Digital Marine news

How much money can one save if trucks don’t stand in line?

Lines of trucks in warehouses and terminals are not only lost profits but also direct damage to all participants in the supply chain. And it’s not difficult to calculate the damage

Recently, a carrier contacted the editorial office of ATI, his truck got stuck for several days in the industrial park Vorsino (Kaluga Region). He said that dozens of truckers have long been waiting for unloading at the gates of one of the local enterprises: some of them drove up recently, and someone stood for more than a week. A week-long queue is an extraordinary case, but perhaps all truck owners are familiar with long delays.
Transport downtime incurs losses. Typically, carriers try to minimize it by requiring compensation for the delay.
“In order to receive compensation, it is first necessary to fix the time of arrival,” says Sergey Bogatov, head of the Bogatov Group law firm. - This can be done by noting in the register at the checkpoint. If the truck is not allowed into the territory, you can draw up an act to interrupt the loading. In addition, you can send a message about the delay to the address of the object by attaching GPS data to it. The latter method is often applied in practice, especially at large network facilities, when being late in one minute can cause the car to refuse to be unloaded until the next day.The amount of compensation, the lawyer notes, is prescribed in the contract. Usually, it is 1000-1500 rubles per day. Do not forget that the amount grows in proportion to the number of waiting trucks.

Serious problems can begin if the carrier decides to take the goods back or deliver them to a temporary storage warehouse (TSW).
- “When the customer refuses to receive the goods, the carrier should request information from the shipper and find out what needs to be done. And if the shipper does not respond, the cargo can be taken either back or to the TSW, and then proceed according to the situation,” the lawyer explains. - If the consignee is not right in this story, then all expenses within the framework of judicial procedures can be transferred to him.

Who loses the most?

The largest losses from the queues are suffered by enterprises that own both logistics facilities and trucks. These are manufacturing plants, retail chains with their own fleets and transport companies that own warehouses and terminals.
Such companies will not be able to claim compensation from themselves. They simply pay for fuel, for the working hours of employees, for possible supply disruptions.
Comparatively small lines, in which trucks stand idle for 20-60 minutes, bring losses. The cost of an hour of LCV operation can exceed 500 RUB, and a heavy truck - 1500 RUB. Transport owners lose tens of thousands of rubles a month due to downtime, and the larger the fleet, the more significant the losses. Drivers should not be forgotten, especially if they get paid “off the wheel”: long delays affect their motivation and can result in scandals, layoffs, and difficulties in finding new staff.
But even if the drivers are employees of third-party transport companies, you should not neglect their time. Queues hit the pocket of counterparties and create a real risk of losing a reliable and trusted carrier. In addition, overloading the access control mode increases the risk of errors in paperwork and, like drivers, demotivates checkpoint workers, causing similar personnel problems.

With pinpoint accuracy

The electronic queue management system (QMS, Queue Management System) helps to solve the problem - similar to those that operate in banks or clinics. Going on a route, the driver visits the site of the enterprise and receives a “number” in the form of an SMS message: now he knows where and what time he needs to arrive. Logisticians at the facility will also know when this or that car will come to them and will be able to plan their work in advance. They do not have to keep a manual record of data on drivers and vehicles: electronic copies of documents, including cargo, can be attached to QMS. This eliminates errors in accounting, speeds up the approval and verification process, and increases the permeability of vehicles in time.Queue management systems reduce costs, streamline workflows and increase the loyalty of drivers and contractors. Choosing between several similar orders, carriers, and forwarders will undoubtedly poison the car to where it will be possible to quickly and seamlessly boot. A warehouse working with jewelry accuracy will save its owner from a host of problems, the solution of each of which takes time and money.

The results of the QMS implementation show: the throughput capacity of warehouses and terminals equipped with such systems increases by 3-5%, which has a positive effect on revenue.
“The introduction of an auto-visit system with“ temporary slots ”can bring tens of thousands of euros per year to the owner of the warehouse or terminal,” says Alex Yenshin, CPO in Marine Digital. - For example, the Riga Sea Terminal, working with bulk and general cargo with a turnover of 400,000 tons per year, according to the results of the pilot project, plans to increase cargo turnover by 20,000 tons and earn an additional € 40,000, which is already more than 3,000 000 rubles, the price of two or even three forklifts.
Qline is one of the simplest and at the same time the most efficient electronic queuing systems, which operates in several warehouses and terminals of the European Union. Qline is a cloud service. This means that you do not have to waste time installing and putting into operation. A normal web browser is sufficient for use.
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