What Is Freight Management?

Freight Management is the Entire Process of Transportation of Goods From One Place To Another.

Freight Management and Its Specifications

Freight management integrates the whole process of receiving goods, storing them properly, distributing and monitoring them at every step to make sure you deliver the goods in the most efficient way possible for your client. It is not a simple process, as there are various players involved at every level. Coordination is required at every level to stay ahead of the competition in this very competitive market. There are few key points to keep in mind while managing freights.

1. Flexibility

Freight management should be flexible in terms of what kind of commodities you can transport. Fragile items, high value goods, sensitive goods or live animals must be handled with utmost care.

2. Route Knowledge

This comes with experience but still you require a decent knowledge before you even think of starting your own freight business. Success of freight management depends on the fastest and the safest route optimization knowledge.

3. Negotiation Skill

At every step in freight management, you have to negotiate the price. Starting from the client to the various vendors and shippers involved in the process, negotiation is the key to get the best price. It is a very competitive business, so to stay on top of your game, you need to continuously negotiate the price to provide better services to your client at the best price.

4. Account and Claim Management

Ultimately all the businesses desire for profits, therefore you have to do accounting and auditing of each and every job. This provides you with an idea of profit and loss if any. You also need to have a robust claim management system in place to ensure the clients are able to claim their lost or damaged goods whenever needed.

5. Storage and Distribution Management

Effective storage and distribution management can help in a great way for better freight management. Handling organized packages properly throughout the process is the key for freight management.

6. Managing Relations With All the Carriers and Vendors

Maintaining relationships in a supply chain is very important. Good relations can help you beat your competition. You can provide better service at the best price to your clients.

7. Integrate Latest Software

To manage all the freight management processes, you can integrate the latest software available in the market into your existing systems to manage all the work automatically without any manual or human intervention.

Different People Involved in the Freight Management

There are three types of transportations involved in freight management. All the three types have certain common players.

• By sea route transportation: In this way of transportation, the parties involved are shipowners, boat owners, traders, shipping agencies and shipping authorities.
• By rail and road transportation: This involves transportation carriers, truck operators, carrying and forwarding agents.
• By air transportation: It involves sales agencies, shippers, air authorities, and air freight specialists.

Methods Involved to Improve Freight Management

• To optimize freight management, you can take various steps or employ different methods.
  Effective tracing system: By using an effective tracking system, you can empower your clients to track their shipment properly. This will help you gain their trust and ultimately more business.
• Latest handling machines: By using the latest machines to handle loading, unloading and management of goods will definitely improve the freight management.
• Latest software: By using the latest management software, you can improve all aspects of freight management. You can track, dispatch and deliver the goods more efficiently with the help of it.
• Tariff and government authority management: Complying with the legal requirements and tariff knowledge at first hand is very important for better freight management.

Managing cargo business is not such a simple affair. But with experience and over time you are able to improve. You need to focus on communication, proper packaging and high quality of people management. Effective tracking and competitive pricing can go a long way for better freight management.