Global Expansion - How do you do it as a small shipping business?

Over the last few months, our staff and I have attended many seminars, lectures, forums and speaking opportunities regarding the expansion of your business into a global market. Most of these events are focused on manufacturing or distribution but they can also be applied to service and global shipping service networks.

So, are you a small NVO/FF, Importer or Exporter looking to expand globally? Well, this can be done and you might be surprised as to how this can be done and what is available. First, let me speak about the State of Virginia....(probably the same is available in any state)

State of Virginia has organizations like Export VA or Yes Virginia, or even VA Economic Development that provides free support to businesses that are looking to hook up overseas and expand. Most recommend a relationship, like a local distributor or sales organization that is already on the ground in the local area you want to get into.

There are also US Based sales representatives, representing a country, a port, or municipalities that will help introduce your business to like businesses or potential clients to expand your reach as a business...again, all FREE!

Finally, most states and the federal government have mission trips, trips where you pay a fee and the organization, local, state or federal, that will set up meetings with potential clients, partners and distributors, tailor made for your organization.

Yes, much of what is written here is "general" but there are specifics in each area that we can provide for you if you are interested. But, there are many cases where a small business has "blown open" their revenue line just by getting into one of these programs, making an outreach to an organization that can help and that these mission trips can be direct hits to expand your business and outreach.

Our organization here in Virginia is setting a strategic goal for 2012 to exploit all these opportunities available and let's see how it works for us.

If you want to discuss this further, please reach out to us and look for our new website, twitter feed, blog post and new software and online training products, being updated and deployed as we write this.

Have a great holiday season and we look forward to 2012...hope you will have a great year too.

ARTEMUS OUT!

Fees - Fees - Fees and More Fees

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!

Does investment in Technology or Service give you an advantage?

Technology or Service - Some say they can be one in the same but the experience in our industry would argue that they are very different. Service is the interaction with the client (your people)...the alerts, the phone calls, the emails, the overtime hours getting the job done. Technology supports service but so many use Technolgy as a "service" or more specifically, "self service"

The way we see it here at Artemus is that service is and always will be human interaction with the customer. The "may I help you", or "would you like me to call you when.....". or even "there has been an issue with your shipment, we did X and all is back on track". or, "I'll do that for you" That's service.

Our clients are telling us that to compete, they need access to better systems and technology, they need to move, send, received and provide more information. But none of them ask us to make technology replace them. The small to medium size carrier or freight intermediary wants to be close to the client. They need the phone, the want to talk to them but they want the ability to proactively advise and service them, update them, counsel them or even replace much of the time consuming work they perform with smart technology applications and smart process improvements.

NONE of the client of Artemus ask us to find the most advanced technology for them so that they can replace their service with it.

The final facts are these...in international shipping, service will always be what makes you successful and technology will hopfully go from a mentality of "serve yourself" to let us serve you better and in doing so, technology will make our clients better service providers and also make them more profitable.

So, does an investment in technology or service give you an advantage? The investment in service, which includes people first and technology second, gives you an advantage and if you invest in people first, then the investment in technology should make you more profitable.

Artemus OUT!

Technology - What is the future for International Transportation and Trade?

I am sure this topic has been written about over and over. The bottom line is.....the US Transportation and Trade Industry is NOT taking advantage of all that is available. Why? simple, competition!

Let me explain, in a recent speech given at Old Dominion Propeller club, the question was, where do I see the biggest opportunities for graduating college students in the Maritime Industry? I say, technology...the ability to take a work process and automate or program a product to conduct that process electronically. Why, because it makes sense, it allows electronic transfer of data, correcting mistakes automatically, control strategies for inaccurate data or data combinations, it allows electronic checking and for the sole purpose of cutting out errors and increasing satisfaction of the client....the ultimate user. So, staff would then focus on building relationships with clients and less on data entry, double entry and manual "checking". All those last things being archaic ideas.

Example - In Australia in 1999 (yes, 11 years ago) the entire import and export process of a container or piece of cargo was ELECTRONICALLY done. Yep, starting from booking over the phone, to phone recognition link to internal systems, to bringing up history, copying and updating a shipment, transmitting that shipment to transport providers, vessel planners, export documentation, terminals, customs etc. Yep, then picking up the phone and creating an ELECTRONIC appointment to delivery cargo to the terminal, which was sent to a transponder, that was read at the gate, instructions issued, information of receipt back to the carrier, which was electronically sent to planners at the terminal and the carrier and CUSTOMS and AQIS and yep, documents were released ELECTRONICALLY with electronic signatures, incripted files with password protection and oh yeah...ELECTRONIC billing and payment to the back for the shipment.

This was 1999 in Australia. Is this happening in the US today? in some places with some providers and in a few different formats but is there a standard? NOPE. Can everyone access this type of communication? NOPE. Why? Competitive Advantage.

Why can't the US International Trade Industry set some simple standards and require everyone to follow them, from the BIG TERMINALS to the small forwarders?

We have done a great job in focussing on security of cargo and national security with CSI, CTPAT, ACE etc. So, as an industry, let's focuss on being "state of the art" as a whole and not state of the art, as long as you can afford it.

Finally, Artemus will provide electronic data exchange systems to all customers of its transportation software. Visit our website www.artemus.us or call 866-744-7101 and we will show you our approach and our products and show you how affordable they are. So, be ready, get your smart phone, Iphone, computer and electronic internet device and get ready to provide your clients with state of the art service at very, very affordable prices.

Talk to you soon

Artemus OUT!

Import Security Filing - US Customs Bonds

Myth becoming a legend.......so many clients, importers especially, come to me and say, I cannot get my broker to do the ISF filing for me because they tell me I have to get a bond. They say it is required. How come I did not have to have a bond to file an AMS or ABI filing? Well, because a broker and an AMS filier live by different requirements. First of all, to make any filing, AMS, ABI or ISF, a bond is required. At a minimum, the bond is required by the company who is filing the information on behalf of another. So, let's say an Importer used to use a broker to do all import filings for them, that was ok, before because the broker had a license and a bond to cover them in cases where they needed it. For an ISF filing, the broker is requiring the bond, not US Customs. US Customs requires the FILIER to have a bond. A broker has a bond but chooses not to use it. In the case of an AMS Filing, the filier has a bond and that bond is also good to use for ISF Filings. Since the ISF filing and the AMS filing are similar...in data sets and in the overall purpose of the filing (an informational filing only) than the bond the AMS filier uses, they also use to cover the ISF filing they make on behalf of their clients.

Bottom line is that there are SO MANY options to getting your Import Security Filing done, a broker is not the only option and in most cases, is not the cheapest and the most cost effective option for an importer or a forwarder. If you want more information and proof of the above, just let us know and we can help. 100+ plus customers in 17 countries will vouch for what is written above....

www.artemus.us