welcome to the new world……
Good Morning,
Wow what a strange new world we are experiencing, big Banks collapsing , purchasing power of our hard-earned dollars diminishing at a level never seen before etc etc yet freight rates on imports have fallen something like 10X….. the only problem is that buyers are being cautious (as indeed we need to be) so cargo volumes have slowed, both Import and Export.
What is next you may ask, we’ve just been through 2 years with an operational environment that smashed our teams and now it seems that we’ve switched to survival mode.
We are lucky being “down under” as we are a little removed from the cut and thrust of American politics and economic woes, but you only have to look back 15 years to the GFC era to realize that the last time “America sneezed, Australia and New Zealand got Pneumonia”……
As the only pure wholesaler in this market, we’re a really good “thermometer” in judging what’s going on, as our clients (the Forwarders) cover all sections of the entire Aussie commercial market and what we are being told, and indeed seeing, isn’t making the next 6/12 months look that great at all…..
So, what can we do to work with the Forwarders and help you to secure every shipment you are asked to quote on ?
Firstly, Leigh Moss our National Imports Manager has revamped our National Import Tariff to include all the surcharges and has pushed our overseas network to lower our inwards costs. These reductions are now reflected on our highly competitive March Import Tariff.
You can’t be good at everything, so we are NOT focussed on the China market….and whilst we handle China cargo there are several specific China operators who seem to be doing a damn good job….this allows us to focus on emerging trades and areas where the Mac-nels Containerline Group have offices and weekly consols into their 40 plus year old hub and spoke network.
On the Export side, Kelly Abell, our National Export Manager, and her team, have and are continuing to aggressively push carriers to provide accurate sailing dates and to reduce export freight cost for our Consol cargo, to offset the raft of increases in landside costs, infrastructure fees and depot charges.
These too are represented in the new Export LCL tariff which will be released before the 1st April…and it won’t be an April Fool’s Joke either, so keep your eyes open for this!
Meanwhile if you need something specific for a quote I welcome you to speak to Carina Gonzalez (our National sales Manager), Kelly, Leigh or myself, and we will do our best to assist you to secure whatever business you are chasing.
Wishing you my best for a great week ahead.
Lance Evans