Understanding the nature of this activity requires an understanding of a number of related issues that come up when discussing shipping management.
- Shipping—refers to the activity of moving products from one location to another by ship or other mode of transportation.
- A shipment is a grouping of goods or a bulk order that can range in size from a small document envelope to a huge container.
- Freight—refers to the movement of substantial quantities of cargo by truck, train, ship, or aircraft.
- Logistics—deals with the daily administration of the movement of commodities, including supply chains and distribution, from their point of origin (such as the warehouse) to the site of consumption (e.g. location of the final consumer)
To ensure that products, raw materials, freight, equipment, or supplies are shipped without incident, shipping management entails sorting, weighing, handling, packaging, inventory, warehousing, transportation, and distribution, as well as security precautions, compliance checks, and managing data gathered for record-keeping. It involves a variety of jobs, including taking things from shelves for retail outlets and packaging them for shipment pickups.
Shipping management covers the logistics (planning, preparation, and execution) of cargo transportation to make sure that goods are delivered to retail locations, customer addresses, or other designated destinations.
There are many shipping management courses in Kerala that helps in understanding the industry better. SLMT is one among the best logistics institutes in Kochi.
Various Shipping Methods
Contrary to what the name “shipping” indicates, shipment refers to more than just the movement of products by ship. It also covers the transportation of products by road, rail, and air. These generally fall into the category of freight transport modes.
- Shipping by air entails the use of aircraft to carry goods; FedEx, DHL, and UPS were some of the most well-known shipping firms to do this type of shipping.
- Shipping by land refers to transporting goods using vehicles like trucks; examples of such vehicles are refrigerated trucks, cars, and big vehicles like semi-trailer trucks and jumbo trucks, among many others.
- Shipping through rail transportation: This refers to the movement of products by rail, which is one of the oldest modes of transportation for a variety of goods, including consumer goods, hazardous goods, special cargoes, military cargoes, and other kinds of cargo.
- Shipping through the sea: This refers to the movement of products by ship. A.P. Moller-Maersk Group of Copenhagen, Denmark, and China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (COSCO), based in Beijing, China, are two of the largest shipping firms for ocean freight.
8 Shipping Techniques
Freight is delivered via a variety of shipping techniques. They consist of:
- Full truckload (FTL) shipping entails using a complete truck or fleet of vehicles to deliver goods over land. The most prestigious stores in the world, like Schneider National, prefer FTL as their preferred shipping option. Examples of the types of trucks used in this form of shipping include semi-trucks, dual-temp and multi-temp vehicles, dry van (enclosed) trailers, and refrigerated trailers.
Examples include shipments of exceptionally delicate or fragile goods and shipments large enough to totally or nearly completely fill a shipping container.
- Less Than Truckload (LTL) Shipping—this pertains to sharing spaces between different parties in a truck; this is much cheaper but it can take longer for shipments to arrive. The top two LTL carriers in the U.S according to Logistics Management Magazine in 2020 are FedEx Freight and Old Dominion Freight Line.
3. Flatbed Shipping: When shipping things in this way, a truck’s top cage is not necessary. Deliveries of goods are made via flatbed carriers and other trucks. As an illustration, delivery of building and construction supplies
- Intermodal—this refers to the transportation of commodities using various modes of transportation in an intermodal manner; The most typical piece of equipment used in intermodal shipping are containers, also referred to as intermodal containers or ISO containers. For instance, a shipment or container that might arrive by sea will be hauled there by truck before being picked up and delivered to the customer.
- Rail Service Shipping: This refers to the use of rail transport services for the movement of complete containers or trailers. According to the Federal Railroad Administration, bulk items such agricultural and energy products, automobiles and components, building materials, chemicals, equipment, food, metals, minerals, paper, and pulp account for around 52% of all rail freight.
- International Air and Ocean Freight Shipping: This refers to the timely delivery of groceries and other perishable items using air and ocean freight into various global locations; this might be done from seaport to seaport or terminal to terminal.
Depending on the volume of the shipment, air freight is frequently more expensive than ocean freight. An illustration would be the shipment of cargo by air or sea to another country.
- Tanker – This refers to shipping using a tanker ship that is intended for storing or transporting enormous amounts of liquids or gases. Examples include moving liquids like wine, molasses, and liquids like vegetable oils and chemicals.
- Drops/ “Milk Runs”—this refers to shipping where commodities are transported from various suppliers or warehouses to their final destination or restocked on a regular route at a central distribution facility, which is where the items are dispatched from.
As an illustration, the suppliers bring their own delivery vans to the supply centre to deliver fresh bread and pick up leftovers.
Different Shipping Techniques
Shipping businesses have developed techniques, such “Free shipping,” to increase consumer appeal or lower shipping costs while delivering goods. The most often used shipping tactics are as follows:
1. Expedited shipping refers to shipping that is prioritized or that delivers the shipment as soon as is practical.
In essence, this is a transportation tactic whereby shipping corporations hasten their delivery by denying the vehicle any points for stopping along the way. Additional categories for quicker deliveries include:
- Express delivery
- Same-day delivery
- Next-day delivery
2. Flat Rate Shipping, sometimes referred to as “Linear Shipping” or “One Price, One Product Size” It refers to a set price that is charged for all kinds of things, regardless of what they include or how big they are.
3. Multi-Carrier Shipping: This method of shipping is used for tiny packages or shipments in order to cut costs by using several different carriers.
Shipping businesses or business owners have access to a wide range of additional shipping strategies. Shipping management is necessary for all shipping plans, whether they involve sending little packages or big containers, to make sure that everything arrives at its destination without incident.
Additional advantages of having excellent shipping management are listed below:
- Improved Client Experience
Setting clear expectations with your selected delivery plan is another aspect of efficient shipping management. Regarding shipment delays, natural disasters, carrier delays, or any other issue that can cause the customers’ package to be delayed, you must be open and honest with your customers.
- Cheaper delivery fees
The likelihood of occurrences when items take longer to arrive at their destination is reduced with effective shipping management. Your company’s overall profit margins should grow noticeably as a result of improving the shipping quality in your operation.
- Better Cash Flow
When organizing shipments, it’s critical to take into account not just the costs but also the timing, reliability, and correctness of the shipments. Cutting delivery times to clients through effective shipping management. This also has something to do with logistics’ supply chain management. This leads to client pleasure, which encourages repeat business from customers.
- Greater Reach
Since they will already be in contact with all of the major global logistics providers, organizations who manage air or ocean freight will profit from having a proper shipping management system in place. To know more about the Shipping industry, one can pursue shipping and logistics courses that provides ample job opportunities in the present scenario.