How Logistics Firms Can Survive and Thrive During Supply Chain Chaos

For the past few months, the words on the lips of wholesalers and retailers the world over have been “supply chain chaos”. The global issues afflicting supply chains are why Halloween outfits are still being delivered nearly two months since October 31st and why furniture parts are still floating off ports across the world despite their delivery date being set in 2020. But how can a logistics and shipping firm handle this chaos – not only surviving but thriving? This guide has the answers.

Invest Now

It’s clear that there will be winners and losers from the current supply chain chaos. As larger firms lose confidence in their shipping partners, the market is sure to experience some turbulence as partnerships realign around those who have invested in their drivers and who can guarantee better delivery times – including fine incentives if they are late. Invest in your fleet today, including engaging with fleet driver training companies to get more drivers up to standard, in order to offer a better deal to large companies that will now be casting an eye over the whole market to see if they can get a better offer elsewhere.

Negotiations

Being able to negotiate is one of the single most important aspects of running a logistics firm. If you’re not able to talk to other shipping firms – specifically port authorities and freight companies – about your rates, you may end up paying for delays that they have caused. You cannot control whether a shipping container lands at the right time for your trucks to pick it up – but you can control how much you fine firms for delays. And these fines will help to pay for your own delays that you have no responsibility for.

Better Relationships

The above two points revolve around relationships of trust. If you cannot trust your partners to deliver on time, you’ll end up running an unstable business with plenty of risk and delays. Meanwhile, if your partners can’t trust you to get the job done on time, you’re likely to lose clients and end up with fewer deliveries and a fleet that’s inactive for parts of each month. One of the ways to improve your relationships is to just be frank about the situation, explaining that there’s a supply chain issues at present but also showing what you’re doing to mitigate it. This should build trust across your partnerships.

Lower Expectations

 It might be that you cannot control the delays that are hitting your logistics firm. If that’s the case, and you know that your 2019 delivery schedule simply cannot be met, you should adjust the expectations of your partners. They need to know the reasons behind your delays and why you shouldn’t be blamed for them. Here, it’s again important to have open, honest discussions and to try to work together to build a more reliable and robust system of delivery that keeps all parties happy and working together.

Supply chain chaos hits every now and then, spelling disaster for some freight, shipping and logistics firms. But this article is about how you can thrive in these moments – rather than losing out.