Accurate costing information is vital

The movement of project cargoes is
an involved and complicated task,
and requires a lot of additional
management and attention, according to
Nachi Mendelow, marketing manager
of freight system specialists, Compu-
Clearing.
“For the shipping industry,” he told
FTW, “this could refer to large shipments
arriving at different ports at differing
times, and then needing to be transported
to multiple locations. Obviously, with such
shipments, serious planning is needed.”
A first priority is to work out all the
different costs that are involved in the
shipment – including everything from
overseas freight charges to local port
charges, from currency fluctuations to
container cleaning fees.
“All these myriad charges come
together as the final landed cost per
shipment,” Mendelow added, “which
can be further broken down into the final
landed cost per unit.
“And obviously, the lower this final
landed cost per unit is, the more profitable
the shipment becomes, and the more
chance a project has of reaching successful
completion and remaining within its
budget.”
Then, Mendelow added, you have
to add in the complexity of different
suppliers, overseas freight forwarders and
shipping lines offering differing rates and
routes.
“It is therefore of great importance to be able to factor in all of these different
options when planning your shipment,”
he said. “You need to have accurate
costing information prior to the placing of
the order.”
A second very important aspect of
projects is the actual tracking of goods.
“It is of vital importance for you to
know exactly where all your containers are
and where they need to get to,” Mendelow
said. “Many projects fall behind schedule
due to goods not arriving by the required
delivery date.
“You could, for example, have the
entire construction teams sitting waiting,
unable to work, due to cement not
arriving.”
To overcome these problems,
Mendelow told FTW, Compu-Clearing has
now introduced ‘Trade & Track’ – a new
product that deals specifically with these
issues.
This system is designed to help the
importer and clearing and forwarding
agents to get detailed costing information,
freight analysis reports and pro-forma
clearing and forwarding invoices – all
prior to the actual placing of the order.
“It will also assist with the tracking
of goods, ensuring that there is absolute
visibility throughout the shipment, and
that the goods arrive at the importer
before the required delivery date,” said
Mendelow.
“As always, it follows our basic
company philosophy – that Compu-
Clearing offers rock-solid systems for
rock-solid companies.”