Intermodal shipping involves the movement of loads using multiple transportation modes (i.e., air, sea, road, or rail). Today, intermodal shipping often refers to a road-to-rail-to-road combination service that has enjoyed significant growth in supply chains across North America. The benefits of intermodal shipping include:
A lower cost than standard trucking.
Increased levels of security.
Greater sustainability.
In North America, international containers are frequently shipped by intermodal rail in what’s known as “container well cars.” These cars resemble flatcars but the newer ones have a container-sized depression that allow two containers to be loaded – or double-stacked – onto the rail car. The loading and unloading of these container well cars is generally handled by trucks that run between ocean ports, rail terminals, and inland shipping docks completing the intermodal component of the service. The trucking that occurs at origin or destination is often called “drayage,” and is typically provided by dedicate companies or by the railroads themselves.
According to the Association of American Railroads (AAR), containers accounted for 91% of the 2016 intermodal volume in the United States. The table shown here has the top U.S. metropolitan areas for intermodal volume. Major intermodal markets have large populations and extensive highway networks, both of which are critical elements for intermodal success.
The popularity of intermodal transportation has been increasing, in part, due to the following trends:
The evolution of the road transport industry in recent years: marked by the shortage of drivers, increased demand, and reduced capacity of trucks and rising fuel prices.
A rethinking of the logistic strategies: through the pursuit of cost savings, environmental benefits and better results in terms of road safety.
A strong focus on supply chain efficiency: lower and more predictable rates, flexibility of loading and unloading of goods, reduction of handling costs, increased speed of access to equipment and standardized transit times.
Intermodal and rail service takes millions of trucks off our highways each year, and its potential to play a much larger role in the future is enormous, both in traditional transcontinental markets and in cross-border trade lanes. If you’re considering adding intermodal to your company’s supply chain, be sure to talk with the intermodal experts at Logistics Plus.
Companies that sell through Amazon must contemplate whether it makes sense to use Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) services or consider third-party warehousing alternatives to FBA. When making this important business decision, it is pivotal that companies understand the benefits of third-party logistics (3PL) while recognizing the potential issues associated with FBA. Here are a few of the problems facing Amazon retailers, and ways that 3PL companies such as Logistics Plus can help:
Issue: Expensive fulfillment and warehousing options where the prices can change monthly
Cause: Due to the decreasing space at Amazon fulfillment and warehousing centers, the costs continue to increase and fluctuate by month. Between the months of January-September and October-December, Amazon retailers can expect about a 265% increase in monthly storage prices.
Logistics Plus Solution: By offering similar services as Amazon, but at a lower price, Logistics Plus offers more flexibility with packaging and warehousing, along with predictable and stable pricing all year long (see examples below).
Issue: Supply chain visibility and unknown locations of products.
Cause: Due to the high volume of products and limited capacities of FBA warehouses, products may become lost or damaged, leaving the customer wondering where their product is located or being held. When Amazon struggles to offer this valuable information to their customers, this can often lead to a frustrating experience.
Logistics Plus Solution: Logistics Plus is able to track and locate products much easier because it is much smaller and more nimble than Amazon; and Logistics Plus warehouse management system (WMS) technology provides customers with complete, real-time status of products entering or leaving one of its warehouses (we support both LIFO and FIFO inventory systems).
Issue: Product quality may become compromised.
Cause: Many retailers may be selling the exact same thing on Amazon, but the customer always expects to receive the product from whom they bought it from. This may not always be the case with Amazon. Even if the buyer bought their item from a Florida seller, they may receive an identical product, but from a Pennsylvania seller. Although it doesn’t always cause issues, the chance of receiving a knockoff or fake product greatly increases.
Logistics Plus Solution: Logistics Plus ensures that the your customers will receive the exact product they ordered, significantly reducing the risk of delivering a fake or incorrect product.
Issue: Customer service communication and cooperation.
Cause: Due to the amount of retailers selling on Amazon, the customer service responses can often be delayed. Buyers and sellers tend to have multiple questions to make sure they know exactly what Amazon is doing with their orders. Working through these questions, a retailer can often expect a significant amount of time on hold, often without final resolution.
Logistics Plus Solution: By employing an efficient and cooperative customer service staff, Logistics Plus will tend to every customer’s needs. Whether it is a quote on your next import or a simple question regarding the status of your inventory, Logistics Plus will provides answers quickly.
If you’re a retailer that sells on Amazon and you’re contemplating third-party warehousing alternatives to FBA, then contact Logistics Plus. As an endorsed member of the Amazon Global Selling Solutions Provider Network, we know Amazon and we know Amazon Sellers well.
Amazon operates eleven (11) global marketplaces around the world (see map below). Selling internationally with Amazon provides retailers with established channels to market their products and grow their business. These marketplaces represent many of the world’s largest e-commerce opportunities. When retailers register to sell in one of these Amazon marketplaces, they gain immediate access to customers who know and trust the Amazon buying experience. Expanding sales to one or more Amazon marketplaces means retailers can benefit from the Amazon brand without shouldering the upfront costs of building business name recognition on its own in a new sales environment.
