Written for: Commercial directors and trade management at RoRo and PCTC carriers
Contents
Much of a trade coordinator's day goes to collecting information: checking the booking list, asking sales about a rate, confirming space with operations. The decisions themselves take minutes. Finding out what is true takes hours.
These five decisions recur on most RoRo trades. For each, the question is the same: what would the coordinator need to see to decide in one place?
1. Whether to accept volume beyond allocation
Needs: the customer's allocation use for the period, the contract terms for extra volume, the space left on the right deck and segment, and current spot demand on the lane. Covered in depth in Beyond contract allocation.
2. Which spot request to prioritise
Needs: each request's expected contribution, its fit on the voyage, and how likely the agent is to confirm. A request that pays more but needs scarce deck space may be worth less than two smaller ones.
3. When to release held space
Needs: the date by which held space must be sold, the booking pace on the lane in past voyages, and the cost of sailing with it empty. Release too early and better cargo arrives with nowhere to go. Release too late and the space sails empty.
4. Whether to move cargo to a later sailing
Needs: the customer's flexibility, the later voyage's capacity and the effect on both voyages. A move that rescues one voyage can crowd the next.
5. Whether a rate request needs escalation
Needs: the approved rate range, the customer's history and the margin at the requested rate. Coordinators escalate too much when they cannot see the margin, and too little when they cannot see the limits.
From order taking to yield
When coordinators spend their time collecting data, they take orders. When the data is in front of them, they manage yield. The decisions are the same; the quality and speed of the answers change.
Why this capability matters
Trade coordinators make more commercial decisions than almost anyone else at a carrier. When their time goes to collecting information, the decisions get slower and less consistent. Giving them the right data in one place is one of the most direct ways to improve voyage results.
Pick one recurring decision
Choose one decision your trade coordinators make every week that waits on missing or conflicting information. Bring an example and we will look at what data would settle it.
Cartagena builds these capabilities together with each customer, as tailored solutions on the Microsoft platform.
Discuss one decision