Logistics Management

Welcome to my blog! I am Padmanaban, fortunate to work in the industry of Logistics and Freight forwarding in Chennai, India for over 18 years. My blog shall cover major topics like Air Freight, Sea/Ocean Freight, Ware housing, Role of transportation in the industry, General Logistics Management and Customs House brokerage.

 

In today’s post I shall be discussing why the olden days of Freight Forwarder has gone to become a Freight Logistics Provider. They both have any difference? Oh Yes, in many ways. Freight forwarders were architects for different modes of transports. They would typically embrace the “do it all by yourself” attitude. In this process they would lose focus on their core competency of providing uncompromising forwarding service to the clients. On the other hand a Freight Logistics Provider would rather provide a range of value added logistics service by collaborating with multiple agencies that are typically masters in their field. They would enable and use the power of Information Technology to provide information that is critical to the clients in knowing the status of their cargo. For this modern communication techniques like SMS and email are used in their quest to keep the clients informed.

 

By saying “collaborating with multiple agencies….”, do I mean that we need to outsource certain functions in the process. Yes, indeed. Why should one outsource? Outsourcing comes with a huge advantage of utilizing other professional expertise at a fraction of cost that one might otherwise spend to acquire that expertise. It is as simple as that. If I am good in Forwarding, then I would rather tie-up with professional warehousing companies, transportation companies etc, and would manage the forwarding rather focused. That is the power of outsourcing.

 

Where there is a chance of doing freight forwarding on a truly global scale, one has to rely on other vendors in the other country for a better grip of the market and formalities / regularities specific to the country where the cargo is being forwarded.