Good Day - all the talk in transportation for the public is the amount of money airlines and even banks are making millions on fees. Fees for baggage, fees for the use of services provided by the service provider and as you all know, in the maritime business, we have surcharges, port fees, documentation fees, even fees to use the live customer service line instead of booking or using the online services provided by carriers and freight intermediaries.
One good way to avoid fees is to get to know the details of the business and in doing so, do more yourself. In international cargo shipping, you really need to understand the business in detail to avoid many fees.
Documentation fees, for example...many exporters and importers can avoid many of these fees by doing certain processes themselves. Exporters can file their own AES or Ex Dec. Importers can do their own cargo customs reporting, to avoid paying brokers to do this for them. Intermediaries can file their own AMS and ISF for their shipments and avoid this charge from the carriers. Exporters and Intermediaries can electronically send in bookings to Ocean carriers without even picking up the phone.
Understanding the details of how the business works and doing more yourself can avoid some fees that do add up over time. These are also places where, if you are a carrier, freight forwarder, broker, importer or exporter, that you can add to your own revenue stream by doing these services for your clients.
Yes, this is a self serving post because Artemus does provide training in how to "do it yourself" We even have a class coming up in Virginia Beach VA on November 28 that will review all the critical shipping process and give you the tools to "do it yourself". If your not local, the same class is available online.
Artemus also provides software, systems and support to provide you with the tools and training needed to take your service under your own control, save money and hopefully provide more profit to your bottom line.
The bottom line is that the more you know about the process or service you are working with, the more you can ultimately save money by doing more yourself.
And yes, TECHNOLOGY is key here so give us a call and ask us how we can help! 866-744-7101
Artemus OUT!
Discussion of international cargo transportation critical work processes, regulatory and trade compliance issues and overall best practice discussions, opinions and suggestions.
