Last week was all about my speaking sessions at Intermodal Europe and the ICT &amp; Logistics event. And this week? Another speaking session! I was honored to be invited to speak at the VNO NCW Women's Network event in Rotterdam. A home game for me.
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The Confederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers (known as VNO-NCW) is the largest employers' organization in the Netherlands. VNO-NCW represents the common interests of Dutch business, both at home and abroad and provides a variety of services for its members. Over 160 (branch) associations are members, representing more than 185.000 enterprises. They cover almost all sectors of the economy, including more than 80% of all medium-sized companies in the Netherlands and nearly all of the larger, corporate institutions.
The event&rsquo;s theme was &ldquo;She Inspires&rdquo;. I spoke about my quest to make the freight industry efficient and transparent, how I got where I am today and the journey that took me there.
The past week it was almost impossible to visit a news website and not read about Brexit. Other than this mention I promise not to go there this week. Obviously, there was a lot of other interesting things going on in the world of Freight and Tech. As usual, you can find the highlights below.
<h3>Carriers, Freight, and what can happen to it...</h3>
&ldquo;Carriers said they are committed to ending their overreliance on pricing regimes that have sacrificed margins on the altar of market share and that have resulted in billions of dollars in losses. Yet such a dramatic shift to emphasizing value-added services is inherently risky. It requires substantial investments in processes and technology, costs that need to be recouped by attracting new high-margin business. It is unclear if users accustomed to enjoying cheap rates on sailing services will go for pricier, value-added solutions or would rather maintain the status quo.&rdquo;
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&rarr; <a href="https://www.dcvelocity.com/articles/30230-container-line-transformation-faces-its-biggest-test-from-those-paying-the-bills" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Container-line transformation faces its biggest test from those paying the bills</a>
&ldquo;Typhoon Mangkhut, meanwhile, struck the Philippines, Hong Kong and mainland China: all important areas for freight import and export. Transport services were suspended, flights canceled, trains stopped and major roads closed in Hong Kong where winds reached more than 110mph and water levels surged to 12 feet in some places.&rdquo;
&ldquo;FM Global, a commercial and industrial property insurer surveyed 101 senior financial executives at Fortune 1000 organizations just after hurricane season last year. In the report, 64% of the respondents said the hurricane season had an adverse impact on their business, and among those impacted, 62% were not completely prepared to deal with the effects.&rdquo;
&rarr; <a href="https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/freight-surge-blowback-hurricane-michael-florence/542176/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">October freight surge blown back by devastating storms</a>
If you move your containers door to door via the Cogoport Platform, you will never be in doubt who is responsible for your cargo on any leg of the journey.
&ldquo;Containers frequently pass from one company to another on their long journey, and holding the correct party responsible can be difficult to ascertain with so many touchpoints.&rdquo;
&rarr; <a href="https://www.freightwaves.com/news/containers/companies-paying-billions-for-damage" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Container, trailer damage costs companies billions, even when not at fault</a>
<h3>Sustainability</h3>
&ldquo;A coalition of ports in Europe and the US are demanding the shipping industry deliver on the Paris Climate Agreement.
Among those demanding action are six of the top ports in Europe and the US, Antwerp, Barcelona, Hamburg, Long Beach, Los Angeles, and Rotterdam, which have launched the World Ports Climate Action Initiative.&rdquo;
&rarr; Container shipping and charity set their combined sights on 'greener' seas
<h3>Data and Analytics</h3>
While Michael Lewis, author of the Moneyball book (have you seen that movie?), was speaking about the trucking industry, this goes for the ocean freight industry as well. It is why the Cogoport platform is designed to increase insight for its users.
&ldquo;The freight industry could see sweeping changes in leadership as the sector goes through growing pains to adjust to a new age of big data and analytics, author Michael Lewis said ...
..."We're living in a moment where we're beginning to understand that data has magical possibilities," said Lewis, who is known for nonfiction book titles including Liar's Poker and The Big Short.&rdquo;
&rarr; <a href="https://www.dcvelocity.com/articles/30226-author-michael-lewis-sees-turbulent-future-for-freight-markets-in-age-of-big-data" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Author Michael Lewis sees turbulent future for freight markets in age of big data</a>
<h3>Freight Tech</h3>
I love Tech. Whether it&rsquo;s innovative IT solutions, or more operational solutions like autonomous ships, cars, or drones, Trucks and drones this week.
&ldquo;Last week, Einride started running its all-electric, human-free truck on a commercial route. The &ldquo;T-pod&rdquo; is moving pallets of goods between warehouses run by German logistics giant Schenker, in the southern Swedish city of J&ouml;nk&ouml;ping. It&rsquo;s a small, one-year commercial deal: Einride is operating just one truck for the time being, and covering about six miles a day, some of it on public roads, at speeds below 25 mph.&rdquo;
&rarr; <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/einride-self-driving-electric-truck-sweden/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Want to make an all-star electric truck? Drop the driver</a>
&ldquo;As cities across the U.S. look to reduce congestion on their streets, more are taking deliveries and safety initiatives to the skies, with a new drone initiative from the federal government helping drive those efforts.&rdquo;
&rarr; <a href="https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/drone-deliveries-medical-food-disaster/542020/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">For drone deliveries, the sky's the limit</a>

