US-based GeoLogistics Corporation chose the Middle East to launch its new automatic tariff pricing solution. Tariffs will provide pricing information on freight orginating from Europe, North America and Asia bound for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Yemen. After a period of evaluation Tariffs will be expanded to allow pricing of cargo orginating from the GCC, stated a press release.
The Tariffs system is a server-based Intranet portal offering instant pricing 24 hours a day. As the first phase was rolled out across GeoLogistic’s internal network comprising Europe, North America and Asia approximately 12 months ago, the result was a 50 percent increase in conversion of RFQs to business, which prompted the company to expand the network to incorporate its exclusive agents and blue-chip customers.
Tariffs allows users to submit request for quotes (RFQ) to move freight by either air or sea. Air freight consignment delivery terms are broken into three catergories - express, priority or standard, delivery times taking one to two, two to three and three to four days respectively. Term of ocean freight fall into either express or standard and are based upon shipping timetables.
The new offering enables users to obtain price breakdowns by route or to request exact pricing when a consignment’s weight and volume is known. Tariffs’ interface offers weight, volume and currency converters as well as a calculator. The site will also list all relevant security surcharges and taxes as well as incorporating an optional insurance coverage section for a route.
“With the launch of Tariffs, the time frame for the fulfilment of a RFQ has been reduced from, in some instances, close to a week’s turn around to instantaneous responses,” said Chief Executive of GeoLogisitics in the Middle East, Steve Finch. The new service offering underwent two years of research and development costing GeoLogistics in excess of two million dollars. The product was developed completely in-house.
In addition to launching Tariffs, GeoLogistics will use the launch to set tariff pricing scales for each agency’s area of operations as well as educate regional agencies in the use of Tariffs. “Prices will be set for each route and the data loaded into the Tariff database. We envisage the first phase of the Tariffs roll out to be completed by the first week of March.”
The GeoLogistics Corporation is one of the largest, non-asset based global logistics providers headquartered in North America, with annual revenues in excess of one billion dollars. The corporation’s services include freight forwarding and customs brokerage, warehousing, project forwarding, time-definite distribution and other value-added services, including consulting and supply chain management. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
