Major Weather Events: How Can You Manage Your International Shipping?
With the change in seasons from winter in the northern hemisphere to spring and summer, plus the change from summer to winter in the southern hemisphere, there is an increase in major weather events. These can include hurricanes, tornados, flooding, thunderstorms, and even tsunamis.
If any of these events happen in one of your shipping lanes, it can negatively affect your business. To avoid losing inventory or raw materials and potential delays, it is important to understand to manage your international freight shipping effectively with your customs brokers.
The Impact of Severe Weather
Severe weather plays a role in shipping delays in a number of ways. First, it can result in power outages that do not allow ships to dock, unload, reload, and head out to sea. Booking shipments or finding trucks gets more complicated as bad weather can limit carrier capacity.
Terminals can be closed due to poor road conditions or damage to the terminal itself. Even if the terminal can process shipments, it may be at a limited capacity, which can end up impacting the facility for weeks, even if they are back to normal capacity in just a few days.
Additionally, severe weather can damage infrastructure, making getting shipments off the docks and delivered to their destinations harder. With all this in mind, how can you successfully manage your supply chain and international shipping to reduce delays and the negative impact on your business?
Have Multiple Suppliers
The truth is that one weather event can end up stopping any export shipments from leaving a country, causing significant international freight shipping delays. If you have a limited inventory, those delays could leave you unable to meet the demand of your customers. Therefore, diversification of your suppliers is critical. Doing so will give you options to receive essential inventory or raw materials regardless of the weather conditions.
Plan for Weather Conditions
If certain weather events are more likely to occur where your import shipments are received, consider having shipments come in earlier or send them to a different port. Another option is to order larger inventory shipments before the severe weather season, thus giving you a supply that can help you manage demand if there are any delays.
Work with Customs Brokers
International freight shipping comes with a variety of challenges. If paperwork is not completed properly or timely, you risk shipment delays by both weather and paperwork. When a customs broker is involved, they can minimize potential delays by filing paperwork correctly. Additionally, they can assist you in determining the best shipping options to ensure your imports and exports are not unnecessarily delayed.
By working with a customs broker in one of the busiest international ports, you can access their expertise in international freight shipping. Our team is ready to assist your business, both during the severe weather season and beyond.
Atlanta Customs Brokers is one of the oldest and most trusted customs brokerage and shipping firms in Atlanta. Established in 1985, our company has been a fixture in and around the Atlanta airport and Savannah port for more than 31 years. We enjoy working with our international partners and enjoy what we do. If you are a first-time importer, exporter, or a large corporation, we can handle your needs.