Freight, Sustainability, Analytics, and Tech

This Week in Ocean Freight (18/11/15): Market Trends & Shipping Updates

This article was published in Maritime Delta
Source: <a href="https://www.maritimedelta.nl/blogdoorglinokarjadi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Digitalisation in Shipping</a>
First of all, I would like to thank Maritime Delta for giving me the opportunity to write about my experiences so far in the Maritime Industry.
As a villager from Hoogezand-Sappemeer I came in touch with shipping as soon as I spent some time in Rotterdam. It didn&rsquo;t take long to get hooked by the City and what drives its success, soccer club Feyenoord, shipping and logistics and the hard-working people of Rotterdam. My first encouter with logistics was with warehousing and trucking; I was intrigued and wanted to be part of this world even though it wasn&rsquo;t my background. I wasn&rsquo;t going to let inexperience hold me back from adventure, so I moved on to shore sea shipping and, eventually, Deepsea where I stayed for a longer period of time.
During the years I was wondering whether this Industry should change, especially when the crisis returned in 2008. My firm, Hanjin Shipping went bankrupt and the industry knew something had to change if we were to avoid losing another carrier. We avoided bankruptcies, but we saw huge consolidations; China COSCO shipping, CMA &ndash; APL and Maersk &ndash; Hamburg Sud (where I worked).
In my time with Hamburg Sud I had awesome colleagues; it was a great carrier and offered great opportunities. However, one day I met Carmit Glik and soon thereafter Flemming Frost and I was sold on their vision of digitized and simplified shipping. In particular, I got excited by the Cogoport platform, which provides a hassle-free way to search, book and track containers. It seemed to me that this was a true innovation &ndash; one which the industry had been crying out for.
At the start of April this year I signed up as one of the first European team members and it has been a fantastic experience so far joining such a dynamically fast-growing business. The company has grown in the space of just a couple of years from handling about three units a month to now close to 10,000 units and with more than 27,000 registered users on our platform.
What drives Cogoport is a passion for the needs of SMEs and a desire to see them grow. It&rsquo;s a genuine part of our DNA. As we grow we&rsquo;re learning more every day; digitization is a new journey for the industry and it&rsquo;s full of challenges.
Shipping and logistics is an important industry and like everything else, is subject to change. Digitization means that the pressure for change is coming from the outside as much as internally. It&rsquo;s happening at a pace many people in the industry can&rsquo;t yet see. For example, a few years ago, no one saw the disruption that technology was going to bring to retailing. Our industry is only beginning to see the impact of new tools but how ready is the average freight forwarder or shipper to take advantage of the opportunities they bring?
At Cogoport we are starting to build a community with our customers and the wider shipping ecosystem to take the leap into a new digital era. Few SME&rsquo;s can make major capital investments or spend time figuring out how their business model need to develop and our platform offers an easy route to better shipping. We can help!
My name is Glino Karjadi and if you want to know more about us, we are happy to help, either in a personal meeting or at one of our network lunch meetings held across the Netherlands.
Business Development &amp; Sales
<a style="color: rgb(16, 155, 197);" href="mailto:Glino@cogoport.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Glino@cogoport.com</a>
+31 6 139 21179
<a style="color: rgb(16, 155, 197);" href="https://cogoport.com/signup" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.cogoport.com</a>

 Glino Karjadi: Digitalisation in Shipping

Digitization in Shipping: Transforming Global Logistics & Supply Chains

March has been quite an eventful
month for world trade.&nbsp;Adding weight to the
murmurs of a US-initiated trade war that could be heard in global trade
corridors since 2017, in the first week of March, citing “unfair business practices”, the US imposed a 25% tariff on steel
and a 10% tariff on aluminum imports from all countries except Mexico and Canada.<a href="https://api.whatsapp.com/message/N4CI7UNDFE2ZM1?autoload=1&amp;app_absent=0&amp;utm_source=web&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=general" target="_blank"><img src="https://cdn.cogoport.io/cms-prod/cogo_public/vault/original/Blog Banner WA 3.png" width="auto" style="width: auto; height: auto;"></a>







