Bring convenience to your logistics workflow with Maersk

According to industry reports, businesses waste 6500 man hours each year, on average, on inefficient payment processes. These invariably cause inefficiencies within supply chains and could be anything – such as chasing suppliers on orders, checking if purchase order numbers are accurate, processing paper-based documents such as invoices, etc.

Importers often equate costs with freight and Demurrage and Detention (D&D), but these inefficient processes along with other hidden variables – including transportation, landed cargo, and warehousing – can add up to a bigger total cost. A McKinsey report states that companies can save up to 40% in transportation and about 20%-50% in warehousing costs when they adopt the right measures.

Let’s briefly examine some of the areas that create bottlenecks for importers:

• Lack of traceability: Once the invoice has been processed and the cargo moved from the source, you seldom get to know where the cargo is at any given point in time. This lack of information and visibility is a bane since it hampers your ability to plan manufacturing, inventory management, and so on.
• Shipment accuracy: Manufacturers import raw materials from multiple suppliers and countries. You must ensure that the right import quantities and batches are received at the right plant locations. A slight error in either packaging or delivery may seriously affect your production schedules, potentially resulting in financial loss and sales dips. For instance, chemical ingredients wrongly delivered at two separate plant locations of the same manufacturer may lead to havoc, disrupting production at both plant locations.
• Adherence to delivery timelines: Importers order goods from distant locations to meet their production requirements. This makes timely delivery a must. Any non-compliance with predefined delivery timelines may negatively impact their production volumes and/or schedules. For instance, ensuring strict adherence to delivery timelines is a must for pharmaceutical companies due to the life-saving purpose of their end-products.
• Tax compliance: Importers have to ensure that their consignments comply with tax laws at the source as well as destination points. This includes the sender’s country, and port, and the recipient’s country and port. Non-compliance may lead to penalties, delivery delays, and resultant losses or even damage to reputation.
• Destination country’s surface transport: A shipment is not complete till the last mile is crossed. For example, in food-ingredient imports, non-availability of cold storage and reefer trucks may hamper the production schedule of plants. Even if a shipment reaches the destination country’s port on schedule, from a manufacturer’s perspective, the raw material would still be unusable although nearby.
• Compliance with material-specific laws: The International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Code governs the transportation of dangerous materials such as hazardous chemicals, directing not only the packaging but also transport specifications. Non-compliance with these rules may not only be costly to importers but also dangerous to humans. You have to ensure that all the compliances concerning such consignments are satisfactorily met.

Role of Import Supply Chain Services

Any of the issues discussed above, when not tackled at the outset, leads to inconvenience to the end-customer and creates inefficiencies in your lines of business. Care and preparedness are foundational to your business, and this can be enabled by an integrated logistics provider with scrupulous planning and a team of experts having an eye for detail.

Maersk’s Destination Supply Chain Management (DSCM) solutions brings efficiency, optimizes costs, and removes typical hurdles to supply chain and logistics. Given below are three critical features of Maersk DSCM services that can offer you real business advantages.

• Source-point precautions

Maersk’s DSCM services methodically plan your cargo for every aspect, right from the source-point. The documentation, information, goods, quantities, and delivery details are checked and validated for accuracy.

DSCM’s source-point preparations ensure that every consignment complies with applicable tax laws of the source country/port, and that the shipment loading is done flawlessly. These precautions cover attention to the specific SKUs to comply with relevant regulations such as the IMDG Code governing the shipment of hazardous chemicals.

The extensive validations at the source-point also prove helpful at the time of delivery as the right material is delivered at the right location, assuring customer satisfaction.

• Shipment visibility

Powered by cloud and digitalization, Maersk DSCM provides you with full visibility into the consignments till the SKU level. This means you know exactly where the consignment is at any time. With such awareness, you can schedule production batches appropriately, thereby achieving optimal operational efficiency.

• Partner-level visibility

Unlike others, Maersk DSCM ensures checks on each link in the supply chain. This includes loading agencies, vessel operators, airlines, surface transporters in the destination country, etc., preventing any unwanted, last-minute surprises. You can be assured of error-free and timely deliveries of cargo right up to the final delivery stations when you chose DSCM.

Equipped with such advantages, Maersk DSCM solution can transform your supply chain operations. Discover how your import operations can receive a shot in the arm with Maersk DSCM. Fill out the quick form below and we will get back to you within 48 hours.

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