Logistics can be maddening at times, and the month of March is no exception. However, since March is the official month of madness, we thought we’d provide a few tips for shippers to consider to avoid some of the madness that often comes with freight transportation and logistics.
Packaging your freight properly. Poorly packaged freight increases the risk that your shipments will get damaged; and many carriers are starting to decline damage claims when improper packaging is the culprit. Review your packaging processes – and enlist help if needed – to reduce your risk and avoid these unnecessary time and money costs.
Inaccurately weighing your shipment. Some companies don’t have the proper equipment to accurately weigh shipments which leads to inaccurate weight estimates on your bill of lading (BOL). Most carriers now have certified scales at their terminals, and will re-weigh shipments and add on a fee to your invoice if the original estimate was inaccurate. Re-weighing fees add up quickly, so purchasing a proper, certified scale can save money in the long-run.
Inaccurately classifying your freight. When it comes to LTL freight, shipping at a lower freight class will be less expensive than shipping at a higher freight class. If you don’t know the NMFC item number for your product – and place that item number on your BOL – you run the risk of a carrier re-classifying your shipment and adding on an additional fee. Freight class is an important factor in how LTL carriers determine their freight charges, so they spend a lot of time and effort on analyzing and re-classifying freight. So if you don’t know the proper freight class for your shipment, make sure you ask an expert ahead of time.
Not knowing to whom you’re shipping. Shippers must know the consignee’s capability to receive a freight shipment. For example, if the consignee doesn’t have a receiving dock, then a lift-gate might be required for the carrier to effectively deliver your shipment. If you don’t specify this in advance, you run the risk of redelivery fees if the carrier must make an extra trip to provide the final delivery. The same fees might apply in cases where the consignee has only limited receiving times, in which case an advance appointment might be appropriate. So knowing where your freight is going, and assigning the proper services to your shipment in advance, are important factors in maximizing efficiency.
Relying on a single carrier. Some shippers rely on only one (or a couple) carriers for all of their transportation needs. Relying on one carrier alone to handle all of your shipping can lead to sub-optimization and end up costing you more time and money. Generally speaking, regional carriers are faster and less costly on short-haul moves, while national carriers perform much better at long-haul and coast-to-coast deliveries. Working with multiple carriers – or a 3PL that has multiple carrier contracts – allows you to optimize your deliveries using the right carriers.
Not inspecting freight upon delivery. Consignees should always inspect the freight they receive before they sign a carrier’s delivery receipt. Any damages or abnormalities should be noted on the delivery receipt. If a damage notation is omitted on the delivery receipt, it will be difficult to recover any costs with a damage claim. When in doubt, make a note on the delivery receipt that there are possible damages pending a more thorough inspection.
Using incorrect shipping or receiving addresses. This remains one of the most common shipping mistakes. Inaccurate origin and destination address information can lead to missed pickups and delayed deliveries – often times with additional re-delivery or re-consignment fees. Even one wrong ZIP code can result in a time-consuming effort to track down a shipment. So take time to review your address information when completing a bill of lading – it will save many headaches down the road.
Not using an experienced, reputable 3PL partner. Okay, this tip is admittedly a little self-serving. However, an experienced and reputable 3PL can help with you with many of the items above. They will also have the leverage to go-to-bat for you when things go wrong – and we know at some point, things always do. A good 3PL can alleviate much of the “madness” that goes into logistics. So enjoy the fun “madness” that comes with “March”; and leave the “madness” of logistics to a partner like Logistics Plus.
The Logistics Plus Project Cargo Team recently completed another significant project cargo shipment. On behalf of a Fortune 500 power and energy company, and with coordination by the Logistics Plus Turkey division, we safely delivered a 200-ton stator (the stationary portion of an electric generator) from Gdynia, Poland to the Yatagan Thermal Power Plant in Mugla, Turkey. The animated image below shows the team in action on this important project; and just below that is a short video presentation.