Later the European Union,
Argentina, South Korea, Brazil, and Australia were also exempted from the
tariff till the 1st of May. According to a statement released on the
matter, the US may look at setting import quotas for these countries and others
with whom it has security relationship if they are able to present a
convincing case.&nbsp;



The fear of a trade war further
intensified after a US trade announcement on 22nd March, targeting China.
 The US has specifically targeted imports
from China, placing stringent tariffs worth USD 60 billion.&nbsp;In addition to the tariff on steel and aluminum, another 1,300 Chinese products are expected to be included in the tariff list that will be published by the US Trade Department.China on its part
retaliated with a tariff of USD 3 billion on US products.&nbsp; The Chinese have listed 128 products
which include steel pipes, wine, fresh fruit, nuts, dried fruit, and pork.
There is a possibility that China may increase the tariff imposed on US
products.



<h3>Why
is US Imposing Additional Tariffs on China? </h3>



While China
is not the only country that has been targeted, it is one of the countries that
has been most harshly treated. So far. The US has a huge trade deficit balance
with the Asian giant. The other probable reason for the strict action can be
attributed to the “theft of intellectual
property” mentioned in Trump’s statement announcing the tariffs.<a href="https://cogoport.com/signup/en-IN/?utm_source=web&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=general" target="_blank"><img src="https://cdn.cogoport.io/cms-prod/cogo_public/vault/original/Blog-Banner-Portal-3.png" width="auto" style="width: auto; height: auto;"></a>To provide
some context to the huge tariffs imposed on China, the US Trade Department has also
released a report that highlights China’s aggressive behaviour regarding
acquisition of technology and trade secrets, theft of information and data.
According to media reports, the tariff is believed to help correct the trade
imbalance and warn China to control its own aggressive method of conducting trade.




Whether it
helps improve China’s behaviour or leads to further retaliatory measures remains
to be seen. Going by the communique of the two governments with the global
media, while China does not want a trade war, it is prepared to defend its
position in the event of one. 























<h3>Impact on India</h3>



India has
already been feeling the heat of US trade protectionist policies for a while
now. Decline in off-shore jobs from the US and the latest H-1B visa rules
which could make it difficult for Indian IT professionals in the US to get
their visa applications renewed are cases in point. 



We are also
facing a challenge from the US at the World Trade Center. Referring to the
Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (ASCM), the US has raised
doubts regarding the validity of India’s various export promotion schemes.&nbsp;



Although the
extent of impact of the US – China trade war on India is not yet clear, trade
analysts have warned of declining export volumes if the war escalates. 



<h3>Impact on Global Trade</h3>



Trade experts
are divided on the positive impact this will have on the global economy. Some
are of the opinion that countries that have the capacity to offer replacement
or alternative products to the US could benefit from the restrictions placed on
Chinese imports. 



In the
meantime, negative effects of the impending US – China trade war have already
been felt with global markets falling after the tariffs were announced. The
standoff between the two influential economies may also impact global growth rate.




Inflation is
another issue that is being highlighted as an outcome of the US – China fallout.
The price increase would also affect the US market, with imports becoming costlier
and possibly short in supply.<img src="https://cdn.cogoport.io/cms-prod/cogo_public/vault/original/Blog-Banner-Portal-2.png" alt="" width="300px">



<h3>Why Should the Shipping Industry be Concerned?&nbsp; </h3>In all of
this, the shipping industry which is the main mode of international trade may end up as collateral damage. Tariff on imports could result in low demand for those
products – which in turn would lead to a decline in shipping volumes - which would
impact ocean freight rates. For an industry that is emerging from a slow growth
phase, this could be a huge blow. 



At a time when the global economy
has finally started to show signs of revival after the economic recession
witnessed in 2008, a trade war can again destabilise growth. In the long term, a trade war or even a perceived threat of one will create a negative economic and political environment.&nbsp;

