Why Diverse Shipping Equipment is Key for a Fast and Agile Shipping Process

08/01/2024

For companies to remain profitable and successfully navigate variations in demand, good supply chain management is vital. Supply chain management is the supplier’s effort to develop and implement supply chains that are as efficient and economical as possible. Businesses can ensure they have good supply chain management by keeping control of internal inventories, such as internal production, distribution, and sales. They should also monitor the inventories of company vendors, to reduce excess costs whilst still delivering products to their customers as quickly as possible.

In order to provide reliable supply chain management support, MSC has been committed to investing in a full portfolio of services and equipment strategically selected or designed to help clear bottlenecks and manage circumstances that can impact your global supply chains.

What is Volume Flexibility?

Volume flexibility is the ability to adjust and adapt the volume of goods being imported and exported depending on demand and inventory levels. Providing volume flexibility for customers is especially important for certain commodities that have peak seasons in their demand. In some instances, commodity volume fluctuates to such an extent that during peak seasons companies need to request shipping services from more than one shipping company. This occurs if their original shipping company doesn’t have the scale to accommodate their full cargo volume.

Why you should look for a shipping company with scale?

The fewer ships and services a shipping company has, the less space they can offer to their customers. At MSC, we pride ourselves on not only having a large global fleet but also having the flexibility to adjust our different services to accommodate as much volume as possible.

Choosing the right shipping container.

The type and size of your shipping container will be dependent on the type of cargo being shipped. For example, if you wanted to ship a product like chairs, which don’t require temperature control then a reefer container isn’t needed.

Depending on the number of chairs you’re looking to ship, you could opt for one of MSC’s 20DV containers (dry volume containers). Alternatively, you could choose from a number of other containers available with MSC, including:

40 DV
40 HC (High cube)
45 HC
Multiple 20 DV containers

It is quite common for businesses to combine different container types and sizes to ensure they have enough for the volume of cargo they’re looking to ship. For example, you could choose to use 3 lots of 20 DV containers and 1 40 DV container to carry your goods.

Reasons for a container imbalance.

As imports and exports are not the same globally, a container imbalance can occasionally occur. For example, some countries import or export more fresh produce than others, meaning they have a greater number of reefer containers. Equally, other countries have a greater need to ship heavy goods, meaning they will require more open top containers and flat racks.

Ultimately, containers and other shipping equipment goes around as it comes around.

Why can't Shipping Companies just Use the Biggest Containers?

In order to fully utilise all available vessel space, it’s important to use the right equipment to maximise the capacity of both the vessel and the total transported volume.

If you can only offer 40DV containers, instead of a selection of 40DV and 20DV you’ll be limited in the amount of containers you can ship each voyage. Maximising the number of containers, a vessel can carry is also a crucial part of ensuring that your shipments are as sustainable as possible.

To ensure your overall shipping process is smooth and reliable, it’s important to work with a shipping company like MSC who can offer you the most appropriate container for your cargo and help advise you on the right type of container for your shipment.

The importance of additional equipment during shipping

In some cases, businesses will need more than just a container. If your cargo requires a reefer container, you need to be able to trust that your shipping company has all the equipment and resources available to guarantee that your goods arrive at their final destination unspoiled.

We pride ourselves on being able to offer our customers, a variety of equipment, transportation options, and expert advice to ensure that your supply chain can run as smoothly and effectively as possible.