Automobile

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.

Axon Dispatch System:

Gone are the days when the managers had to call drivers every hour to know their status and location. The innovative technology of dispatch software has changed things for good. A trucking dispatch software is a cloud based technology that allows users to manage their fleet even when they are traveling or resting. The software is a combination of electronic gadgets in the trucks and the dispatch software in the office. The dispatch software keeps track of every truck using GPS so they never get lost. There are many truck dispatch software available for free download. These are particularly small trucking company dispatch solutions.

Axon is a trusted truck dispatch software to drive your business forward. The software is primarily focused on visualizing the fleet. It is the best dispatch software for small trucking companies. With this trucking software, you can easily calculate trip distance and reduce empty miles. This eventually helps you to execute strict delivery schedules. This truck dispatch system was crafted keeping in mind all the aspects of trucking business and allows managers to stay on top. It is considered the best trucking dispatch software and has been around since 1982. This software for dispatching comes with an easy-to-use mobile app that helps in fuel management.

eTrucks IFTA:

Many truckers are confused regarding the meaning and scope of IFTA. So, what is IFTA exactly? IFTA stands for International Fuel Tax Agreement. Through this Act, member jurisdictions collaborate to collect and regulate motor fuel taxes. The objective of IFTA is to simplify the fuel tax reporting and maintain only a single fuel use licens fuel taxese for interstate carriers and administer one base jurisdiction for each license holder. IFTA makes it easy to file taxes as the tax payers only have to create one report that has records of all the member jurisdictions.

Do You Need IFTA For Intrastate?

The 48 US States and 10 Canadian Provinces are known to be the members of IFTA. The others are known as non IFTA jurisdictions which include Alaska, Hawaii, District of Columbia, Yukon Territory, Northwest Territory, Nunavut, and Mexico. When filing IFTA reports, miles driven in these jurisdictions are recorded as non-IFTA state miles. An IFTA calculator can easily help you know all about the IFTA miles, non-IFTA miles, and non-taxable miles during the quarter.

What Is An IFTA Number?

Obtaining IFTA license number and IFTA stickers are important steps for owner operators. One can apply for an IFTA license in the base state. IFTA forms can be found online for this purpose.

“Life on the road can be one of two things. If you are flexible–able to adapt and change to new situations and events–truck driving means constant adventure.” – Connor Syrewicz

What Is An IFTA Sticker?

Once your application is processed, IFTA authority issues IFTA stickers for the current year which you need to display on both the sides of your truck.

How To File IFTA Taxes?

Although it might seem easy, IFTA reporting can take a lot of time and effort if done manually. One has to keep in mind the current IFTA rates, exemptions, deadlines and penalties when computing IFTA tax. This can be very burdensome for an ordinary trucker and hiring someone to help them is something very expensive. In such a case, it is a cost-effective decision to invest in a reliable IFTA software or opt for IFTA online services that can help you simplify the IFTA reporting.

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eTrucks is one such program in the market today that has been specifically designed to help the truckers comply with all the IFTA regulations. The software is known to be the fastest and most accurate solution for all your IFTA needs. Moreover, the software comes with a 31 day free trial. The software comes in three different packages according to the user’s needs and budget. Hence, if IFTA deadlines are scary for you, eTrucks is the best application you must try out.

TMSEZ:

TMSEZ is a trucking billing software that consists of all the basic modules to run the trucking business efficiently. The standard features includes loads, billing and invoicing, driver settlement, trucks and driver management, customer support, scanning, and tracking. One can also request additional modules at a mere added monthly fee. One can seamlessly integrate the software with significant trucking billing software such as Quickbooks, Adagio and Microsoft Dynamics. Both the drivers and dispatchers can communicate in real time and obtain signatures digitally using TMSEZ. The software can identify any billing error instantly and create inventory reports without any hassle.

Rigbooks:

Business accounting is a comprehensive area and managing it manually can take a lot of time. That is why most of the managers prefer to automate their accounting operations so that they can get more time for other significant operations. When you select the best truck accounting software, it becomes easy to manage load, expenses and receivables. It can also make it seamless to bill customers, pay drivers and file IFTA reports. It will also provide you with detailed information about trips and mileage irrespective whether you are an owner-operator or a huge trucking business.

If you want to gain complete gain over your trucking business, Rigbooks is a perfect choice. It can create P/L reports, expense reports and fuel mileage reports at your fingertips. Within a few weeks of tracking your business, you will be able to get a crystal clear picture of your business and can make strategic decisions effectively. It will keep you updated about your load costs and can bill by the mile, item, lump sum, or by weight. You can even record the bill you found behind the seat and it will automatically get to the right place.

Axon Oilfield:

When it comes to upstream oil and gas software, nothing can beat Axon oilfield software. It is the best oil and gas data management software which is integrated in real time. This means any oil field information you enter into the system, updates all other platforms including dispatch, billing, accounting, driver pay, fuel management and fleet maintenance. Although there are many oilfield software companies claiming to be the best, Axon is a trusted brand in the oil and gas software market. Their oilfield solution is suitable for oilfield trucking, well servicing, water hauling and crane movers. So, get paid faster, keep customers happy, and reduce your stress with the best oilfield software.