US – China Trade War: Impact on Global Trade

US-China Trade War: Impact on Global Trade, Tariffs & Economic Relations

Shipping is an important and critical part of the global supply chain. How it is managed impacts the marketability of the product, brand image, relations with buyers, and the profit margin of the exporter.
Ocean freight rate, ancillary logistics costs, and end-to-end management of the shipment from pick up to delivery at the final destination become deciding factors in successfully delivering a shipment to its final destination.
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<h3>Why is the Ocean Freight Rate Important?</h3>
Transportation costs are a vital component of the complete cost of taking the product to market. Ocean freight rate is an integral part of the aggregate transport cost.
Although an estimated ocean freight rate is built into the product manufacturing costs, given its volatile nature and impact of currency exchange rates, it keeps changing frequently. When the actual shipment is delivered at a rate higher than estimates taken into account, it reduces the profit margin of the exporter.
This is why procuring freight rate at the right time and from the right service provider is an important part of the entire global supply chain.
Till recently, to ensure that they get the best possible freight rate, exporters would initiate the freight rate enquiry, negotiations, and procurement at least a month prior to the shipping date. The more conservative shippers would start the process as soon as their sales order was approved by the buyer.
Shippers with large annual volumes have the scope to negotiate a volume rate with their freight forwarders or shipping lines, thus they can, to an extent, safeguard their business against unforeseen changes in freight and currency exchange rates.
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Unfortunately, the low volume exporters or new exporters cannot avail of contracted ocean freight rates.
<h3>What&rsquo;s Wrong with the Traditional Way of Booking Freight and Managing Shipments?</h3>
The archaic way of buying freight involved interaction and follow up with least 3 &ndash; 4 shipping lines and freight forwarders for rates. To successfully manage shipment delivery till its final destination, an exporter also had to invest time and effort coordinating with his inland transport provider (trucker), customs house agent, bank, and insurance agent.
Not only was this process tedious but it also required a dedicated resource (sometimes an entire team) to manage the complete logistics of transporting cargo from one point to another. Human errors and communication gaps between various process - service stakeholders further slowed down the process.&nbsp;
<img class="center" style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.439216); font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 25px; letter-spacing: -0.02em;" src="https://prod-cogoport.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/fd6324a8675d27be6a05d8a309256687/Blog%20creative_Tech%20savy_R3-01.png" alt="Traditional Freight Booking Process" width="">
<h3>How is the Age-old Process Changing?</h3>
With technology taking over the traditional way of obtaining freight rates, getting a competitive ocean freight rate from different service providers has become easier, cost and time effective.
Advancements in technology has made it possible for exporters and importers to obtain rates within a matter of minutes from the comfort of their offices. Technology has also facilitated the current industry drive on integrating the different touch points of the global shipping process. Today, it has become possible for all the participants in the long drawn process of global shipping to connect on a single platform and perform their role in the business.
Apart from speed and process integration, the technological revolution in the freight industry has added efficiency and transparency to the entire freight booking and management process.
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<h3>How is Cogoport Simplifying Freight Booking and Shipment Management?</h3>
Being the frontrunner of the technological revolution in the Indian freight industry, Cogoport is working on eliminating the many redundancies and inefficiencies plaguing the freight booking and shipment management ecosystem.
By integrating all the stakeholders involved in the end-to-end shipping process, Cogoport is simplifying freight management and creating an industry environment that is based on trust, transparency,&nbsp;and reliability&nbsp;with speed&nbsp;enabling informed&nbsp;and faster&nbsp;decision making.
It has brought together all the touch points of an international shipping transaction. On the platform, shippers can connect with shipping lines, freight forwarders, truckers, insurance agents, and CHAs. They can obtain rate quotes, place bookings, and track the shipment till its final delivery in real time.
Knowing how time consuming follow up with the multiple stakeholders is, the platform has, to an extent, automated most of the freight management process and empowered the user to search, select vendors, place the booking and track it real time.
<img class="center" src="https://prod-cogoport.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/4ff7b2dd335da693a1cbd19415ffc8da/Blog%20creative_Tech%20savy_R3-02.png" alt="Cogoport Process" width="">
<h3>Salient Features of Booking and Managing Freight on Cogoport</h3>
1. Personalised Dashboard:&nbsp;Create&nbsp;your own integrated global logistics management dashboard to connect all the touch points in your global supply chain.
2. Instant Rates:&nbsp;Get freight rate quotes from multiple shipping lines in a few simple steps.
3. Vessel Schedules:&nbsp;Access the sailing schedules of more than 30 shipping lines in one easy click.
4. Container Tracking:&nbsp;Track your container in real time till it reaches its final destination.
5. Document Wallet:&nbsp;Get&nbsp;your personal digital space to maintain all your shipping documents.
6. Digital Invoicing:&nbsp;Receive, manage, and pay your shipping invoices digitally.
7. Analytics:&nbsp;Get access to market driven freight rate trends and your shipment stats all at one place.
8. RFQs:&nbsp;If you don&rsquo;t find spot rate for your port pair, you can raise a request for a rate quote. Cogoport will do the rest!
To better understand how Cogoport can optimise your international shipping process,&nbsp;<a href="https://cogoport.com/signup">register</a>&nbsp;on the platform and explore the features yourself. Or connect with our customer success team to get an overview of Cogoport&rsquo;s services and products. Go Digital, Go Cogoport!

