How to better manage customer requests, carrier network, tariffs, multimodal shipments, documents and margin
A forwarder's growth potential is determined not only by a larger partner network, but by the ability to use it faster and more accurately in one managed workflow.
The business area includes freight forwarders and logistics organisers coordinating road, rail, sea or air transport and a network of external carriers. The primary value is created by managing information, capacity, risk and partner accountability.
A company can grow without owning all physical assets, but must reliably coordinate partners.
The speed of quotation is determined by the ability to quickly collect and compare terms.
Statuses and documents differ between road, sea, air and rail.
Additional partner charges, delays or changes can quickly reduce profit.
DCSA standards for container shipping, IATA ONE Record for air cargo and the electronic freight transport information (eFTI) regulation create different but complementary data exchange foundations. For a freight forwarder, the most important task is to connect these with their own enquiry, partner, document and margin processes.
Cargo, route, deadline, service and special requirements data are received.
Carriers, lines, terminals and other partners are contacted.
Terms are compared, price and risks are calculated.
Capacity is reserved and instructions are passed to the partner.
Statuses are managed, estimated time of arrival, documents, customs and exceptions.
Client and partner invoices are reconciled, margin and quality are calculated.
Offers, partner prices, statuses and documents rely on employee memory and separate files.
Shipments are registered in the system, but tariff collection, carriers and documents are still coordinated manually.
A partner portal or client integrations are in place, but enquiry, offer, execution and margin are not integrated.
Customer enquiry, tariffs, partner order, key statuses, documents and margin linked in a single shipment.
Partner quality, costs, statuses and exceptions are evaluated during the process, and the customer receives reliable information.
Models help select partners, verify documents and forecast the progress of multimodal shipments, whilst maintaining human control.
The majority of freight forwarding work still takes place between emails, phone calls, freight exchanges and separate partner portals.
Customer enquiry, carrier rates, quote, partner order, statuses and documents must be linked to a single shipment and its margin.
It is worth first selecting one transport mode or route group and digitalising the entire process from enquiry to partner invoice.