Strengthening Fleet Supply Chain Resilience

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Over the past few years, global supply chains have been buckling under the strain of unprecedented demand. Commercial fleets have been particularly affected. Alongside responding to an uptick in eCommerce demand during the COVID-19 pandemic, organisations face rising operational costs due to soaring fuel prices.

As such, it’s essential that fleet businesses carefully assess their supply chain risk and introduce appropriate measures to make them more resilient and more efficient for the future.

To this end, organisations should begin by undertaking a thorough supply chain risk assessment to identify weaknesses. Deficiencies can then be addressed through proper mitigation strategies. Consider the following strategies for strengthening fleet supply chain resilience:

• Timely planning—Smart planning and inventory management can help fleet businesses stay ahead of supply chain issues. Deliveries should be planned ahead of time, factoring in any public holidays or weather concerns. This way, crucial packaging errors can be avoided, keeping logistic costs down.
• Consolidated shipments—Shipping goods in full container loads is safer, cheaper and faster. However, should the cost-of-living crisis reduce demand, freight containers could travel at reduced capacity, driving up delivery costs. Instead, companies could consider collaborating with other suppliers to consolidate cargo.
• Outsourced processes—Maintaining a supply chain strategy while managing a fleet business can be hard. As such, outsourcing certain elements of the chain may be beneficial. And organisations won’t be alone in doing so—66% of logistic leaders increased their outsourcing budget in 2021, according to management consulting company Gartner.
• Digital adoption—Fleet businesses are seeing profit margins squeezed by high fuel bills. Therefore, now is a good time to innovate and eliminate waste. Digital adoption—with its potential to simplify and speed processes up—is one way to achieve this. Whether that's using a sat nav with live traffic information to help your drivers avoid roadworks and heavy traffic or a logistics system that cuts down the admin for drivers at each stop with a quick scan and upload facility, technology can bring about huge increases in efficiency and profitability. 
• Insured futures - Finally, freight and transport insurance can help protect organisations from unwanted risk exposure and a better-insured organisation will always receive favourable terms when it comes to seeking financial support or investment as its future is better protected.

For more information on transport insurance or risk mitigation strategies for your fleet, contact our team of Transport and logistics insurance experts today.