
- tracking,
- communication,
- documentation,
- transportation,
- accountability,
- and much more.
The entire process of moving the cargo from India to Nigeria, which usually takes around 90 days, took more than 150 days.
In this instance, the seller had to incur additional storage and transportation expenses. The cargo was stuck in customs clearance due to mismanagement and extensive coordination with multiple service providers. Because of these factors, the seller was unable to load the entire shipment on the vessel again, leading the seller to bear losses while transporting the remaining cargo.
Process Optimisation for Manufacturers
The solutions to all the logistics chaos lie at the seller’s fingertips, but how? Well, by approaching Shiperone.com! After the chaos, the seller expedited his logistics operations without having to integrate his system. Shiperone Workflows accelerates process optimisation for manufacturers by digitalizing logistics and facilitating sustainability. In this case, the seller gained multiple advantages:
- Effortlessly connect with multiple stakeholders on a single platform.
- Eliminate the major causes of back-and-forth communication.
- Empower to assign and control all shipment related tasks.
- Enabling tracking of consignments in real-time.
- Mitigate the unseen transportation challenges.
- Holding the stakeholder accountable for delays or improper planning.
- Easily transfer and upload important documents in a systematic manner to avoid misplacement.
Shiperone Workflows improved efficiency and accountability by having correct data on hand. The platform also helped the organisation rethink its production practises by providing essential insights. As a result, the seller:
- makes intelligent decisions,
- decreases costs,
- increases profits.
Today, the organisation ranks eighth in the world—all because they overcame their logistics challenges and reviewed their operations through Shiperone Workflows.
Competitive pricing for Freight Forwarders by reducing errors and delays
Challenge
Managing multiple shipment orders
In today’s world, the term 'freight forwarder' is considered a ‘service provider'. From getting a transporter onboard to keeping track of every detail of each shipment, freight forwarders work with various vendors and clients at the same time.
We tell you how you, as a Freight Forwarder, can become more competitive on pricing by reducing errors and delays.
In a recent event, one of the freight forwarders received a shipment order from a manufacturer to deliver cargo from its point of origin to its destination. In this case, the freight forwarder had to connect with multiple stakeholders and get them on board. Likewise, he was dealing with another twenty clients who wanted to ship their cargo from one place to another.
Missing important dates despite tremendous efforts
The freight forwarder was trying to manage multiple shipment orders from twenty other clients, which involved a huge number of stakeholders and many cargo deliveries. Handling multiple stakeholders’ replies, updates, and follow-ups on different communication platforms is quite a task. And missing out on something or other is quite common.
In this scenario, the freight forwarder already knew the complexity of his work. Although he had put in tremendous efforts to streamline his processes, he somehow missed out on important dates. Also, due to delayed communication and improper planning, the freight forwarder faced backlogs and warehouse overflows. This ultimately made his clients furious, and as a result, he struggled to keep up with the fast-paced nature of the transportation industry and was losing business to competitors who were able to offer more efficient and streamlined logistics solutions.
Solution
All stakeholders under a single platform
In this case, the freight forwarder could speed up his logistics operations with Shiperone Workflows without having to integrate his system. One of the major issues that the platform solved was that it brought all the stakeholders under a single, unified platform. The freight forwarder gained an advantage wherein he could connect multiple stakeholders at a single point in time and update them on their cargo movement.
Shiperone Workflows came as a rescue for the freight forwarder, allowing him to offer streamlined logistics solutions to his clients. With the platform, the freight forwarder:
- kept track of his activities while assisting him to understand the scope of his businesses in the market;
- precisely knew the situation and location of the shipment in real-time;
- could manage all carrier relationships in one place;
- eliminated the need for multiple systems;
- reduced the risk of errors.
Data as steering mechanism
The data analytics allowed the freight forwarder to make data-driven decisions and identify areas for improvement in the operations while aiding him in analysing his entire logistics process. Moreover, the 24/7 support team provided all the training and support to ensure that the freight forwarder's employees were able to use the platform effectively and maximise its benefits.