Manage Exports and Get Rates easily: Cogoport

Cogoport Shipment Process: How to Book, Track & Manage Your Cargo Online

What a week. There were two big logistics events in the Netherlands and I spoke at both. At Mulitmodal Europe in Rotterdam I spoke about container optimization and the repositioning of empties. For those that weren&rsquo;t there I will write a blog post about it and share it here.
The other event was the ICT &amp; Logistics event in Utrecht where I spoke about how booking a container should be just as fast an easy as booking a hotel. A big thank you to the many people that came to the sessions.
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It&rsquo;s too bad both events were at the same time. I still got to meet a lot of new and interesting people, was interviewed about data and freight in the digital era and got a lot of inspiration from what other companies are doing.
Our new President of Supplier Relations &amp; International Growth Flemming Frost accompanied me to all events. Read more about Flemming in the post from our Founder Shekhar <a href="https://www.cogoport.com/blogs/welcome-on-board" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.
I didn&rsquo;t have much time this week, so there are less highlights then usual when it comes to news and interesting reading material that I came across this week. Anyway, here goes:
<h3>The Chinese Economy</h3>
&ldquo;Given that Chinese imports account for nearly half of all container imports moving over U.S. ports, one would be excused for prematurely jumping to the conclusion that U.S. port volumes are at great risk&mdash;as are the logistics and transportation jobs associated with moving Chinese imports from the port of entry to distribution centers and on to final demand markets. But let&rsquo;s not hit the panic button just yet.&rdquo;
&rarr; <a href="https://www.supplychain247.com/article/how_will_the_tariff_war_with_china_affect_u.s._container_ports" target="_blank" rel="noopener">How will the tariff war with China affect U.S. container ports?</a>
&ldquo;China&rsquo;s exports climbed 15.6% in October, versus the same month a year ago, in US dollar terms&mdash;way higher than what analysts expected. The real surprise, though, was the eye-popping 21.4% year-over-year leap in Chinese imports. That&rsquo;s odd given that China&rsquo;s economy is slowing abruptly again, which should translate to sluggish demand for goods from consumers and businesses.&rdquo;
<img src="https://cdn.cogoport.io/cms-prod/cogo_public/vault/original/Blog-Banner-Portal-1.png" alt="" width="300px">
&rarr; <a href="https://qz.com/1456033/despite-us-tariffs-chinas-trade-soared-in-october-it-may-not-last" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Despite US tariffs, China&rsquo;s trade soared in October. It may not last.</a>
<h3>Scrubbers</h3>
&ldquo;The decision on whether to invest in scrubber technology on containerships, ahead of the IMO&rsquo;s 0.5% sulphur cap on 1 January 2020, has resulted in ocean carriers adopting a &ldquo;polarised&rdquo; approach, according to an Alphaliner survey.&rdquo;
&rarr; Carriers still weighing up pros and cons of scrubbers vs switch to low-sulphur fuel
<h3>Logistics Tech</h3>
Gartner has published their predictions on strategic tech trends for 2019 again.
&ldquo;While most shippers, brokers, carriers, vendors, and warehouse operators will agree that the logistics industry is awash in emerging technologies, Gartner said its study focuses only on those trends that have substantial disruptive potential that is beginning to break out of an emerging state into broader impact and could reach a tipping point over the next five years.&rdquo;
&rarr; <a href="https://www.dcvelocity.com/articles/30215-gartner-flags-10-strategic-tech-trends-for-2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gartner flags 10 strategic tech trends for 2019</a>
I couldn&rsquo;t agree more with the quote below, although I think that for the forseeable future there is more to be gained from automating processes, then automating vehicles. Automating processes is one of the reasons our platform increases efficiency.
&ldquo;Most transport companies say innovation and automation will help transform the industry by helping to boost productivity and reduce costs, according to the survey.&rdquo;
&rarr; <a href="https://www.dcvelocity.com/articles/30205-geopolitics-technological-innovation-top-global-transport-industry-concerns" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Geopolitics, technological innovation top global transport industry concerns</a>
One of the barriers blocking the adoption of new technology is one that we made sure is not applicable to our platform: investment. No need to invest. Joining the platform is free and the cost per shipment you pay for using Cogoport are a small percentage of the total cost you save using it.
&ldquo;Barriers to adopting technology persist &ndash; with transport companies citing the major challenges to adopting technology-driven innovation as cost and investment (71%)&rdquo;
&rarr; Automation to Define Future of Transport But There are Obstacles
And two infographics from the people over at FreightWaves on the rise of Transportation Tech.
&rarr; <a href="https://www.freightwaves.com/news/infographics/venture-capital-trends-part-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Transport Tech Rising: Venture Capital Trends (Part 2)</a>
&rarr; <a href="https://www.freightwaves.com/news/infographics/transpor-tech-rising-part-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Transport Tech Rising: Venture Capital Trends (Part 3)</a>
Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/uUXB3EPgVp4?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mikkel J&ouml;nck Schmidt</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/container-cranes-rotterdam" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Unsplash</a>

