The best advice we can give is to follow these simple
rules
· Keep up to date and make sure your buyer knows not only
what you know, but also as soon as you come to know it
yourself!
· Ensure you choose the right shipping agent. One who will not
simply book on 'friendly' vessels but who will offer the most
efficient routing and transhipment connections.
· Demand the agent monitors the cargo all the way, keeping you
informed.
· Liaise closely with the shipping companies, both
coastal/regional and international. Usually, this is best achieved
through the forum of an exporters' association, a coffee authority,
a chamber of commerce or other such body that brings together a
number of parties with individual but similar interests.
· Conduct regular reviews of recent shipping experiences,
highlight buyers' concerns and claims/comments, etc.
· Stress the fact that, in the final analysis, all extra costs
are for account of the producer.
Nevertheless, there are no magic solutions to the
transhipment issue: once a port drops off the international
schedules of the major shipping companies, i.e. main or 'mother'
vessels no longer call there, then that port and everyone utilizing
it will have to adjust and make the best of it through improved
efficiency and other cost saving measures
Go to 05 Logistics, for a review of shipping matters generally,
and 05.01.04 for issues relating to freights and other charges.
Visit www.inttra.com for
information on cargo tracking and tracing internationally. Other
useful links: www.cargosystems.net
(international shipping press articles), www.ponl.com (P&O Nedlloyd
website), www.maersk.com
(Maersk Shipping Line website).
Posted 03 August 2005