What is a Bill of Lading?

Why BOL Processing is Important

The primary use of the BOL is to be a receipt distributed by the carrier once the goods have been loaded onto the container. This receipt can be used as proof of shipment for the carrier, as well as used for customs and insurance needs.

Having a clean BOL becomes especially important when it comes to looking for ways to improve accuracy rates and turnaround times.

Accuracy Rates

Accurate BOLs are very important. They must be signed and dated correctly so to record the actual date that the cargo was loaded. If a BOL is post-dated there can be serious consequences: the company can be exposed to claims from cargo interests, which in-turn, may mean that P&I cover is no longer available.

BOLs are legal contracts which can be used in litigation. When a BOL is inaccurate a freight claim may be put into action, which opens up a whole can of worms that would be best if avoided in the first place.

Turnaround Times

Two words – competitive advantage. If you want the be on top, your turnaround times have to be faster, better, smarter and more accurate than the other guys.

Shipping goods in an efficient manner is crucial for the success of a business. Be that as it may, many companies do not have the capacity to process bill of lading documents. This hinders their supply chain and can decrease the speed of shipment. In these cases, it is recommended to outsource this part of the back office process to experts such as DDC FPO, who have the capacity and expertise to consolidate BOL data entry and improve the efficiency of your logistics procedures. 

Customer Satisfaction

A satisfied customer is a loyal customer. And these days customers have changing expectations. They want full transparency into where their delivery is at all times. Now, the location of a package is as interconnected as your social network. In fact, as customer expectations have increased, their willingness to pay for fast shipping has decreased -with just about 64 percent of consumers unwilling to pay anything extra for less than two-day shipping (Schiller, Maier, and Büchle, Global Truck Study 2016).

Cost Containment and Savings

There is a lot of great advice out there on how to make improvement when it comes to cost-containment and savings. In particular, when examining BOLs, a significant path to success comes with automation.

By automating and optimizing manual BOL processes, a company can reduce dependencies on staff, and production operations can be centralized to lower-cost areas that will create a more proactive approach to maintaining customer satisfaction. Employing an automated, cost-effective transportation / logistics system also allows a company to implement vital strategic changes that provide visibility, reduce costs and increase customer service levels.

The Future of Freight Billing

Online Shopping Changed Everything

Brick-and-mortar sales have dramatically shifted to online purchases. The impact of this shift has increased the demands on the transportation infrastructure. It has become more complex and much more collaborative with others across the industry as a whole. It used to be that one truck would move one large load from a distribution center directly to a specific retail location.

Now, that same load may travel on many different trucks filled with less than half of goods to travel the last mile to several different types of locations.

Digital Gadgets

Freight carriers have placed sensors on their fleet and are integrating the data from across the supply chain. This allows for the carriers to create a virtual network that displays the whole delivery from start to end.

Smarter Distribution Centers

In the past, or current depending on how savvy you are, there would be one or two distribution centers, per retailer per state. Smart Lockers have changed this landscape. Smart Lockers are accessible but secure locations that provide retailers, logistic companies, businesses, and individuals space to temporarily store goods for customers to pick up at varying times.

The benefits they provide allow for retailers to combine multiple drop-offs into a single delivery. Beyond being ‘smart’, these lockers are also mobile, which allows them to meet the delivery workers at different locations throughout the city. This helps to minimize the time between drop-offs and increases the productivity of the worker by allowing them to complete more jobs in less time.

Sharing Assets

Sharing assets provides plenty of benefit to the transportation industry and allows them to accomplish more by leveraging their network’s infrastructure. By sharing assets with a close network, a local carrier is enabled to deliver outside of their typical area, which increases the utilization of their assets purely by expanding their reach.

This is a great idea in theory but it isn’t always as simple when you think of integrating one network with the shared network. It is essential to adopt a transparent, live platform that gives all users visibility into real-time insight.

Alternative Delivery Vehicles

Over a year ago, Nikola Motors showcased an electric truck that is also fueled by hydrogen. This truck demonstrated an impressive 800- to 1,200-mile range with up to 1,000 horsepower. That’s more than 2x the amount of the current diesel truck.

Tesla is also working to create heavy-duty trucks for densely populated urban transportation. It promises to reduce the cost of cargo and improve overall safety.

The addition of drones may become an excellent complement to the trucking industry. They can take the short distance deliveries off the hands of the worker in a much more cost-effective manner.

The Changing Customer Expectation

Customers have changing expectations. They want full transparency into where their delivery is at all times. These days, the location of a package is as interconnected as your social network. In fact, as customer expectations have increased, their willingness to pay for fast shipping has decreased with just about 64 percent of consumers unwilling to pay anything extra for less than two-day shipping (Schiller, Maier, and Büchle, Global Truck Study 2016).

Building The Fleet Of The Future

Telematics is essential to building a connected fleet. Many carriers are making this investment and understand that direct data capture is the first action towards valuable insight. Using this data will be a differentiator as the popularity of telematics loses its luster as well, and the increase of IoT applications become more prominent.

This only means that availability of the data will continue to grow. It will be essential for companies to create actionable insights from the date in real time. Businesses cannot afford to take a week to collect, analyze and decide.