What is Break Bulk Shipping? The term break bulk comes from the older phrase “breaking bulk” which is the extraction of a portion of the cargo on a ship, or the beginning of the unloading process from the ship’s holds. In modern context, break bulk is meant to encompass cargo that is transported in bags, boxes, crates, drums, or barrels – or items of extreme length or size. To be considered break bulk, these goods must be loaded individually, not in intermodal containers nor in bulk as with liquids or grains.
Break bulk was the most common form of cargo for most of history. Since the late 1960s, break bulk cargo has declined while containerized cargo has grown significantly. Moving containers on and off a ship is much more efficient than having to move individual goods. This efficiency allows ships to minimize time in ports and spend more time on the sea. Break bulk cargo is also more susceptible to loss, theft and damage.
Loading and unloading break bulk cargo can be very labor-intensive. Generally such cargo is brought to the quay next to the ship, and then each individual item is lifted on board separately – oftentimes using heavy-duty cranes from the boat or by the dockside. Once on board, each individual item must be secured and stowed separately as well.
Examples of commonly shipped break bulk cargo commodities include:
Bagged or sacked cargo
Bailed goods
Barrels, drums, and casks
Corrugated and wooden boxes or containers
Reels and rolls
Equipment, vehicles and components
Steel girders and structural steel
Any long, heavy or over-sized goods
The biggest challenge when shipping break bulk cargo is that it requires more resources and coordination – longshoremen, loading and unloading cranes, warehouses, specialized ships, transport vehicles, etc. That’s why working with an experienced and capable break bulk logistics company can make all of the difference in the world. Logistics Plus has 20 years of break bulk and project cargo experience. We’ve shipped every sort of break bulk cargo imaginable: locomotives, airplane components, tugboats, pipes, tanks, transformers windmills, and so much more! Some people call this type of cargo “the big, the bad, and the ugly” … but that’s exactly the type of logistics project we love to handle!
If you have any upcoming break bulk shipments, just click the banner below to give us a try … or email us at projectcargo@logisticsplus.com!
Overview. 2016 business reports show that U.S. exporters exported $2.2 trillion worth of goods and services. This was about 12% of total economic output in GDP terms. Keep in mind that only 1% of American businesses export their products. Based on the report, the U.S. is the 3rd largest exporter in the world right behind China and the EU, with Germany coming in at fourth place. This is a slight drop in total U.S. market share both in actual terms and as a percentage of global exports. Most of America’s exports are goods as well as service sector based products. The intangible nature of services makes them harder to export across countries and regions.
Top U.S. Exports
$1.46 of the $2.21 trillion exported items comprised of goods and items. This means two-thirds of what America exported were commodities. The products fall into seven categories. These are capital goods, industrial supplies & equipment, consumer goods, automobiles, agricultural products, and services.
Capital Goods. A little over $500 billion worth of capital goods were exported mostly from 6 broad categories. These are Industrial machines ($51 billion), Commercial Aircraft ($121 billion), and Medical equipment ($35 billion). The others are telecommunications ($41 billion), semiconductors ($44 billion), and Electric apparatus ($42 billion).
Industrial supplies and equipment. In 2016 the U.S. exported $398 billion worth of materials used. Most of these are oil and oil-based products. Chemicals topped the list followed by fuel oil, then petroleum products, and plastic. Non-monetary gold closed this list at $20 billion.
Consumer goods. These constitutes 13% of the goods exported valued at about $200 billion. The breakdown is pharmaceuticals ($53 billion), cell phones ($24 billion) and gem diamonds ($21 billion). Consumer spending is influenced by disposable income, income per capita, living wage, household debt, consumer expectations and inflation rates
Automobiles. These constitute 10% of the exported goods and services averaging about $150 billion. GM, Chrysler, and Ford are the largest cars manufacturers. There are a few smaller ones also in the market. The output has been growing significantly after taking a dip during the 2008 financial crisis.
Agricultural products. At $131 billion this is one of the largest products exported from the U.S. markets. They tend to be generally cheaper since they receive lots of government subsidies. Bioengineering and chemical additives have helped to boost production and supply of agricultural products. Soybeans ($24B), Meat and poultry ($17B) and Corn ($11B) are the top three exported goods.
