Ship goods regularly? Or tired of dealing with additional freight costs? Then this article is for you. The article briefly elaborates on some of the simplest yet useful techniques that you can follow and reduce your freight costs. The article will also be helpful for those newbies who are looking for how to start moving company. Here are 5 fitting tips:
Choosing Free On Board Services
The freight charges depend upon the nature of the consignment and that of its supplier. A supplier who includes freight charges in the shipment must charge you that certain amount. Normally, the supplier pays these costs as CIF (cost, insurance, and freight). Overhead is attributed to transportation costs by the suppliers. The buyer may, however, be presented with the option to select his own shipping and freighting company. In such cases, it is recommended to choose the free onboard services option.
Keeping the cargo integrated.
Keeping the cargo intact and well-integrated can save you from a lot of problems. In some cases, if you are buying or selling a small package to different parts of the world, the ocean carriers can charge you for the whole container. Moreover, if you wait for the container to get filled, the process can become quite time-consuming. Meanwhile, the buyer on the other hand will choose another company offering a similar product. Therefore, it is recommended to keep the cargo well-integrated and consolidated.
On the other hand, if you are acting as the buyer and purchasing small packages from numerous suppliers, you will have to wait for each supplier to fill a container. Only then will you receive your goods. The best practice in such conditions is to communicate with the supplier and ask them to ship the cargo to a different location. You can choose the location where you have the availability of consolidated cargo. Like you can easily ship the current cargo to a specific location, fill the container, choose the best and cheapest cargo service, and get the whole container delivered to you at a specific time. In this way, you can skip any additional freight charges on different products.
Leave no space in the containers
Leaving smaller spaces in the containers can indirectly increase the overhead and freight costs. The science behind this is quite simple. Let’s say if a container can hold up to 500lbs of freight, then the maximum capacity of the container would be around 550lbs including its weight. Now it would be the duty of the person who is responsible for loading the freight to load the container to its maximum capacity. Leaving spaces or filling the container around 400lbs can cause a loss of 100lbs on each shipment. These 100lbs losses on every consignment collectively make up a lot.
Hence it is recommended to fill the containers to their capacity. It is because the ocean carriers and movers usually charge by the container, not by the number of items inside. Like if you are to move some particular items from point A to B, the movers will charge you the full container. Therefore, why leave it full and pay the extra dollars while sending the shipment next time.
Partner with a logistics company
Instead of choosing several companies for every shipment and paying them thousands of dollars, why not partner with one company and get discounts. It is suitable only for those buyers or suppliers who have to deal with hundreds of shipments on a daily basis. The best practice to choose a legit and reliable logistic partner is to compare the freight costs, discounts offered, and transportation time among different logistics companies. After selecting one, contact the designated person responsible for making such deals, and ask for discounts and deals.
Choosing the right transportation method saves you from a lot of trouble
There are various freight transportation methods including air, ground, and ocean that you can choose from. Plus, in some scenarios, you can choose a mixture of two or even three. Like if sending or receiving the consignment or shipment by air is expensive, you can choose the ocean for some of the journey. It is like if your parcel is being shipped from Europe to America, you can choose the ocean for the half journey. Although this practice reduces the additional costs but can take some time.
If you are a supplier, there are various transportation companies that you can choose from. And if you send or receive parcels daily, the companies can offer you deals or discounts on every shipment. They can even offer you to select and choose them as your official transporting partner.
