The decision on which mode of transport for your freight should be based on several factors.  Air freight services provide advantages over sea freight including the fastest delivery, reliability, safety and a vast global network. With these advantages come an increased landed cost and an increased carbon footprint. The landed cost contributes a major part to the product cost and will influence the product pricing structure, which has a huge impact on its sale. To be competitive in the market, your product price should be competitive along with having unlimited availability, for which the demand and supply ratio should be in equilibrium. Leading business managers in Australia are likely to perform an analysis to ensure that the product really needs air freight services.

Factors like perishability, seasonality, replenishment cycle, product cost, safety, demand fluctuation and supply chain strategy influence the decision and can assist you to choose the best transportation mode for your product. Collaborating with an established air freight and sea freight forwarder in Australia can also provide insight and knowledge and they can assist you to choose the most appropriate transportation mode.

Read on to learn if your product really needs an air freight service or if another more economical transportation mode, such a sea freight can be used to deliver your products.

As more companies import and export to and from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and other parts of Australia, the importance of freight forwarders has increased. Freight forwarders provide domestic and international transportation solutions to businesses wanting to ship cargo and goods from one location to another. While some freight forwarders have their own transport modes, many collaborate and use the service of specialist transportation providers such as shipping lines, airlines, rail and road carriers to ensure your goods reach their destination on time and in good condition.

With the movement of freight comes the threat of loss and damages, customs infringements, danger associated with unforeseeable events, questions of cargo insurance, and delays in delivery which challenge businesses in Australia. To overcome these risks, freight forwarders with substantial experience work on behalf of their customers to check the bills of carriage, arrange freight insurance, ensure customs compliance on both sides of borders, and provide visibility of goods-in-transit. By being the freight experts and taking care of these activities on behalf of their customers, freight forwarders can make life easy for their customers.

Read on to learn how an experienced freight forwarder can minimise freight forwarding risks for your business.

Delivery time lines, product type, required security, sensitivity level, shelf life, volumes and shipping cost all influence the decision of which shipping mode to use and play a vital role in deciding the best transportation mode. Sea freight services are the most economical mode of international transportation available when compared to air freight and provide the most flexibility as businesses have almost unlimited freedom to ship their goods irrespective of volume, weight, dimension and product type. These advantages make sea freight services the most commonly used transportation medium.

However, there are circumstances where businesses should avoid using sea freight services and choose a different transportation medium such as air freight. Choosing the incorrect transportation mode can result in damaged or lost shipments, delayed delivery and lost sales. By choosing the best transportation mode for each individual shipment, you are one-step closer to perfect order fulfilment and improved sales.

Read on to learn 4 circumstances when you should avoid using sea freight services and choose another more appropriate transportation mode such as airfreight.

Welcome to the June edition of the BCR Global Market Update. Read on to learn more on the import sea freight Australia market conditions for major lanes including North East Asia, South East Asia, the United States and Europe.

An air freight quote is a business document that explains the pricing structure for a freight movement, the cargo routing, the transit times and the terms and conditions to be considered while using air freight services. An ideal air freight quote assists businesses to analyse the landed cost of their cargo, estimate delivery time, handover date, container packing schedule and associated in-transit deadlines and risks. Not having a yearly contract with your air freight forwarder or beginning to trade with a new business partner makes it essential to check the air freight quote for each individual movement. Checking an air freight quote requires expertise and experience, as a small missed out point or assumption can delay the cargo and significantly increase your air freight costs. Established freight forwarding providers in Australia provide individualised, complete and error free air freight quotes each time, as air freight requirements can vary by customer for each shipment. Therefore, to meet shipping targets, it is essential for Freight, Logistics and Supply Chain Managers in Australia to act proactively and understand all the essential points of an air freight quote before shipping the goods. This reduces the risk of mistakes and assists them to meet their targets by using error-free air freight services.

Read on to learn the essential elements that every business should check in an air freight quote before shipping an air freight shipment.

In recent years, 3PL providers have come to play a larger role in assisting customers manage parts of their supply chains. Outsourcing to a 3PL logistics provider has many benefits, and with these benefits come new risks. These new risks are focused on shortfalls with the actual 3PL provider that has been selected. By understanding these risks, you can proactively identify them before they start to negatively impact on your supply chain and decrease the benefits that can be achieved by outsourcing.

Read onto learn 6 potential shortfalls to look out for when selecting a 3PL logistics provider.

Change is inevitable. Just because you are doing well today, does not mean the future will be the same. Likewise, the role of a warehouse in a supply chain has changed through the years. A warehouse is no longer simply a space to store goods. Instead, warehouses have become a facility that connect the upstream and downstream of a supply chain. Warehouses face product increased proliferation along with increased volumes of goods resulting in additional complexity. With each passing year, handling goods in less time and with less error has become one of the most critical challenges. By strictly maintaining the functions of a warehouse, you can optimise your space, order processing and shipping times. Providers of 3PL in Melbourne have adopted certain critical parameters to ensure that key deliverables are achieved with consistency.

Read on to learn 4 warehousing secrets adopted by providers of 3PL in Melbourne that can assist you to gain the maximum advantage from warehousing.

Welcome to the May edition of the BCR Global Market Update. Will this be the month that rates stabilise from NE Asia? Has the United States worked out how they will incorporate the new SOLAS verified gross mass weight requirement? Read on to learn about the import sea freight Australia market conditions for major lanes including North East Asia, South East Asia, the United States and Europe.

Demand forecasting is highly challenging in the dynamic and competitive business environment. Demand forecasting is also directly impacted by the accuracy of the sales forecast. Businesses understand that an accurate sales forecast can keep them ahead of their competitors and assist them to reduce cost and time and increase customer satisfaction. An erroneous sales forecast affects the entire supply chain by creating over stocking, stock out situations and increased storage costs. These can decrease customer satisfaction and have a direct impact on the brand image.

With all this at stake, its essential that Supply Chain Managers understand the impact of freight forwarding operations on accurate sales forecasting and don't underestimate its importance over other factors. Many smart business owners in Australia are reducing costs, meeting their deadlines, optimising inventory levels and accomplishing accurate sales forecasts by considering freight forwarding while forecasting.

Freight forwarding is one of the main factors that cause variability in sales forecasting. Freight forwarding assists to define the replenishment cycle, landed cost, bottlenecks, inventory visibility and the appropriate mode of transportation. These factors assist in defining your safety stock, determining you shipping plans, optimising inventory levels, and can make your sales forecast more accurate and impactful.

Read on to learn 4 ways freight forwarding influences your sales forecast.

Risks are an inherent part of supply chain and over time, they have not diminished but rather widened across the entire network. Supply chain risks emanate across the supply chain over a wide range of issues starting from inter-organisational, supplier base, environmental, integration among supply chain partners and catastrophic disasters. While diversifying your supplier network will give flexibility and pace to your business, collaborating with the right suppliers ensures that you aren't compromising on the quality of suppliers’ goods. Proactive monitoring of material flow and deploying smart technological solutions will flash early warnings that allow companies to mitigate supply chain disruptions before operations and performance are negatively impacted. Today, third party logistics (3PL) providers have stepped forward to provide services that assist businesses in mitigating supply chain risk, thus becoming strategic partners for their customers. 

Read on to learn 5 ways in which third party logistics (3PL) providers can assist in supply chain risk mitigation.