4 tips to make shipping by sea less challenging

Like any other type of freight transport, ocean shipping can also come with its challenges. If your business needs to contact ocean freight forwarders to ship goods, it could benefit by taking some measures to prevent any hassles or issues.

Here are four essential tips to make shipping by ocean less challenging:

§  List down your requirements

§  Consolidate your volumes

§  Go digital

§  Evaluate the rates

Why you should be clear with your requirements

When you begin your journey to find reputable shippers, you must list down your specific requirements and needs. Then, you should find out whether a potential shipping company can provide the services that match the requirements on your list.

Why you should consolidate your volumes

Shippers with big volumes naturally enjoy benefits when compared to the ones who don’t have large volumes. Consolidated volumes will let you demand more attention and better service from ocean freight forwarders. Steady and consolidated volumes are also advantageous to carriers as they can have a guaranteed base load. This also means that you can negotiate for a longer validity with carriers. It will also help you avoid or at least manage market volatility and freight rate fluctuations during the shipment period.

Why digital solutions are important

These days, a lot of businesses are increasingly moving towards online freight platforms. This lets them access e-sourcing tools like real-time track and trace facilities, along with freight benchmarking services. With services like the visibility of live shipment tracking, you can take other steps in case of any delays. Digital services will make it easy for you to analyze service proposals and understand how they might fit into their requirements. Digital services can also let you access contract rates on a real-time basis for the various transport modes and service modes. The advantage of visibility will also extend to transparency in terms of surcharges, freight charges, etc. which will help discover any hidden costs. A digital platform will also help avoid invoicing errors.

Why comparing and evaluating rates is essential

At times, it may seem like some carriers are offering better rates than others. What you might miss seeing is that these cheap rates often come with hidden costs. Here’s where all your market intelligence and thorough understanding of the carriers and their service patterns will come into use. Choose an ocean freight forwarder that is capable of not only offering but also providing the right service at the right price of your shipments. Keep in mind that if a rate is too low to believe to be true, it is usually the case and won’t likely hold up during the contract period.

An excellent shipping service provider is one that will be sustainable in the long run for the interest of maintaining their relationship and business. The above tips will help you find an ocean freight forwarder and also deal with any challenges during the process of shipping. 

(In light of the current COVID-19 situation, global ocean freight capacities may be reduced in some parts of the world. Click here to know more)