Services. This constitutes one-third of U.S. export to global markets. It totals about $750 billion. Most of the exported services in the exported commodities and items. The largest service export is aircraft services ($293B), Computer & Related services ($178B), Intellectual property and royalties ($120B) and banking ($113B) as well as defense ($20B).
Challenges Facing the United States Exporting Sector
The United States export market has shrunk globally due to the emergence of developing industrial economies like Brazil, India, China, and Indonesia. These countries have developed industrial units that manufacture most of the goods for the local market which in turn lowers demand for American products.
Secondly is standards of living. These countries have lower standards of living. This allows them to produce goods at a cheaper rate. The lower standards of living enable them to erode America’s competitive and comparative advantages across lots of industries. When it comes to automobiles Japanese, and European car makers producers better quality and cheaper cars that are well suited for global markets.
Third, is the issue of oil. America is both a huge producer and importer of oil. That’s because they produce a lot yet their demand is even hired. Keep in mind that some of the oil that they produce does not meet their consumption standards, so they export it to Africa. Most of the oil produced is shale oil. America therefore still spends much more on buying oil abroad.
American Trade Deficit. American trade deficit as of 2016 stood at $500 billion. We imported $2.7 trillion worth of goods and services while exporting $2.2 trillion. This is about $25 billion higher than 2013. This can mostly be attributed to the strengthening of the dollar by 25% between 2013 and 2016. Even then this deficit is $200 billion less than 2006 meaning, the value is on a general upward trend. The primary drivers of this deficit are consumer products (-$397B) and automobile (-200B) deficit.
The deficit with Major Trading Partners. America’s top trading partners are China ($580B), Canada ($545), Mexico ($525B). The deficit with China stands at about $347B making them responsible for 70% of our deficit. This deficit significantly weakens the economy since the economy ends up being financed by debt which has to be paid back with interest. The dollar is said to have declined 40% between 2001 and 2007. This in turn weakness America’s competitiveness on the global stage.
Opportunities for U.S. Exporters
Despite the challenges, it’s not all gloom and doom. America has certain old and emerging opportunities on the export front. The U.S. exported $2.209 trillion worth of exports in 2016. America has a lot of potential given that this constitutes export from
1% of American firms only.
The U.S. Dollar Is King. American competitiveness is still pegged on the good fortune of having the dollar as the world reserve currency. This minimizes the shocks that the economy might have to take in the short and medium term. The dollar still accounted for 62% of global bank reserves still ahead of the pond, Euro, Yen, and Yuan. This I good news for small time exporters in the market.
African Renaissance. The growth and rise of African economies have created a middle class (est. 15% of pop) that has an increasing demand for American goods. Any small or medium-sized exporter who targets this market will greatly benefit. The purchasing power of African consumers haves been on a general upward trend over the past 15 years. Economies of Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Ethiopia, Egypt, and Congo continue to prove versatile in the face of internal challenges and shocks. They also have massive infrastructural spending that lifts the nation’s ease of doing business.
Investors and Technology. The U.S. continues to lead as the most attractive market for investors especially from the developing Asian economies. That’s why the U.S. continues to get hundreds of billions in capital inflows. The Foreign Direct Investment inflows stood at $736B in 2016. That accounts for 15% of the global totals or $1 in every $6. Additionally, people still flock to the U.S. as tech innovators and inventors. It’s still the home to major social players and towers in spending levels.
Ready to start exporting? Have questions or need a reliable logistics partner? The export specialists at Logistics Plus are ready to help.
The Logistics Plus (LP) S.W.A.T. team recently completed “Phase 2” of the WeWork Merchant’s Row office installation in Detroit, MI. WeWork Merchant’s Row features seven unique floors of office space in a restored historic building. Those who move into this coveted address right on Woodward Avenue will gain direct access to the heart of downtown’s renaissance. WeWork Merchant’s Row blends co-working spaces with private offices, common areas with conference rooms, and historical details with modern decor. Teams of any size in industries like design, tech, and marketing will appreciate the space and community that make this location like no other.
