Today supply chains face more risks than ever before in freight management. Weather-related Black Swan events appear to be growing in frequency and severity. Preliminary predictions for the 2020 hurricane season include four major hurricanes, says Lea Lane of Forbes, as well as up to 16 tropical storms. Meanwhile, the globe continues to face the coronavirus crisis, and supply chain disruption is everywhere. Such events increase the risk of damage to products during shipment, resulting from hurting operations, failure to consider shipment details and route information, and poor management. To avoid unnecessary loss and worsening of freight claims frequency, companies need to understand the primary causes of damage to products during shipment, how accountability can help prevent damage to products, and a few best practices for reducing the risk of damage in the first place.
Causes of Damage to Products During Transportation
For example, a loss may be due to weather or other adverse events, but the true costs of freight damage or loss are much higher than realized. Take this example, explained by John Paul Hampstead via American Shipper:
Accountability and Data-Tracking Help Prevent Damage to Products During Shipping
Additional Tips to Reduce and Prevent Damage to Products
- Managing freight by exception, recognizing when a problem presents itself that would cause a change in the route of the shipment and potentially lead to misrouting.
- Validating all shipment data to ensure the appropriate address, trade Lane, driver, carrier, service level, and other insurance processes are handled correctly and labeled appropriately.
- Recognize when a problem does arise, taking the steps to correct the action.
- Changing company policies in tandem to reflect the state of the global logistics landscape, such as suspending guaranteed delivery or expedited services that are deemed non-essential.
- Adopting TMS use across a whole organization, avoiding the issues of lost cargo deriving from poor planning, and keeping everyone accountable.