Are you looking for some tips to minimise your freight charges? If so, then you are at the right place. 

The businesses are always examining their operations and working to streamline them, reduce cost and perform more efficiently. However, when it comes to the shipping costs, so many assume that they are fixed and they can’t be dealt with effectively. Higher freight charges can also eat up your profits. That’s why, we are here with some tips using which you can minimise your freight charges and ultimately help you maximize profits. 

1. Understand Your Transportation Choices

There are basically three ways of shipping your products i.e., by air, ocean, and ground. In all the three, ocean shipping is less expensive than air shipping, most especially when it comes to global goods. Also, you can improve the delivery time and lower the cost by using all three options of transportation.

In addition to this, the other option is to outsource the transportation, which can save about 3-5%. The shippers with the conveyance fleet pay about a 25% premium. 

Keep in mind to hire a broker/ dealer who has a good image and who’s reliable. To know more about this, click on this link below.

https://www.cogoport.com/rate-discovery

2. Integrate Your Goods

Integrating all your goods in a single country can assist you in reducing the costs up to 25% as compared to the unconsolidated loads.

This concept is pretty simple: the tinier shipments can be integrated into the bigger shipments. Moreover, large companies such as Colgate and CVS have taken consolidation programs. This can offer various advantages to your business too.

Also, integrating might take a lot of time, but you can save your money and the customers will still receive a similar product in a tiny volume. This assists in reducing the costs of labor and keeps the dock bays open.  

3. Be Wise About Product Design, Packaging, and Cartons

Packaging accounts for 10% of the supply chain whereas transportation is 60% and

warehousing accounts for 25%. At the time of considering freight charges, you must keep in mind the package and design specifications. To save your amount, you can lessen the space of each product. You can get the shipping materials without spending much.

The other way to pack smartly is by reducing the support packaging involved in the Cargo. Strapping, Airbags, bracing, and blocking are used to prevent the goods from damages at the time of transportation. Also, you can talk with the head of your carrier and determine the maximum amount of packaging of your product. This will not only save your money but also it will free up space for more products.

4. Ship More And Less Often

Encourage your clients to purchase in bulk or to book larger orders. This will help in reducing the freight charges. Shipping 20 different pallets in a single day is much more systematic than shipping just 10 pallets every day. Moreover, try to add some benefits such as free shipping on the orders above a specific amount.

In case you are working with the retailers, the similar concept applies. Offer them additional incentives to order in large volumes to save on the overall cost and to run a profitable business.

5. Choose the right shipping method (LCL vs FCL)

At the time of planning the shipping process, you have two options to choose from — FCL (Full container load) and LCL(Less than container load).

If your shipping volume is low, then LCL can be an affordable option for you. However, if you are shipping vulnerable or you ship delicate products that need to be shipped carefully, then FCL is the right choice to make.

By choosing LCL as your shipping method, you can reduce the freight charges by a considerable amount as you’ll be using a shared container instead of an entire container via FCL.

6. Ship Off-Peak

At the time of scheduling the shipments, try to consider shipping on the off-peak days such as Friday. Most of the customers like to have their products stocked in the shop by Thursday so that they get ready for the weekend.

This depends on the kind of cargo you transfer because carrying things like laptops and desktops has a bigger window than perishable goods. Mondays are also less traffic days and it can be good to consider. This can save about 10% shipping on the peak days.

So, that’s a wrap! We believe that you are now totally aware of the 6 tips to minimise your freight charges. By following all these tips, you can surely reduce your freight charges.