Compliance and Multi Carrier Shipping, trucks

Shifting geopolitical relationships creates challenges for enterprises that source and ship around the world. In this QAD Precision Report, we look at how integrating compliance and multi carrier shipping helps multinationals to navigate these challenges. 

For multinational enterprises and shippers, managing logistics across different sites, countries and carriers is no easy task. Logistics staff must ensure the efficient movement of goods, so that your customers — and your customer’s customers — are not left waiting.

Delays are sometimes inevitable. Third-party issues are beyond the control of management. However, certain delays are certainly avoidable. For example, incomplete or inaccurate documentation, resulting in customs hold ups.

In addition, global trade is getting more complex and challenging. That was true even before Covid-19 swept from Wuhan to the rest of the world, disrupting supply chains across many industries. 

Last October, the World Trade Organization downgraded its forecast for trade growth in 2019 and 2020. In February 2020, the WTO was equally pessimistic, stating that “world merchandise trade growth is likely to remain weak in early 2020.” According to the WTO, it is possible that year-on-year trade growth will decline in the first quarter of 2020. It is likely that Covid-19 will exacerbate this. 

Many of the significant issues that impacted trade in 2019 have not gone away. True, the US and China trade war may be currently in a lull, but the underlying tensions between the two superpowers remain.

Add to that upheaval in Europe due to Brexit. The UK formally withdrew from the European Union on 31 January 2020. Britain has until the end of the year to work out a trade deal with the EU. However, early indications are not promising. Nevertheless, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly refused to extend the transition period beyond 31 December 2020.

The Importance of Integrated Compliance Checks

No matter how complicated the trading environment, global shippers must adhere to a slew of national and international regulations. They must also screen and verify the identities of their trading partners. 

It is important to note that compliance is not restricted only to companies that export goods. Enterprises that manufacture or distribute high tech, industrial or dual use goods, must also screen domestic shipments. Furthermore, companies based in the US must also comply with deemed export laws

It is an onerous and time consuming task to manually screen every shipment. Staff would need to check against a mountain of governmental and global regulations and denied party lists. 

Automated compliance screening simplifies and speeds up these challenges. Integrating compliance checks with multi carrier shipping simplifies this process further.

It is, of course, possible to use different systems for both. However, when you use separate systems, you end up with siloed data. In addition, when information must be re-entered between two or more systems, human errors or missteps are always a possibility. An integrated compliance and shipping system will vet every shipment to ensure that it can proceed.

Streamline and Track Every Shipment with Multi Carrier Shipping

Organizations that engage in global shipping generally have highly intertwined, complex operational needs. Consequently, many organizations rely heavily on a handful of carriers they know they can trust. However, many countries — especially in Europe and Asia —  have dozens of carriers. Each of these have their own set of regulations and protocols.

While trust and reliability are necessary, it can sometimes lead to monopoly-like pricing. This makes companies vulnerable to higher prices. On the other hand, leveraging multiple carriers reduces costs. However, it can be a challenge to monitor all shipments and maintain all of these relationships.

Furthermore, when you use different carrier systems, you create shipping data silos. To check three shipments from the same facility, a logistics manager may need to check three different carrier interfaces. Such an operational set up is not “multi carrier” shipping, but rather “many carrier” shipping. 

Multi carrier shipping solutions make it easy to compare carriers, service levels and costs. As a result, logistics staff can easily find the carriers that can meet the delivery date at the best price. Multi carrier solutions also enable you to rate shop and seamlessly switch between carriers.

It is possible to simplify this process further with corporate business rules along with automated routing. As a result, each shipment is automatically assigned to a carrier and service level based on predetermined criteria.

As a result, a multi carrier shipping software makes it possible for multinationals to standardize shipping rules and procedures across all their locations. The organization has centralized shipping data, and can track all shipments from the same portal, in the same way. 

Benefits of Integrating Automated Compliance and Multi Carrier Shipping Solutions

The easiest way to streamline shipping across global sites and ensure adherence to trade regulations is by integrating compliance and shipping. This allows logistics managers to mitigate risk and track all shipments, no matter the geographic location or carrier. This offers a number of benefits:

  • Always use the best carriers: Logistics managers will be able to easily assess which carriers have the best rates and routes for specific jobs.
  • Proactively resolve delays: Visibility is important — logistics managers need to know where their shipments are. But visibility is not enough in itself. Should issues arise, exception alerts allow logistics staff to proactively deal with delays. There is no need to spend time tracking shipments that are due to arrive on time. 
  • Create standardized shipping processes: Standardized global shipping processes make it easier to manage carriers, compare prices and organize critical paperwork.
  • Automated documentation: Best-in-class solutions ensure that shipping labels and all of the documents required to complete a shipment are present. Documentation is created in the right format and the right language. The correct documentation is necessary to ensure your shipments are not held in customs, resulting in financial penalties, delayed deliveries and unhappy customers. 
  • Reinforce customer service and partner relationships: Efficiently managing shipments increases customer satisfaction, and bolsters trust for an organization.

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