It seems that in recent years, inclement changes in weather and more severe natural phenomena are becoming commonplace. Freight management relies on relatively good weather to safely ship goods across the world, and multimodal supply chains are directly impacted by severe weather.
Supply chain management only emerged as a science in the 1990s, and since then supply chain managers and freight broker companies worldwide are increasingly aware of the factors that impact supply chain activities. In Australia, severe weather is amongst the top contributors to interruptions in supply chains and is therefore critical to understanding in order to mitigate the effects of weather on business operations.
Here are a few ways that freight brokers can deal with severe weather:
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Plan Ahead
A good freight broker understands the value of planning ahead, like any successful business owner. Delaying gratification by planning for the long term is a recipe for success in most cases, especially in freight management where the planning of long, multimodal routes is required ahead of time in order to ship goods across the country or the globe.
Sometimes, natural catastrophes such as the 2019 bush fires spring up unexpectedly and create devastating damage to property and assets with little notice ahead of time. Freight brokers can alleviate the risks of weather-related damage by providing your business and customers with reliable, timely deliveries planned ahead of time and flexible enough to adapt to changes in routes and more.
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Insurance Policies
Insurance can be a lifesaver in times of logistics difficulty due to severe weather. Large warehouses and storage facilities should have some degree of inventory insurance, but many business owners forget that cargo in-route can also be insured. Even reliable and adaptable freight management providers such as Freightbroker Australia can encounter accidents or disruptions, so insurance is always a worthwhile consideration.
Calculating the cost of insurance depends on the value of transported goods, the premiums offered by the insurance provider, and the corresponding amount of money they can contribute to you for lost or damaged goods. Assuming your business is using full truckload (FTL) delivery, multiply the total value of manufactured goods by the insurance premium percentage to determine your payment, then compare this to the total value multiplied by the percentage of coverage for lost goods to determine your potential amount of recoverable funds.
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Keep Safety Stock
This is more of a business decision than a freight broker strategy, but it’s certainly worth discussing your inventory strategy with freight providers to ensure that you’re not risking stockouts. Customers tend to react negatively to stockouts, no matter the product. Whether you’re selling shampoo bottles or custom motorcycles, always have some safety stock left behind in inventory in case of disruptions due to weather.
The way to calculate your expected safety stock requirements is straightforward. Multiply your maximum expected lead time in days (the amount of time it takes for you to receive your goods from a supplier in bad weather) by the maximum daily sales (how much you sell on a good day). Then, multiply the average lead time in days (in normal conditions) by the average daily sales. The difference between these two is your recommended safety stock.
Contact Freightbroker Australia Today
No matter the weather, rest assured that Freightbroker Australia has freight management solutions that are flexible, adaptable, and suitable for your business. Our multimodal logistics knowledge and expertise help us help clients reduce the effects of weather-related disruptions and keep clients and customers satisfied rain or shine.
