Empties Management : Taking the Easy-Peasy Path
“Management is, above all, a practice where art, science, and craft meet” – Henry Mintzberg.
Isn’t it surprising how we went from April 1st to April 19th in two days? Okay, I am just joking but I still think this is the fastest month ever and I really do not know the reason for this. Well, it could be because everything has been going so smoothly here in TGL that we forgot to notice how fast time is moving. There has not been any cause for alarm, clients are getting solutions to their problems in the most amazing way, and we have been happy rendering a sweet and seamless service. It has been a win-win situation! Welcome to Logistics Monday.
The management of empty containers is perhaps the issue of greatest concern to transportation firms in dealing with the distribution of goods on behalf of their customers on a national or international scale. On one hand, some customers need to import goods for their industrial and commercial activities. When they require a containerised transportation service, empty containers are picked up from a depot, moved to the shipper, loaded, and moved toward their firms. Then containers are unloaded and hauled to suitable locations, awaiting future requests. On the other hand, customers who need to ship their goods require empty containers, which are taken to the customer company, loaded, and shipped to their destination, in accordance with classic door-to-door service. In both cases, once the destination has been reached, containers are unloaded and moved to suitable locations to await future demand. Other containers are sent abroad to deal with the worldwide imbalance in trade traffic between other geographical areas.
Empty movements generate only costs for carriers and represent an unavoidable phase in the freight distribution process. In a perfect world, empty movements would not exist because there would always be cargo to fill every container when and where it was emptied. However, commercial traffic never seems to be in balance, either in volume or value, and carriers must relocate empty containers on a local, national, and global scale in the hope that containers will be adequately positioned to take advantage of future transportation opportunities.
However, At TGL we give solution to problems related to empty container management on different planning levels. We help to develop strategic models which allows us to evaluate long term decisions (e.g facilities location, fleet sizing and network design). Tactical models determine a rational distribution of empty containers, satisfying known and forecasted demands and allowing assessment of future impact on today’s decisions. Operational models permit determining modes and routes for real-time management of containers and satisfying customer demand in conformity with service requirements and at TGL, we help to develop all these models.
For further enquires, call 0804TGLDESK.