The Chinese Economy and Logistics Tech

This Week in Ocean Freight (09/11/18): Key Market Insights & Shipping News

Developing a great website is the first step of creating an amazing online presence. Once the website is up and running it needs traffic, and the only way to achieve it is to have a top-notch Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in place. SEO is a perfect blend of art and technology to boost the organic traffic of the website so that it is visible on the Search Engine Result Page (SERP). A company’s website is the only visual representation of the company, which helps in gaining traction from consumers who are in need of its services- the only way to achieve this is to increase traffic by deploying various methods to make sure that the website is user-friendly while maintaining good response time.<a href="https://api.whatsapp.com/message/N4CI7UNDFE2ZM1?autoload=1&amp;app_absent=0&amp;utm_source=web&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=general" target="_blank"><img src="https://cdn.cogoport.io/cms-prod/cogo_public/vault/original/Blog Banner WA 1.png" width="auto" style="width: auto; height: auto;"></a>We, at Cogoport, know the importance of having a good SEO score, and use a plethora of methods to make sure, a user who searches for certain keywords, lands on our website. How are we able to achieve the perfect blend of website traffic and user-experience? We have incorporated industry-leading strategies to make www.cogoport.com a best-in-class marketplace for freight.<h3>Proper HTML Structure</h3>Every web developer dreads a website which lacks basic HTML structure and has innumerable errors. An improper structure opens countless pathways for page load errors and broken links. Also, Google’s crawlers pay no heed to a website which lacks structure. Therefore, the entire Cogoport website is written using semantic markup, meaning all the pages have a proper ‘header’, ‘main’, ‘nav’, ‘article’, ‘section’, ‘aside’, ‘address’ and ‘footer’. This has enabled us to score a high page rank score.<a href="https://cogoport.com/signup/en-IN/?utm_source=web&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=general" target="_blank"><img src="https://cdn.cogoport.io/cms-prod/cogo_public/vault/original/Blog-Banner-Portal-3.png" width="auto" style="width: auto; height: auto;"></a><h3>Crisp Content</h3>Without a crisp and tailored content, any website is a mere template, and in no way serves the purpose of a platform that a user understands. Our team has created an ironclad SEO-friendly content guideline, which enables us to ease the process for our customers through our high-quality content. A user, who lands on our website easily finds the desired service- this improves our bounce rate and results in a 100% conversion. A high-quality SEO-friendly website contains quality keywords, optimized article length, and a good Page Load Speed.<h3>Meta Tags</h3>Meta Tags are snippets of the text available on the website, they don’t appear on the page itself, but are displayed when the webpage is shown on the search engine page. They provide information to the user about the website’s description. <h3>Canonical Tags</h3>A canonical tag specifies the source URL of a page to a search engine (such as Google). The idea is to declare a single page as its own source or for duplicate pages to reference their source or originating page in order to attain proper indexing. Suppose a single company owns multiple domains, all of them having the same content, Google’s crawlers may mark it as plagiarised- to avoid this we add a canonical tag in the code, letting Google’s crawlers know that all domains belong to a single website.<a href="https://api.whatsapp.com/message/N4CI7UNDFE2ZM1?autoload=1&amp;app_absent=0&amp;utm_source=web&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=general" target="_blank"><img src="https://cdn.cogoport.io/cms-prod/cogo_public/vault/original/Blog Banner WA 2.png" width="auto" style="width: auto; height: auto;"></a><h3>Server-side Rendering</h3>Cogoport developers have successfully implemented Server-Side Rendering (SSR) on the website. SSR is a popular technique for rendering a client-side only Single Page App (SPA) on the server and sending a fully rendered page to the client. SSR helps in performing well on devices which have minimum processing power, as the server sends a fully loaded app to the device. SSR allows faster page load speed for our website, which is essential for improving user experience.

