Freight is a major line item for any trading business, but lower cost should never mean lower reliability. These are practical levers that reduce spend while keeping your supply chain dependable.
Consolidate shipments
Frequent small shipments are expensive. Where lead time allows, consolidate orders into fewer, fuller shipments — moving from LCL to FCL, or combining multiple suppliers’ cargo into one consolidated load. Fewer handovers also means fewer fees and less risk.
Choose the right mode and route
Defaulting to air for everything drains budgets; defaulting to sea can cost you sales when goods arrive late. Match each shipment to its true urgency, and consider multimodal or sea-air options on long lanes for a balance of cost and speed.
Optimise your packaging
Because freight is priced on weight and volume, wasted space costs money. Right-sized cartons, efficient palletisation and avoiding oversized packaging can lower your chargeable weight and fit more into every container.
Get your Incoterms right
Buying on the wrong Incoterm can mean paying hidden margins on freight arranged by your supplier. Controlling carriage yourself — for example on FOB or FCA terms — often unlocks better rates through your own forwarder.
Plan ahead and avoid premiums
- Book early to avoid expedited surcharges and peak-season spikes.
- Keep documentation accurate to avoid storage, demurrage and detention fees.
- Use a single forwarder for multiple legs to reduce coordination costs and gain volume leverage.
A good forwarder reviews your whole flow, not just the rate sheet. Ask us for a cost review and we will identify where your current shipping setup is leaking money.