If there’s one thing we can count on these days, it’s unpredictability. Market volatility, transit delays, ballooning fuel costs, and high customer expectations keep companies and their logistics providers on their toes as they attempt to stay a few steps ahead of the curve.
Providing premium services in such an environment is not easy as the added time, effort, and cost of doing business shrinks margins and threatens profitability at every link in the supply chain. As demand continues to grow, we have some actionable tips to help you regain control, preserve profits, and maintain customer satisfaction.
1. Plan Shipments in Advance
Advance planning is the best way to ensure predictability and may result in shorter transit times. Ensure every element and stakeholder is aligned. Ideally, you’ll need four weeks in advance on ocean shipments and two weeks for air or road. Giving yourself adequate cushion leaves room for the unexpected in case you need to reroute or adapt to unforeseen circumstances.
Simple Steps to Improve Logistics Efficiency in 2022-2023
2. Diversify your Loads
Splitting up large loads across several carriers is a great way to reduce risk. Consider that if you have several containers booked on one ship and that ship gets canceled, you’d be hard-pressed to find alternatives at the last minute. Diversifying the load helps you get more of your inventory to its destination on time, even if there is a problem.
3. Be Flexible with Transportation Methods
Choosing the best transportation mode for your shipment is critical but remaining flexible and open to alternatives is also key. Working with an experienced logistics provider like DTS World Cargo will ensure you the best transportation strategy. Our logistics managers have the insight to make such decisions according to your needs and cargo requirements. By applying proactive rerouting and inter-modal strategies, we can help you avoid terminal congestion and reliably get your goods to their destination.
4. Consolidate Cargo
Cargo consolidation is an approach used to reduce costs for less-than-container-load (LCL) shipments. It can also help you maintain priority status for your high-volume customers and items. Identifying your top-sellers and high-volume seasonal products enables more creative planning, resulting in faster transit times and better predictability.
On the logistics side, various strategies can be applied to support planning. Logistics managers always look ahead to stay on top of projected port delays and dock congestion, rerouting when needed to ensure on-time delivery.
We hope these tips get you thinking about how you can improve logistics planning to mitigate risk and uncertainty in these wildly unpredictable times. Uncertainty is affecting every company in the world. Rising costs, reduced capacity, labor shortages, regulatory changes, and political unrest have the world on edge, and yet, the show must go on. Though it’s impossible to know what the next challenge might be, partnering with a trusted logistics partner like DTS World Cargo helps. We work closely with our customers to give them peace of mind while reducing supply chain risk.
