How to Conquer Perpetual Peak Season

Editor’s Note: Matt Gunn is VP, Solutions Marketing, Slync.io

You’re probably tired of hearing it—the global supply chain is falling short and now the whole world is paying attention.

The ocean freight market used to move in dependable annual cycles: bookings would ramp up from January through the Chinese New Year, slow down in spring, hit their biggest peak from August through October ahead of the holiday season, then quiet down through the end of the calendar year. And each year during the spring slack season, carriers and shippers would agree to new contracts based on historical data and the next year’s forecast. Rinse, repeat.

But the last 18 months have thrown all that dependability out of the window. Look no farther than the Sea-Intelligence newsroom to find out that schedule reliability remains at an all-time low, that late vessel arrivals have reached an all-time high, and that consumer demand shows no sign of slowing down. And if that’s all taking place during the typical slack season, we’re not likely to see things improve much ahead of the holidays. We’re living in a perpetual peak season.

It’s placed shippers and logistics service providers in a particularly tough spot. The lack of capacity is causing backlogs in freight, and each week those backlogs grow worse. Inventory stuck at origin is inventory that can’t be sold at its intended price and time.

Meanwhile, there’s little transparency to what carriers are doing once a booking request has been made. While demand has dictated a rise in container rates, there’s little incentive for carriers to change. And without a clear picture of what’s happening on the carrier side, it’s hard for shippers and their service providers to hold anyone accountable when delays inevitably take place.

So, is there anything shippers and LSPs can do about it? Up until now, the answer has been not much. And the reason why is that key pieces of information exist outside any systems of record. That’s right, even though the industry has been using EDI and transportation management systems for decades to send and receive booking requests and carrier acknowledgements, much of the communication and process related to an order still takes place in PDFs, spreadsheets and emails. And while the documents may be digital, until the information they contain can be automatically ingested and applied to core ERP and TMS systems, the process of booking and allocating freight will continue to slow supply chains down.

We’ll be living under peak season conditions until at least the middle of 2022, and considering how consumers have shifted their spending habits, could continue to see heightened demand for imports well beyond that. So as we prepare for what’s ahead, here are three priorities shippers and LSPs need to address to help transform ocean carrier booking management and gain greater control over their valuable freight.

Streamline and automate booking execution
Booking execution often lives with individual operators who communicate directly with vendors and carriers using emails and PDFs. Accelerate the process and eliminate single points of failure by applying data extraction and automation tools.

Orchestrate supply and demand of bookings
Connecting container demand with carrier equipment supply is a numbers game. By bringing all relevant data together, shippers and LSPs can take a more intentional approach to identifying opportunities and allocating freight across existing carrier confirmations.

Generate meaningful insights
You can’t measure what you can’t see. With so much carrier booking data living outside of structured systems, it’s impossible to do any meaningful analysis on carrier performance, exception rates, or missed bookings. Digitalizing ocean carrier booking processes can offer a better view into what’s really happening across your logistics operations so you can identify, assess and consistently improve performance while driving greater accountability with your carriers.

As we continue to live through what feels like a perpetual peak season, LSPs and shippers can’t afford to miss whatever opportunities they can to streamline their operations. But until they bring in the right mix of automation, orchestration and analytics, carriers will continue to set the pace (and price) for what little capacity is available.

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