How to use U.S. Customs Data within 3PLs – Zepol.com Guest Post

The transportation industry makes up a large portion of users of U.S. Customs data. Because U.S. Customs data relates directly to every portion of a NVOCC, Customs Broker, or 3PL’s import business, these users see the data as an essential business tool. A transportation service provider that works without import manifest data is at a significant disadvantage to their competition.

3PLwire.com readers are looking for the best tools to grow their businesses, and trade data provides a number of uses that break through traditional lead generation. Because the transportation service industry is unique, there is a need for different information to help sales people do their jobs. Companies and sales people in this industry have the challenge of both maintaining their current relationships and finding new customers to grow their businesses.

What are some of the ways that transportation companies are utilizing U.S. trade data?

Qualifying Companies for their Sales Teams

The most popular use of U.S. Customs data is to analyze what and how often potential customers are actually importing. I have heard stories about sales representatives going to local Customs offices to read through Customs entry books, but it is much easier to use an online application that shows the manifest records of every shipment and that is accessible from anywhere.

Because the data from U.S. Customs is rich with useful information, users use the data to develop lists of leads that meet their requirements. These lists could be based on the number of TEUs imported during a month or what products the lead ships, but none of which could be done with directories or paper records.  Once a target list is identified, further analysis can be done on an importer’s activity to educate a sales person before they step in a logistics manager’s office.

Competitive Analysis

To do effective competitive analysis in the transportation industry, companies must have access to both House and Master Bills of Lading as they exist in the source data provided by U.S. Customs. By being able to view both types of bills, transportation providers can gain an understanding of which providers are currently handling an importer’s trade. See the example of a House and Master Bill of Lading below for a better understanding why this field is important.

Trade Lane and Market Profiling

Instead of basing decisions on broad industry wide reports, smart marketing and trade departments at transportation companies are using U.S. import data for specific, accurate analysis. With a quality trade data tool, these companies are able to drill into their markets no matter how they describe them (region, trade lane, commodity, or other). This data allows them to determine accurate market shares and fully understand who the most important players are and what products are the most traded for a region or market sector.

This also provides a clearer understanding of the supply side of a 3PL’s business, because they can look closely at the available carrier options. Getting a better understanding of which competitors use a specific carrier for a port can provide important ammunition in rate negotiations. With the way that next year’s ocean environment looks, looking at both sides of your 3PL business is prudent.

This guest post is provided by Zepol Corporation. Kevin Palmstein is the Marketing Manager for Zepol Corporation. Zepol is the leading provider of United States trade information. Zepol’s products, TradeIQ™ and TradeView™, provide access to the latest U.S. Import Customs trade data and U.S. Import/Export Census trade statistics respectively. To learn more about Zepol, visit www.zepol.com and read their trade data blog, www.zepol.com/blog.

Top 25 Global 3PL’s – 2008

It has been awhile since we last discussed the top 25 global 3PL’s. In fact, I believe the last rankings we wrote about were the numbers published by Armstrong and Associates from 2006.

The latest report I saw was an article published by SJ Consulting Group detailing the 25 largest 3PL companies based on 2008 overall revenue numbers in USD.

As with anything, I would suggest taking these numbers with a grain of salt since not all companies on the list are publicly listed.

Here are the top 10:

1 DHL Logistics (1) $39,900 – Germany

2 Kuehne + Nagel (2) $20,220 – Switzerland

3 DB Schenker Logistics $12,503 – Germany

4 Geodis (3) $9,700 – France

5 CEVA Logistics (3) $9,523 – Netherlands

6 Panalpina (2) $8,394 -Switzerland

7 Logista (3) $8,190 – United Kingdom

8 CH Robinson Worldwide $7,130 – USA

9 Agility Logistics (2) $6,316 – Kuwait

10 UPS Supply Chain Solutions $6,293 – USA

DHL continues to hold a dominant position on the list with nearly double the revenue amount of the number two player; Kuehne & Nagel. Notable companies that were not in the top 10 are Expeditors at number 11 and Hellmann at number 19.

The only company in the top 10 that I am not overly familiar with is Logista.

If you are currently searching for potential 3PL companies, please be sure to check out our list of 3PL providers.

Notes:*Currency has been converted to USD. Gross Revenue shown here for non-asset based logistics (1)Reallocation of the division(2) Currency Impact (3)Growth includes impact of acquisition.

Source: SJ Consulting Group Estimates

Global recession and the fate of small forwarders

This is a topic that I have been thinking about quite a bit over the last few months as the global recession continues to develop. What will be the fate of the small freight forwarders? According to a report I read on the Financial Times, many of today’s small freight forwarders will simply disappear. The main contributing factor will be cash flow. As more and more customers try to extend their credit terms and string forwarders out for cash, the harder it will be for forwarders to keep up with timely payments to the airlines and steamship lines. Making things more difficult for the small forwarder will be customers who go belly up, leaving forwarders holding the financial bag.

If this scenario does play out as the report on Financial Times states, then the large global forwarders will benefit by gaining additional market share. Mostly because the global players have the financial reserves to weather the storm.

If you work for a small forwarder, let me know your thoughts on the FT article.

DHL / Deutsche Post says “goodbye” to the U.S. domestic express market

Update: 11-24-08
For much, much more on Deutsche Post World Net’s decision to pull DHL out of the U.S. market, check out this in depth article from Air Transport World. Key excerpt:

DPWN cited three key factors that drove the decision to focus only on international shipping to and from the US, a move that means DHL’s daily air volume in the country will drop from 1.2 million shipments to just 100,000. First, it simply had to “face reality,” DPWN CEO Frank Appel said at a recent press conference in Germany, explaining that the company had to acknowledge it could not figure out a way to operate profitably in the US. Its annual costs in the market averaged more than $5 billion and it could not generate enough revenue to earn money, losing an average of $1.3 billion per year. UPS and FedEx have long-entrenched, integrated networks in the US as well as tremendous brand awareness among American consumers and shippers, advantages that proved too significant for DHL to overcome.

Second, its business in other parts of the world, particularly Asia, has grown enough in the last five years that it no longer believes the US market holds the same strategic importance. Finally, the global economic downturn makes pouring money into a loss-making market prohibitive. DHL estimates it has lost $10 billion in the US since it purchased Airborne Express in 2003 and tried to battle UPS and FedEx on their home turf (ATW, January 2008).

It’s long been reported that their U.S. express unit has been losing money hand over fist, but this is still pretty dramatic. They are pulling out of the domestic express market completely while still offering international express services to and from the U.S.. Via JOC Online:

Deutsche Post in a press conference in Bonn said the downsizing of DHL Express in the U.S. will cost $1.9 billion on top of a charge of $1.5 billion charge for an initial restructuring announced in May that cut 5,400 jobs.

Deutsche Post stressed it will continue to offer international express service to and from the U.S. The successful contract logistics and freight forwarding units, which employ around 25,000 people, are unaffected by the $3.4-billion, two-year restructuring.

“There is no alternative…this is absolutely necessary,” according to Deutsche Post CEO Frank Appel, who said the company had to act to stem “unacceptable” losses at the U.S. express unit which are expected to reach $1.5 billion this year — $200 million higher than forecast in May.

Appel said the restructuring, which will be booked mostly in 2008, is expected to cut DHL’s U.S. losses in 2009 to $900 million and under $400 million on an annualized basis by the fourth quarter of next year.

Possibly a result of acquiring/growing too big, too fast? I don’t know enough about the details of the inner workings of Deutsche Post, but with so many different business units acquired and absorbed so quickly over the years some growing pains were inevitable.

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