Lowering Shipping Costs

With the uncertainty of the global economy, companies are trying now more than ever to cut costs. One of the best ways to cut costs is by becoming educated about the way you ship your goods. Logistics can be a huge cost to a company but when shipping smarter, it can not only decrease freight costs, but it can shorten the supply chain and cause a greater speed to market. For instance if you know that you will be shipping hundreds of shipping containers over the course of a year, a carrier would be more inclined to discount your shipping if you can commit to a specific minimum for that year. Or if you know that you will be shipping the same commodity, you may try to find a shipper's association that you can ship with since they usually have low freight rates and you do not have to have as many shipments. These can also assist in shortening the supply chain since many of these contracts are with the shortest transit times while keeping the low shipping rates. Another aspect if shipping smarter is keeping track of the way your goods are shipped. If you do not have a large volume of goods, or an amount that would normally be broken up into more than one shipment, looking outside the box of one type might help. For instance, if you are holding some items in order to ship in a full container, would it be cost effective to move the more urgent items via airfreight instead of shorting a container or worse, shipping the whole amount LCL? Overall, if you put in a little time, it is possible to significantly cut your logistics bill without sacrificing your supply chain.