The Economy

Minimize the High Cost of Transportation

May 16, 2011

These five best practices could help you beat the rising cost of freight transportation.

Rising fuel costs are "a grim reality" for manufacturers, and anybody else trying to transport products, says John Haber, EVP of transportation consulting services for spend-management consulting firm NPI. "One question is whether companies are doing all they can do to insulate their business and their customers. In most cases, they aren't."

Haber suggests that companies can minimize transportation cost increases by following these five best practices:

Find out if you're paying a fair price for fuel.
Consolidate shipments and switch modes.
Re-evaluate service selection to determine the most cost-effective method to ship your products.
Closely watch carrier capacity and be prepared to renegotiate carrier pricing when their shipping volumes decrease.
Offset price increases outside of transportation, particularly in such areas as telecommunications, IT and energy.

About the Author

Dave Blanchard | Senior Director of Content

Focus: Supply Chain

Call: (941) 208-4370

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During his career Dave Blanchard has led the editorial management of many of Endeavor Business Media's best-known brands, including IndustryWeek, EHS Today, Material Handling & Logistics, Logistics Today, Supply Chain Technology News, and Business Finance. He also serves as senior content director of the annual Safety Leadership Conference. With over 30 years of B2B media experience, Dave literally wrote the book on supply chain management, Supply Chain Management Best Practices (John Wiley & Sons, 2010), which has been translated into several languages and is currently in its second edition. He is a frequent speaker and moderator at major trade shows and conferences, and has won numerous awards for writing and editing. He is a voting member of the jury of the Logistics Hall of Fame, and is a graduate of Northern Illinois University.