Managing a full-scale logistics operation, especially when your business operates internationally and through several shipping channels, is no easy feat. There are always moving parts, unexpected delays, storage challenges, and more that need to be overcome.
Outsourcing your logistics could help lift a significant weight off your shoulders and free up a lot of time, allowing you to focus on the growth and success of your business. Read on to find out five key benefits of doing exactly that!
Outsourcing your logistics can be more cost-effective
In most cases, outsourcing your logistics is a cheaper and more efficient alternative to managing it all yourself. There are several reasons for this, but mostly because you can save on operational and storage costs.
For example, if you manufacture a product that may be an irregular size or too small to ship individually, then you may end up storing certain products in a warehouse for weeks at a time. These storage costs will add up quickly, but working with a third-party logistics company can remove this step entirely.
By partnering with other businesses in a similar situation when delivering your goods, a third-party logistics company can reduce your shipping costs significantly. This is because each business will pay a small amount of the delivery fee, rather than one paying for the whole journey.
It also means that you will know ahead of time when to have the product ready for collection, instead of keeping it in storage for weeks at a time.
You don’t need to have your own equipment
One of the main benefits of outsourcing your logistics is that you needn’t source, be it through purchasing or leasing, your own vehicles and warehousing solutions.
Buying just one or two transit vans for local deliveries is expensive enough, but when you need to ship different products over greater distances, the necessity for larger-scale vehicles can be too expensive even for established businesses.
Even after that, you still need to add in the costs of purchasing or renting a warehouse space with all the storage solutions, equipment, and staff you would need to operate it effectively.
A logistics company will be able to provide you with all of these at a fraction of the cost. They will have a large and varied fleet of road vehicles capable of transporting products of all shapes and sizes and will have warehouses in key locations to optimise delivery efficiency.
More efficient allocation of resources
Taking the management of your logistics operations out of your hands will help you more efficiently allocate your time and resources to the other key areas of your business. By allowing a third-party company to handle the shipping, you can focus on improving your own internal processes.
This is emphasised by the likelihood that managing your own logistics operations will be far less efficient than when it is handled by a specialist. That will lead to more company time and resources being wasted rather than opting for the streamlined alternative.
You can also keep shipping costs down by sharing delivery slots with other customers of the logistics company, allowing several different products to fill the storage capacity of a vehicle. This means that several companies can contribute towards the costs of a single journey, reducing costs for everyone involved.
You have access to a consultant with expert recommendations
You will likely be given a specific logistics manager when you choose to work with an outsourced logistics company. That person will be your expert point of contact, with an in-depth knowledge of all logistical aspects, to help ensure you are always shipping efficiently.
They will act as a consultant to provide you with advice and suggestions for your shipments, breaking down the costs and timescale for different delivery options. This allows you to prioritise cost or time efficiency depending on your needs.
Your logistics manager will be the first to help you with specialist services, such as irregular or heavy goods transport or time-critical transport, to ensure that all your needs are met. This could involve booking an entire vehicle for yourself for a specific delivery or sharing trailers with other companies heading to a similar location.
You can utilise different freight options more easily
Organising international shipping on your own is not an easy task, especially if you need to contact several operators and carriers to compare costs, timings, and more.
An outsourced logistics company will have a long list of contacts around the world on hand to organise an international delivery as soon as you need it, no matter your method of shipping.
They will secure the space you need in the shipping container of the boat, or the cargo hold of the plane you’ll use to take your shipment internationally, and they’ll even organise the next stage of the delivery once it’s arrived!
Once your shipment is picked up from your location, you can rest easy knowing that it will be at the destination in no time at all. All our deliveries, whether by road, sea, or air, are satellite-tracked to ensure full transparency to our customers.
Get in touch with Cargo Express today
Looking for a logistics partner to help streamline your deliveries? Get in touch with Cargo Express today!
While our largest strategic logistic hubs are in Birmingham, Telford, and across the West Midlands, we are also heavily present across the UK and Europe in various sites and capacities.
Get in touch with a member of our team on 0121 384 1323 to find out what we could do for your business.