As it is quite clear from the above paragraph that it is the forwarder who is responsible for the safe delivery of products. For this service, fees or one can say cost is also charged. Though the forwarders calculate their transport costs in a slightly different manner, here is how they calculate their costs:

Supplementary Load

Supplementary load, also regarded as additional load is the basic concept in freight forwarding. On a wide scale, people are familiar with this concept. It means that the vehicle is already in use but the whole space is not filled yet. In this situation, as the space is available, the vehicle can take some supplementary load with it. Though, this is a point to note, that additional load usually costs less than the primary load. To calculate the mileage of transport vehicles, miles calculator is a more effective tool.

But for a shipper or the other party, the situation is quite different. Every supplementary load is different from one another and thus things change from here only. The basic condition in this situation is that the route must be long so that the extra load can be unloaded in between. And the other thing is that the vehicle must have enough space so that the load can easily fit in. In case, if the load is not unloaded quickly, the costs can increase.

Less Area

Less area refers to small or less distance. It is expected that as the distance is less, the transport cost will also be reduced. It could be called technically correct as calculation of transportation cost is largely done on the basis of kilometers. Thus, the basic simple rule is less distance, less transport cost. Though, this rule also holds some exceptions. For instance, the time taken to load and unload the goods is a major point of concern in short distances. Therefore, when it comes to short distances, the freight forwarder always has a predetermined price. It can also be called a minimum price that the other party has to pay irrespective of the kilometers traveled by truck.

Utilizing Gaps in the Best Possible Manner

Large and heavy goods that do not fit in the pallets of trucks also require transportation from one place to another. Thus, to solve this concern, the truck drivers majorly keep these kinds of products in between the other products. This is the best method to save cost. By doing so space is utilized in the best possible manner. Hence, one can get complete and efficient utilization as well as a return of the amount spent. The IFTA state mileage calculator helps to display the mileage by city to assist trucking business to figure out the miles per state.

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Though this idea seems good enough, the road freight system does not work this way. The goods that a truck is carrying must be properly secured so that the lives of other people and drivers are not at risk. In case, if the idea of gap utilization is being put into action, then it is necessary to secure the goods in the best possible method. Thus, there is no need to save space, but the actual need is to utilize the space in the right manner.

Factors Influencing the Costs

There are certain factors that largely and greatly influence the cost calculation method. These factors directly influence the shipping costs that are charged by freight forwarders. Factors are as follows:

Distance or Route

Distance is the basic factor that influences the shipping charges. Moreover, the charges are also calculated on the basis of kilometers that a truck is supposed to travel.

Time

The time period in which the order is placed plays a significant role too. This is an external factor and encompasses facts like weather conditions, holidays, and other things.

Nature of Commodity

Nature of commodity refers to the kind of product that needs to be transported from one place to another. It can be liquid, solid, or powder form. For delivering these goods, specific transport vehicles are required.

Loading and Unloading

The point from where the products have to be loaded and the place where the products have to be unloaded are also necessary to consider. This can directly reduce or increase the expenses.

Conclusion

In the nutshell, one can say that freight forwarders have a wide variety of facts and things on the basis of which they can determine the shipping and transportation costs. Aside from this, there are certain factors too that directly contribute to the cost calculation process. Thus, one must understand all these things before hiring any freight forwarder agency or agent.

Losses are the part and parcel of business. One cannot totally remove them or can get rid of them, but it can only be reduced to some extent. Every business has some degree of risk. No business is risk-free. This is also true in the cargo business. There are many illustrations when the business has to suffer a loss due to faulty cargo. In this situation, the consignee or the shipper can demand the claim against the loss he suffered. Here is a list of five steps that are extremely useful in handling cargo claims and interests.

Testimonial Is a Must

The first and the basic step that an individual must take is to collect the relevant testimonials, i.e, the evidence. Evidence will prove the authentication of the situation. This is the basic thing that is required. In addition to that, in case the situation worsens and the matter is dragged to court, one can show the evidence he has collected over time.

Though it is a costly affair as well as time-consuming too, the collection and documentation of evidence make the process fast. For instance, documents such as landing bills, pictures of the product, and photographs of the damaged cargo are some of the crucial parts of evidence. These are an important aspect of the interests and claims. Once reliable evidence is provided, the speed of the process boosts up and a legal battle can be won easily.

Find Assistance

Usually, the legal battle is a long battle that cannot be won without cooperation and assistance. Therefore, whenever an individual is appearing for such long legal voyages, he must get help from someone. The advice and suggestions must be taken from the right people. Many times, it has been seen that people alone, without much prior experience, just jump into the battle and often lose it.

The prime reason behind this is a lack of coordination, cooperation, and assistance. Just in case, if you do not have prior experience, then it is important and mandatory for you to get assistance from someone who has pretty good experience in the field. By this, cargo claims can be handled easily. The process will become smooth and clear decision-making can be done. In this field, one can seek the help and advice of professionals who spend years in the field of cargo damage.

