The modern freight delivery industry is a robust one, and all around the world, vehicles are delivering packages by land, sea, and air. On land, semi trucks are an affordable way to deliver items to retailers, and a lot of land trade is done via truck (such as the Canada-USA border). Meanwhile, to ship goods even further, a shipper will hire carrier companies that offer jets and naval ships. Air and ocean cargo can be delivered with great speed if necessary, and cargo shipping can deliver many tons of goods at once. Freight shipping companies in the U.S. can deliver to the Caribbean and Latin America, and someone shipping goods to the South American coast might enter “puerta puerta venezuela”, for example, to find port to port shipping options. Searching for something like “puerta puerta venezuela” may require the aid of a purchasing agent, though, along with some language skills. How might this be done?
All About Freight
When it comes to air and ocean logistics, many studies and surveys can confirm the size and profit of this industry, not to mention its popularity. A semi truck cannot ship items from Miami to Venezuela or Haiti, but a ship or jet can. Air cargo services transported nearly $6.4 trillion worth of cargo back in 2012, as an example, and some airlines are cargo-only. Other jets might deliver passengers and cargo alike. Still, Boeing reported in 2012 that 60% of air cargo was delivered in cargo-only jets. Also, estimates once said that by the end of 2013, the air cargo industry would generate an impressive $75.4 billion in profits. Overall, around 30% of all cargo shipped around the world (based on value) is delivered by plane.
Ships have their own role to play, and they go to and from ports around the globe. This is when a carrier might look up foreign options such as “puerta puerta venezuela”, for example, so a ship can go straight to an American port to one along the Venezuela coast. Ships can deliver thousands of tons of cargo at once, using distinct and colorful steel shipping containers to haul it all. Finished goods and raw materials alike can be transported this way, from raw steel or lumber to foodstuffs and automobiles. Such ships can deliver a lot more cargo at once than any truck or jet can. More specifically, based on value, ocean ships carry 53% of all American imports and 38% of all American exports.
Ships can reach docks that land based vehicles cannot, and jets are useful because they travel very fast, regardless of the terrain under them. Trains, trucks, and ships can only go so far, but a jet can land anywhere with a runway, and they can go over the ocean, over desert, mountains, cities, and more with impunity. This is quite useful for making deliveries to remote areas or locations with rough geography. What is more, jets travel very fast, and they make expedited deliveries possible. If a buyer requests a 24 hour or “overnight” delivery, a jet will make that possible, where a ship or truck would be too slow. Crews at the airport will load priority goods onto a jet, and that jet will fly at once to its destination. Crews there will unload the items and load them onto local vehicles to finish the delivery.
Purchasing Agents
Often, a wholesale buyer will not even make orders directly. Rather, they will hire one or more purchasing agents, who do just that: place orders on behalf of their client. This is a busy job with many responsibilities. This agent will not only carefully track their client’s inventory to determine when a purchase will be made, but also look around to find the fastest, most reliable, and most cost-efficient carrier to use. This includes shipping items to foreign nations, and entering a phrase such as “puerta puerta venezuela” or “shipping to the Dominican republic” may be part of the job. The purchasing agent will also receive shipment tracking information, to know when a package left a dock or airport and get updates as it arrives at various checkpoints. This helps the agent notify their client and give them an estimated date of delivery.
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