Cogoport and SEO - A Perfect Blend

How to Achieve a Perfect SEO Score for Your Website: Tips & Strategies

In order to expand business presence across the world, a company needs to have a global product reach. It is desirable for companies to have a streamlined delivery mechanism in place, to bridge the gap between the consumers and them. <h3>Going Global</h3>Before planning the entire course of the shipment, you need to make sure that the goods you want to ship are not prohibited or restricted items in the destination country. You can do that by visiting official customs websites of the countries. <a href="https://api.whatsapp.com/message/N4CI7UNDFE2ZM1?autoload=1&amp;app_absent=0&amp;utm_source=web&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=general" target="_blank"><img src="https://cdn.cogoport.io/cms-prod/cogo_public/vault/original/Blog Banner WA 1.png" width="auto" style="width: auto; height: auto;"></a>Some countries are easier to ship to than others. For example, India requires more personal documentation than most countries. It is important to be aware of the current geopolitical issues, this allows building trust with overseas partners. <h3>Do I Need Shipping Insurance? </h3>If a person wishes to ship a high-value item, they’re bound to assess the likelihood that the item may get lost, damaged or stolen. Therefore, it is important to get shipping insurance to have peace of mind when shipping goods internationally. There are numerous websites where one can generate shipping insurance. <h3>Start Shipping</h3>For a streamlined shipping experience, it is recommended if the entire process is automated. This will help in avoiding all intricacies involved in doing the work manually. Automation is taking over every industry, including shipping and logistics. Innovative companies like Cogoport have offered the consumers a platform to search for freight rates instantly and get transparency in tracking. Business owners should have a shipping tool which allows them to import all the individual’s orders from different sales channel onto one platform, automatically send tracking numbers, generate Bill of Lading, make sure the process is smooth, and schedule the pickups online.<img src="https://cdn.cogoport.io/cms-prod/cogo_public/vault/original/Blog-Banner-Portal-3.png" alt="" width="300px"><h3>Duties and Taxes</h3>A shipper is bound to pay various duties and taxes when shipping internationally. Following are the two ways to pay for duties-<ul><li>Delivery Duty Unpaid (DDU) - Duty is not included in the shipment cost and must be paid when the consignment arrives at the destination port.</li><li>Delivery Duty Paid (DDP) - Duty is included in the shipping cost and has already been paid before the consignment arrives at the destination port. </li></ul>Shipping cargo internationally demands a high level of documentation and declaration. However, there are numerous websites which make the task of documentation easier by doing 95% of the work.

Planning Your Next International Shipment

Planning International Shipping: Key Steps for Successful Global Trade

Logistics management can be rough. But the digital transformation in the supply chain industry is increasingly a quick solution.The freight forwarding industry has caught up with the wave of digitisation that has been pervasive across the rest of the sectors. The traditional ways of doing business are being replaced by modern solutions which have opened up various avenues for a tremendous amount of growth. This transformation has helped shipping organisations keep up with the intense pressure that comes with the increasing demands of today’s customers.Although the entire industry has benefited by migrating to digital solutions, the work of specific individuals has also been made easy — especially a logistics manager, who deals with a wide range of responsibilities daily. Let’s have a look into how adapting the digital ways in the logistics industry has helped a logistics manager. However, before that, let us understand what does a logistics manager do.<img src="https://cdn.cogoport.io/cms-prod/cogo_public/vault/original/Blog Banner WA 3.png" alt="" width="300px">What Does a Logistics Manager Do?A logistics manager takes care of your goods while they are shipped from the source to its destination. However, how they do the job can often vary. They might focus on transport, or cover everything from booking containers and planning transportation to taking care of all the documentation and customer communication.Whatever the scope of the role, it comes with a range of challenges that call for detailed knowledge of supply chain management and a fair amount of resourcefulness.The ChallengesAt the heart of the daily challenge of logistics manager is the need to keep end customers happy.Every customer may have different shipping requirements. While some might need just a container, others might require the whole package. Whenever asked to book a container or transportation, the logistics manager needs to provide the best rates to its customers, for which he has to hassle a lot. Every shipment requires them to negotiate with the suppliers and provide a separate quotation which might take hours to generate, not the amount of time customers are ready to wait.Additionally, the shipping process involves many documents. Every paper received since the booking of a container needs to be kept track of. With multiple customers, there are chances of paperwork piling up. Misplacing even a single document can lead to delays in the arrival of the shipment, and in some cases, cancellation too. This affects both the business of the customer and the reputation of the logistics manager.Furthermore, customers expect full transparency from their logistics manager. They wish to be aware of the location of their shipments at any given time. To provide them with this information, the managers have to go through much trouble contacting the respective shipping line’s customer services every step of the way. Hence, shipping tracking for the customers is an issue logistics managers face daily, as it is directly related to a customers satisfaction.Lastly, keeping up with the variety of demands has also been troublesome for the logistics managers. Earlier, a customer’s logistics requirements were limited to one form of transportation. Nowadays, that is not the case. Instead of taking care of the goods from port to port, customers demand the logistics managers take care of the products from warehouse to warehouse. This means that they are required to provide trucking services too, which increases the work even more as trucking services becomes a whole new area to be managed.How Can Digitisation Help?Innovative players in this industry have realised that digitisation is providing efficient solutions to many of their problems. Logistics managers have turned to digital platforms like Cogoport to deliver more benefits to customers.With the help of these platforms, logistics managers can provide different freight rates to the customers instantly. The platform can quickly fetch the rates that are not available at the given time. Quotation generation for a shipment, that earlier used to take up to 48 hours is now available to the managers at one click of a button.Digitalisation can also make the crucial task of managing documents easier. A database is provided to the logistics manager where they can save all their documents and access them anytime they want. This ensures then even if a paper is forgotten or lost at any point of time; the manager can find it on this platform, hence securing the documentation process. If ever the customer wishes to view any document, they can always be given access to this database.By providing facilities such as real-time tracking, these platforms give the logistics manager the luxury of offering their customers with the real-time location of their cargo. Furthermore, by the use of certain onboard sensors, the condition of the cargo can also be monitored.Keeping in mind the increasing transportation duties and responsibilities of a logistics manager, digital platforms have made themselves a one-stop for all their needs. Including other forms of transportation such as trucking services has ensured that managers can fulfil every aspect of their order at one single place.What Does this Mean for the Shipping Industry?It can be safe to assume that putting methods of digital shipping into practice has a profound advantage over the traditional methods. Providing customers with a hassle-free platform satisfying all their logistics needs draws a clear blueprint for success. Logistics managers make up only a fraction of people who benefit from this change.We at Cogoport saw the need to make freight shipment easier for everyone and decided to ride this wave of digitisation. Implementing cutting-edge technology to solve the logistics-related problem, we aim to take this trillion-dollar freight industry online. If a freight forwarder is who you are, then we welcome you to do your business the digital way, here at Cogoport.

