Freight Forwarding
Freight Forwarding: shipment and vehicle tracking, warehouse and stock, e-Invoice and reporting.
Challenges
- Buy and sell freight sit in separate places, so the margin is invisible.
- Nobody knows which leg a multi-leg shipment is on.
- Carriers are chosen without comparing prices.
- Costs passed to the customer do not match what was actually paid.
Workflows
Carrier selection and pricing
- Carrier quotes are compared for the shipment.
- The chosen carrier's buy freight is posted to the shipment.
- The customer's sell freight is held on the same record, exposing the margin.
Multi-leg shipment
- The shipment is split into legs and a carrier is assigned to each.
- As each leg completes, the status advances.
- Leg costs are aggregated and allocated onto the customer invoice.
Documents
- Carrier quote comparison
- Shipment file
- Buy freight invoice
- Customer freight invoice
Reports
- Margin by shipment
- Leg status and delays
- Carrier performance
- Cost pass-through listing
Metrics
- Gross margin per shipment
- On-time delivery rate
- Carrier price variance
- Cost pass-through rate
Compliance
- Freight forwarder licence
- Carrier liability insurance
Glossary
- Buy freight
- Service purchase line paid to the carrier
- Sell freight
- Service sales line billed to the customer
- Leg
- Sub-step of a shipment with its own carrier
- Cost pass-through
- Transfer of a paid cost onto the customer invoice
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I see the shipment margin?
Yes — buy and sell freight sit on the same record, so the margin emerges per shipment.
Can I track a multi-leg shipment?
Yes — the shipment splits into legs and each leg's status advances independently.
Can I compare carrier quotes?
Yes — quotes are compared on the shipment and the chosen carrier is recorded.
Can I pass costs through to the customer?
Yes — a paid cost is transferred onto the customer invoice and the pass-through rate is reported.
Can I measure carrier performance?
Yes — delays and price variance are aggregated per carrier.