Logistics Plus Recognizes 2016 National and Regional LTL Carriers of the Year
FedEx Freight Presented with National Award and Dayton Freight Presented with Regional Award.
The LP team presents Monica Fronzaglio, worldwide account manager for FedEx Services, with its National LTL Carrier Award
ERIE, PA (March 2, 2017) – Logistics Plus Inc., a leading worldwide provider of transportation, logistics and supply chain solutions, recently recognized two of its less-than-truckload (LTL) carriers for superior results and performance in 2016. The annual awards were presented to the following carriers in each of two categories:
FedEx Freight was named the 2016 Logistics Plus National LTL Carrier of the Year (Estes Express and UPS Freight were both runners up in this category)
Dayton Freight Lines was named the 2016 Logistics Plus Regional LTL Carrier of the Year (Ward Transport & Logistics and New Penn Motor Express were both runners up in this category)
The LP team presents Patty Ash, corporate account manager for Dayton Freight, with its Regional LTL Carrier Award
Performing as a top North American freight brokerage firm, Logistics Plus LTL services are delivered through its proprietary eShipPlus™ transportation management system (TMS) – a complimentary online platform made available to all of its LTL customers. Its annual LTL carrier awards are based on internal and external assessments of the following performance criteria:
Annual Share of Business and Growth
Price Competitiveness
Service Performance
Billing Accuracy
Customer Service
Account Representation
“Logistics Plus has been buying, managing, and delivering LTL services to our many customers for 20 years. Although today we provide many other logistics solutions, LTL remains one of our core offerings,” said Scott Frederick, vice president of marketing and LTL carrier relations for Logistics Plus. “Having great, cooperative LTL carrier partners is critical to our LTL services program. We looked at annual performance reports, we polled our internal operations and accounting stakeholders, and we surveyed our end customers; and FedEx Freight and Dayton Freight both came out on top. I am grateful for the support we receive from all of our LTL carrier partners, but I would especially like to thank and congratulate FedEx Freight and Dayton Freight for their excellent performance in 2016.”
About FedEx Freight FedEx Freight is the largest LTL carrier in North America with service throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico, and to the U.S. Virgin Islands. FedEx Freight offers two reliable options: FedEx Freight® Priority, with the fastest published transit times of any nationwide less-than-truckload (LTL) service, and FedEx Freight® Economy for basic LTL freight shipping needs.
About Dayton Freight Lines Founded in 1981, Dayton Freight is a private LTL freight carrier headquartered in Dayton, Ohio. With 50 Service Centers in the Midwest region, Dayton Freight offers shippers 1 or 2 day service to thousands of points throughout a 13 state area. With our Strategic Alliance Network, we can serve all of the United States, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Guam.
About Logistics Plus Inc. Logistics Plus Inc. provides freight transportation, warehousing, global logistics, and supply chain management solutions through a worldwide network of talented and caring professionals. Founded in Erie, PA by local entrepreneur, Jim Berlin, 20 years ago, Logistics Plus is a fast-growing and award-winning transportation and logistics company. With a strong passion for excellence, its 400+ employees put the “Plus” in logistics by doing the big things properly, and the countless little things, that together ensure complete customer satisfaction and success.
The Logistics Plus® network includes offices located in Erie, PA; Alma, AR; Little Rock, AR; Los Angeles, CA; Riverside, CA; San Francisco, CA; Visalia, CA; Atlanta, GA; Chicago, IL; Detroit, MI; Kansas City, MO; Charlotte, NC; Lexington, NC; Buffalo, NY; Cleveland, OH; Charleston, SC; Greenville, SC; Nashville, TN; Dallas, TX; Fort Worth, TX; Houston, TX; Laredo, TX; Madison, WI; Bahrain; Belgium; Canada; Chile; China; Colombia; Egypt; France; Germany; India; Indonesia; Kazakhstan; Kenya; Libya; Mexico; Poland; Saudi Arabia; South Sudan; Turkey; UAE; and Uganda; with additional agents around the world. For more information, visit www.logisticsplus.com or follow @LogisticsPlus on Twitter.
