What do you do if transportation costs are high and profitability is low?

In my experience, route planning must maximize the possibilities of attention, but it must be executed under the concept of critical path method (CPM), where there is no room for slack, otherwise route planning will become an unmanageable conflict. Whoever is in charge of execution should not respond to the influence of VIP clients (internal or external) those who consider themselves as a priority. Likewise, route changes caused by the influence of vendors or the general management itself must be ignored, unless a promise of an increase in profit becomes in premise.

To address high transportation costs and low profitability: 1. Conduct a comprehensive analysis of current transportation expenses, identifying areas of inefficiency. 2. Negotiate contracts with transportation providers to secure better rates and terms. 3. Optimize routing and scheduling to minimize empty miles and reduce fuel consumption. 4. Invest in technology such as transportation management systems (TMS) for better cost control and visibility. 5. Explore alternative transportation modes or partnerships to lower costs. 6. Implement lean practices to streamline operations and eliminate waste. 7. Continuously monitor and analyze performance metrics to identify further cost-saving opportunities.

There is always room for network optimization. If you are struggling to find the answers, there are consultants out there very good at helping. There are also bad ones, so be cautious. It's amazing what you can accomplish by simply looking at a map.

In order to hit the nail on the head on this topic, I'd rather bring in the usual carrier vs. freight forwarder discussion. Too many shippers seem to neglect the fact that freight forwarders are able to consolidate the total cargo volume of multiple shippers and thus be able to offer much lower transport rates, even on spot shipments!

Ah, the age old debate. LTL vs. Truckload. You gotta figure this out on a lane by lane basis. Your customers will drive what is best. There are also great options out there to help make your LTL network more efficient, as well as shared truckload.

Yeah... maybe. Or maybe your packaging is what it needs to be. It's worth looking at, I suppose. But this one is just so... AI generated.

Use TMS to: -Optimise order planning -Automate order processing and reduce manual work -Automate order/carrier booking with preferred carrier -Leverage tech. like PC miler to calculate miles -Leverage BTF tool to get real time fuel -Since most TMS tools are built around truck load so it is important to leverage SMC3 rateware for LTL rate calculation -Use AI and automation to reduce freight pay tolerance while paying carriers -Increase vehicle fill rate and on-time delivery allowing reduction in freight charges and increase customer satisfaction

The data must be validated, but it is required that the person in charge of feeding that data must be responsible for keeping it updated, so that whoever is in charge of planning routes or executing them does not have to perform tasks that do not correspond to them.

Look at your transportation spend in the long term. You should be going for stability, not cheap in the now. If you play the long game, your transportation costs will remain consistent. If you work with the same carriers over time instead of chasing cheap, you will never have your budget blown up by a tight market.