Carrier management (CM) is the practice by which 3PLs identify, contract and manage air, road, and sea carriers to facilitate the smooth and efficient transportation of goods. In simple terms, behind every delivery to a retailer or consumer, is a CM process tailored and optimised for each shipment.
Carrier vs Transport Management
Not to be confused with Transport Management, which is a process deployed by 3PLs to efficiently manage transport operations, carrier management is the process by which 3PLs balance reliability, and time and cost-efficiency when selecting transport carriers.
This isn’t a process 3PL partners like Delamode develop once for every client, it’s a living, changing, evolving process that is regularly adjusted and periodically analysed to improve performance in the future.
But, What IS Carrier Management, Really? What Role Does it Play in Your Supply Chain?
The risks of poor carrier management practices are clear: unreliable, expensive and late deliveries, leading to unhappy clients and poor brand reputation across the sector, but what are the benefits of efficient and effective CM?
- Superior Shipping Service – Trusted, experienced 3PLs (like Delamode), work with a wide range of carriers across road, air, and sea with whom they have built strong relationships, built on reliability and consistency. These kinds of relationships result in superior collaboration and communication, an “a little extra” carrier service approach, and consistent, reliable transportation shipment after shipment. Optimised carrier management practices give clients like you the assurance that your retailers and ecommerce customers will receive the standard of delivery they demand.
- Shipping Cost Savings – CM optimises the transportation process, including the cost of transport. Typically 3PLs pass these savings onto you, the client, as Delamode does.
- Maximising Operational Efficiency – Effective carrier management processes help to optimise shipping/transport services, by minimising delays and errors, supporting scheduling excellence, and optimising routes. All this helps to improve operational efficiency and productivity.
- Assurance and Compliance – To become a trusted carrier of a 3PL like Delamode, the carriers’ compliance and standards have to have been closely vetted. It’s a signal of their service quality. With a 3PL partner and network of trusted carriers all committed to compliance, you can minimise transport disruptions and process-halting compliance issues.
- Flexible & Scalable Services – 3PLs typically have large networks of trusted carriers across all transport types and territories, offering you the flexibility to choose the perfect carrier for each shipment (at the right price), navigate ever evolving market conditions, carrier availability, and enable you to scale as demand requires, and sell to new markets.
- Greater Visibility – While technology differs from 3PL to 3PL, typically logistics partners like Delamode, and their network of trusted carriers have system integrations, leading to greater visibility of shipments, carrier performance and real-time data associated with each delivery.
CM Best Practices
At Delamode, we’re serious about carrier management, and have optimised our practices to offer the ultimate freight shipping services. These are CM best practices according to Delamode:
- Fostering strong, long-term relationships with parcel, pallet, freight, and specialist delivery carriers, across road, air and sea.
- Monitoring carrier performance on a continuous basis via delivery performance, tracking visibility, damages, claims and OTIF KPIs, as well as their communication standards and the customer feedback received.
- Ensuring close and responsive, close communication to minimise disruption and improve the customer experience is key to efficient and effective carrier management.
- Maintaining a network of carriers that enables clients to scale as demand requires, during seasonal peaks and operational fluctuations.
- Efficient carrier management practices require a large trusted network of carriers to help to avoid reliance on a single or small group of carriers, which can leave clients vulnerable to disrupted deliveries.
- Utilising technology and real-life metrics to optimise carrier selection, cost, routing and performance.
- Integrating bonded and non-bonded warehousing, fulfilment and transport services and solutions to deliver a smooth, connected, customer experience.
Delamode’s Approach to Carrier Management
While our best practices, above, give you some insight into Delamode’s carrier management practices, here is a more detailed look at our approach.
Firstly and perhaps most importantly, we offer carrier management solutions tailored to your unique supply chain requirements. No one-size-fits-all approaches here!
A Carrier Agonistic Approach
Delamode follows a carrier agonistic model. We have built excellent relationships with a wide range of carriers across the UK, EU and ROW, via air, road and sea, to offer you a truck load of measurable benefits:
- Our model enables us to match each of your shipments with the perfect carrier for your needs, and to account for transport shortages and disturbances. We choose from our network of trusted carriers based on capability, coverage, financial factors, service level, and operational fit.
- It supports resilience and reliability, by diversifying your carrier options, reducing dependency and risk, supporting smooth and consistent deliveries, and elevating the retailer/customer experience.
- This carrier agnostic approach to carrier management enables you to adapt quickly to market conditions, capacity issues and transport shortages/disruptions.
- We analyse carrier performance to inform future carrier selection and to support the efficiency of your transport services.
Just as the carrier management process is a living one that is adjusted client to client, shipment to shipment, we regularly review our carrier network, and analyse the key service metrics we’ve collected to support improved service levels, deliver cost and time-saving benefits, and facilitate your growth, both across the UK, EU and ROW.
A Modern, Digital Experience
Most of our customers partner with us for more than our freight shipping services, and benefit from our full range of 3PL services, which we integrate for clients.
As such, Delamode uses a powerful integrated system to offer you full visibility of your deliveries and associated performance metrics, as well as full visibility and control of your stock, to maximise transparency, improve reporting and enhance operational efficiency.
Your 3PL Partner
Have more questions about Delamode’s tailored carrier management and freight shipping services?
Contact our team today to learn how we can support your organisation with not only transport, but with bonded and non-bonded warehousing, ecommerce fulfilment, and reverse logistics services, and a full suite of tailored VAS’s.
