Chain Reaction is Sourcing Journal’s discussion series with industry executives to get their take on today’s logistics challenges and learn about ways their company is working to keep the flow of goods moving. Here, Anton Bar, VP market data at transportation, logistics, supply chain and storage company Freightos, discusses how to navigate unexpected supply chain disruptions with data and why investing in digital solutions is important.
Name: Anton Bar
Related Stories
Title: VP Market Data
Company: Freightos
What are the main things brands and retailers could do (or stop doing) right now that would immediately improve logistics?
In the short term, brands and retailers can stop compromising the level of service they receive.
You can book a passenger flight in ten minutes, but it can take a week to sort a shipment using painfully slow manual- and paper-based processes.
Digitization in logistics still lags behind other industries, and the customer ultimately pays. Want to change things? Ask ocean carriers to provide standard application programming interfaces (APIs) for quoting, booking and tracking shipments. Electronic data interchanges (EDIs) should have been abandoned decades ago, yet they still are relied upon. The more data carriers provide, the easier and more streamlined logistics can be for shippers.
In the long term, shippers can hedge for freight costs in the same manner that McDonald’s hedges soybean prices—via index-based futures contracts. This allows McDonald’s to lock in inputs and ensure reliable costs.
When it comes to supply chain logistics challenges, there are things companies can fix, and things that are beyond their control. How can the former help the latter?
The more clarity and data you have in your supply chains, the easier it will be to deal with events beyond your control. For example, say one of your export-side ports is hit by high waves in China or India. Monsoon season affects shipping. The faster you hear about gathering storms in the East, the faster you can reroute your shipments to nearby ports and keep your supply chains moving.
Companies that monitor their supply chain lanes using our new Freightos Data Terminal stay informed on blanked sailings, tariff changes, labor disputes, port disruptions, weather and more. They’re also monitoring market pricing—data that comes in handy when selecting carriers or renegotiating contract rates.
Some things will always be outside your control, but the faster and more accurately you are informed of them, the more proactive decisions you can make in response to avert or minimize their effects.
What areas of logistics aren’t receiving the industry attention it deserves?
It should be much easier in the 21st century to ship a box of beans than to fly a person overseas. And yet, you can book a passenger flight in minutes from your phone, but still need scores of emails, phone calls and maybe even a couple of faxes to ship a box (and a box doesn’t even need headsets and a bag of pretzels).
Companies of all sizes should take better control of their supply chains. On the multinational side, enterprises are exploring direct electronic booking connections with their freight forwarders, wherein the company controls the actual shipment details, down to the specific flight.
On the small to mid-sized business (SMB) side, market intelligence solutions can provide invaluable and unprecedented levels of insight into pricing, port conditions, performance indicators and market events. It’s a far cry from the days where you called for pricing and waited 48 hours just to find out how much a potential shipment would cost. Market intelligence is a real game changer for SMBs, and forward-thinking businesses are seeing bottom-line results from plugging market data into their logistics decision-making processes. That’s where Freightos’ Terminal comes in.
What is your company doing to make the movement of goods more sustainable?
The Freightos Group is proud of its CO2 emissions calculator and the environmental impact reporting on our booking platforms. Further, Freightos Data helps companies make better logistics decisions. This, in turn, helps companies and carriers identify underperforming or wasteful routes, and replace them with more direct or efficient options which is ultimately better for the environment.
What is the one thing brands and retailers could be doing to make better use of technology to improve logistics?
Brands and retailers can now build out their tech stacks in ways that were unimaginable two years ago. One easy thing companies of all sizes can do to drive results is adopt and invest in digital solutions that provide pricing, booking and transparent visibility into supply chains and logistics processes. A little clarity can go a long way in controlling your supply chain.
Are you optimistic about the state of supply chains in the next few years?
The freight industry is a resilient one. Let’s not forget that, despite a pricing volatility spike over the past two years, supply chains have remained stable—for the most part. Carriers have faced extremely challenging industry headwinds before and have risen to meet the challenge. I put my faith in the professionals at carriers, forwarders and shippers–they have what it takes to face current problems and find solutions that will keep supply chains flowing and retailers’ shelves stocked.