Going Digital: Journey of a Logistics Manager

Journey from Logistics Manager to Digital Transformation

Cogoport has been nominated for the FreightWaves&nbsp;<a href="https://www.freightwaves.com/awards/freighttech-awards-2023">Freight.Tech100</a>. I’m so very proud of our team. I love seeing their passion every day. Everybody is working closely together to make shipping goods across the globe easier, more efficient, and more transparent. We are democratizing the process of choosing how you ship your freight, while giving you true comparison capabilities on total landed cost, not just ocean freight cost.Great CompanyThe Freight.Tech100 recognizes the most innovative and disruptive companies in freight. Over 500 companies were nominated and a panel chosen by FreightWaves narrowed the list down to 100.We are in excellent company, with large companies like Amazon, FedEx, UPS, Toyota, and Daimler, but also fellow start-ups like Uber Freight, Loadsmart, GSCP, Peloton, and Thor. <img src="https://prod-cogoport.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/988f8591c56a18e7938aec378d1b5d18/Cogoport%20and%20nominees.png" alt="Cogoport and other nominated companies" class="center" width=""> Growing, Shipping, HelpingSince we founded Cogoport in 2016 we have kept growing and have been able to help thousands of importers and exporters with shipping their containers in a more efficient and transparent way. We have welcomed over 29 ocean freight carriers to our platform and we are getting close to the 100,000 container mark.That will be another moment to be proud of: 100,000 containers booked through the Cogoport platform. No slow steaming for us!Easier Than Booking a HotelWe are just getting started. We are making booking a container easier than booking a hotel. We want to give logistics and supply chain managers full visibility on their shipments and their cost. Transparency is key. No hidden costs. What you see is what you get. And what you get is peace of mind.Do you want a container brought to you? We can arrange delivery. Unexpected delays? We will help you with an alternative gate-in method. Trans-shipment issues? We will communicate directly with the carrier, notify all parties involved, and try to solve it if applicable. Want help with customs clearance? Consider it done. Need the container delivered to your end customer? We can arrange that as well.We are committed to add value to all stakeholders. We do that through technology. Technology is in our DNA, and we use it to make sure you save time and money at every stage of your (cargo's) journey.Search – Book – Track – RelaxThat’s it. And now I’m going back to innovating and disrupting.Photo by&nbsp;<a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/TamMbr4okv4?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText">Ian Schneider</a> on&nbsp;<a href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/innovation">Unsplash</a>

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