Logistics & Supply Chain Audit

Cutting Freight Waste on Asian Routes

Freight costs from the UK to Southeast Asia rose for many of our clients over the last 12 months. We start by reviewing your shipping manifests from the last 6 months to see exactly where your money is going. Many Manchester-based SMEs pay for premium shipping slots they do not need because their local forwarders lack staff on the ground in ports like Hai Phong or Cat Lai. We look for these gaps where you are paying for speed you aren't actually getting.

Our team of 5 specialists performs a deep dive into your current carrier contracts. In October 2024, we helped a machinery firm near Manchester save £2,300 on a single shipment by correcting their port storage schedule in Ho Chi Minh City. We don't use vague theories; we use raw data from your last 14 shipments to find patterns of delay or overcharging. If a carrier is consistently late, we tell you which alternative to use based on real-time port performance.

The audit process follows a strict 21-day timeline. During the first week, we gather your data and customs paperwork. In the second week, we map your routes and identify 'dead zones' where goods sit idle. By the third week, we provide a fixed-fee report with 3 clear actions to lower your costs. Honestly, we will tell you straight if your current setup is already as good as it gets, though that only happens in about 8% of the cases we see.

• HS Code Verification: We check if your goods are classified correctly to prevent duty overpayment.
• Carrier Benchmarking: We compare your current rates against 12 major lines operating from Liverpool and Southampton.
• Port Fee Audit: We identify hidden terminal handling charges that forwarders often overlook.
• Lead Time Optimization: We cut the days your capital is tied up in shipping containers.

We handle the difficult conversations with your carriers so you don't have to. If we find you are being overcharged, we provide the specific data points needed to renegotiate your rates. We have delivered 47 of these audits since 2019, and the average saving we find is roughly 11.4% on quarterly logistics spend. We prefer working with firms that ship at least one container per month to ensure the audit provides a high return on your investment.

Heads-up: This service requires you to share your full shipping history and current contracts with us. If you aren't comfortable opening your books for a 3-week period, this won't be a good fit. We focus on straight talk about Asian trade and don't offer any fluff—just hard numbers and better routes.