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Understanding of the Law and Order

Before directly jumping into the sea of legal battle, it is advisable to understand the functioning of law and order in respect of the cargo’s loss prevention. By doing this, one will be able to understand the rights he possesses. In addition to that, proper and clear decisions can be made on this basis. Apart from that, future strategies can also be designed.

While dealing with the cargo claims it is important that an individual must know all the fundamental rights and laws regarding the cargo claims. One must know the exact dates and the expiry periods so that he can find a base to support the evidence that will be presented in the court.

Carrier Identification

A carrier is the other party who has the obligation to ship goods from one place to another. Thus, whenever an individual applies for the cargo claims, he must clearly understand his carrier, i.e, the other party.

The important information that an individual must know about the carrier is the shipper’s number, pro number, date of origin, cargo description, description of the commodity, and the delivery date. By this, the individual will understand his carrier, i.e, the other trucking fleet management is a better way. In addition to this, one must make sure that he has a complete record and documentation regarding the damaged cargo.

Act-On Time

The claim must be collected on time. Time is the prime factor that must be considered while undergoing the cargo claim process. Cargo claims are subjected to the time bars. For instance, if your cargo or shipment got damaged a year ago, then there are chances that you will not receive any kind of claim. Thus, the exact time period must be considered. Apart from that, legal proceedings also take time to complete. One must have patience in the completion of the entire process.

In the nutshell, one can say that by following the above-mentioned tips, one can go through the cargo claim process efficiently and effectively.

Impact of New Trends on Transportation Business:

1. Omnichannel shipping and loading: This software allows companies to meet the expectations of their customers. Using omnichannel helps transportation companies to build a solid customer base. It will enable them to attract new customers and retain the old ones. It allows customers to shop with ease both digitally and offline. Using omnichannel adds speed and fluidity to the delivery process and keeps your customers satisfied. Many big brands and businesses are using it to fulfill their deliveries on time. This software provides all delivery details to the buyers, like time of dispatch and delivery.

2. Radio frequency identification: Many freight companies install RFID chips in their commercial vehicles. This helps them to keep an eye on their work and help them know their exact location. They provide people with details like driver trips, number of developers, and time of shipments. Companies use leaves technology software to collect and analyze the data provided. It offers separate barcodes to vehicles which help to scan and get vehicle details. This system adds fluency to the supply chain and allows companies to keep computerized records. It helps in route optimization and cuts down fuel usage. Knowing the exact location of your drivers and vehicles is very helpful. It allows you to deal with emergencies and schedule driver changes accordingly.

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3. Uninterruptible power supply (UPS): A transportation company needs to save a considerable amount of data. Data collection and analysis is very important for a business. It helps them to calculate their tax returns and generate P&L statements. This information comes in handy to plan business operations and save money on expenses. UPS allows companies to know their vehicles’ details like delivery time, trips, idle time, and location. This helps to pay the drivers, using GPS, route optimization, and UPS to optimize their delivery routes and save vehicle fuels. Using this software allows companies to save gallons of fuel per day. This also helps in conserving energy and causes less harm to the environment. It keeps your vehicle in service for a long time and reduces tires’ wear and tear.

4. Embedded system: The success of a company lies in connecting better with your customers. Most companies today are working to gain valuable customer inputs and establish better communication with them. Many transportation companies add efficiency to their delivery and logistics services through an embedded system. This system collects relevant data and allows people to process it how they want. The data collected by this system provide you with customer insights and understand their demands. It will enable companies to understand the business from a customer’s point of view and work accordingly. People can collect, edit, and manage their data with this software. People use it because it is user-friendly and can be operated without any prior training.

5. Globalization in business: Most companies are working on expanding their business and working overseas. There are various automated tools that allow you to manage your business and check your delivery and business costs. To establish your company in foreign countries, you need to expand your global network; they help people store all information. This maintains clarity in business and leaves no place for confusion among employees. Transportation companies need to keep track of the drivers and vehicles if they want to succeed in business. They need to ensure that their shipments do not get stranded anywhere.

6. Using third-party logistics: All the fleet businesses require heavy equipment and vehicles to do their work. Managing these are not easy. A transportation company needs to manage its warehouse functions to deliver products to people on time. They provide raw goods to the manufacturers, retailers who sell the finished products to people. This creates a supply chain for an economy. If you want to provide the delivery option to your clients, you need to use third-party logistics. It helps you to change your equipment and improve your warehouse functions.

7. Opt for re-optimization in emergencies: Many freight companies had to cancel or reschedule deliveries during the pandemic. Now with the assistance of many tools and softwares, you can reschedule your deliveries quickly. Many small businesses thrived in pandemic due to their quick delivery and fast servicing. The best truck tracking systems companies can learn to manage their deliveries and deal with emergencies if they want their business to thrive in the future. You can take the help of a re-optimization software to reschedule deliveries and change driver schedules.

8. Using the latest technology: Many automated systems help people to manage their business. Using computerised softwares to do your work leaves no place for mistakes or confusion. It allows people to keep records of their employees, business transactions, and profit details in an accurate manner. All this information helps people in conducting their business efficiently. This will enable companies to add efficiency to their delivery operations and manage their supply chain efficiently.