Selling internationally presents a unique set of logistics challenges for Amazon Sellers to consider. Depending on the country, products sold on Amazon can be subject to additional local taxes such as those for the product’s country of origin, or where the product is stored or sold. Sellers looking to break into European markets should pay special attention to the Value Added Tax (VAT). In Europe, the VAT is applied to most customer purchases. Many U.S. sellers overlook the fact that the VAT is already incorporated into prices on Amazon’s United Kingdom site which will negatively impact profit margins. Having an experienced global tax and trade compliance partner is a must.
If you’re sending your products overseas, a reputable third-party logistics (3PL) company (like Logistics Plus) can help you manage product transportation to a Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) center or they can even provide outsourced warehousing and fulfillment options (with fees that are generally lower than FBA and costs that are free of seasonal fluxuation). For retailers who plan to ship international orders from the U.S. as they’re placed – or to source products from overseas for import to the U.S. – a 3PL can help with the related customs documentation and shipping preparation processes. And since returns are a normal part of any Amazon Seller’s business, a 3PL can also help manage and recoup returned items.
To sell internationally, Amazon requires its sellers to provide customer support in a given marketplace’s local language. Tools like Google Translate work for individual words or short phrases, but they don’t appropriately translate key linguistic nuances needed to market products accurately and disclose important information. A poorly translated product listing could leave your foreign customers confused or even misled. Logistics Plus Linguistic Solutions can help ensure your messaging and disclosures don’t get lost in translation.
The bottom line is that selling internationally through Amazon is a great way to expand your customer base and grow your business. However, international marketplaces can be challenging and expensive without planning and within the right partner(s). Logistics Plus is an approved member of the Amazon Global Selling Solutions Provider Network. Our Amazon experts can help you with everything from importing and exporting, to warehousing and fulfillment – even returns management and linguistic translation services. Our goal is to make global selling as easy as possible for Amazon Sellers. We’re here to help!
WP$E AM 1450/FM 107.1 is airing new Logistics Plus audio clips as part of its WP$E Partners for Business™ interview series. This is an ongoing schedule of comments by northwestern Pennsylvania CEOs, entrepreneurs, and business leaders aired throughout the day. It includes news, information, and profiles of companies, industries, and professions directed to WP$E’s business and financial audience.
Here are some recent WP$E interview audio clips from Logistics Plus founder and CEO, Jim Berlin, and from Scott Frederick, vice president of marketing (click the icons below to listen to the audio replays).
Logistics Plus is still an Erie-based Company
Logistics Plus Turkey Wins Breakbulk Photo Contest
The Logistics Plus China team recently arranged the transport of one deck tank of 15.10 x 5.90 x 6.26 meters, and weighing an impressive 85 metric tons, from Wuxi by barge to Shanghai for loading on seagoing vessel; and then on to the shipyard in Subic Bay, Philippines. This short, time-lapsed clip shows the loading operation in Shanghai.
Need help with your big, bad or ugly project cargo? Let us know!
The first part of the shipment saw 5 girders of 7 meter wide and 95mt being trucked to Mannheim barge terminal, loaded to barge, shipped to Rotterdam. The second part of the shipment saw 4 stanchions of 5.1 meter high and 72mt that could not be trucked to Mannheim, but only to Gernsheim and even then a ‘flyover bridge reinforcement’ (to put a steel bridge atop the actual bridge to strengthen it) had to be used to allow the heavy load to cross that bridge. Then all the cargo was shipped from Rotterdam to Thessaloniki and from there by truck to site.
The project is summarized in the photo collage below. You can also click the Case Study icon to download a PDF summary of the project.
Intermodal shipping involves the movement of loads using multiple transportation modes (i.e., air, sea, road, or rail). Today, intermodal shipping often refers to a road-to-rail-to-road combination service that has enjoyed significant growth in supply chains across North America. The benefits of intermodal shipping include:
According to the Association of American Railroads (AAR), containers accounted for 91% of the 2016 intermodal volume in the United States. The table shown here has the top U.S. metropolitan areas for intermodal volume. Major intermodal markets have large populations and extensive highway networks, both of which are critical elements for intermodal success.
Companies that sell through Amazon must contemplate whether it makes sense to use Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) services or consider third-party warehousing alternatives to FBA. When making this important business decision, it is pivotal that companies understand the benefits of third-party logistics (3PL) while recognizing the potential issues associated with FBA. Here are a few of the problems facing Amazon retailers, and ways that 3PL companies such as Logistics Plus can help:
If you’re sending your products overseas, a reputable third-party logistics (3PL) company (like Logistics Plus) can help you manage product transportation to a Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) center or they can even provide outsourced warehousing and fulfillment options (with fees that are generally lower than FBA and costs that are free of seasonal fluxuation). For retailers who plan to ship international orders from the U.S. as they’re placed – or to source products from overseas for import to the U.S. – a 3PL can help with the related customs documentation and shipping preparation processes. And since returns are a normal part of any Amazon Seller’s business, a 3PL can also help manage and recoup returned items.
The 
