Case

Sourcing weekly allocations in a low-capacity market

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Containers waiting in port.

Adapting to a challenging and ever-changing market is what we do best. So, when an industrial batteries customer struggled to get weekly allocations from ocean carriers, it was up to us to find a way to alleviate those challenges. Along with pickup and delivery challenges due to COVID-19 lockdowns, we found a way to ensure their forecasted volumes could be shipped.

Challenge

The industrial batteries customer needed to ship approx. 80 20-foot containers per month from Spain to the US. In a low-capacity market, weekly allocations were hard to come by. Additionally, local trucking charges were high. Because the commodity was classified as Dangerous Goods, the solution needed to be customised for reliable, long-term care in a fluctuating market.

Solution

Our team started by getting a NAC (Named Account) with weekly space agreements, significantly alleviating the lack of weekly allocations. With high trucking charges and considering the environmental impact, we created a multi-modal solution utilising the rail network with local truck power. This significantly reduced the customer’s carbon footprint and trucking costs.

In addition, we assembled a dedicated team that included a Dangerous Goods Manager for maximum on-demand expertise to service these shipments.

Results

All shipments were completed as forecasted. With the new dedicated team and in-house dangerous goods expert, a solution was set in place for multi-modal pickups and deliveries, completing the customer’s supply chain solutions.

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