Here’s How an End-to-End Cargo Management Platform Can Help Indonesian Businesses Grow

Despite the recent disruptions, Indonesia’s cargo and logistics market has grown significantly. The sector is poised to grow from US$81.30 billion in 2020 to US$138.04 billion in 2026. However, the challenge for many Indonesian businesses is that their logistics costs are much higher than those of their regional neighbours. A report by Proficient Market Insights found that logistics costs in Indonesia range from 25 to 30 percent of national GDP.

CEO and Co-Founder of Shipsy, Soham Chokshi , said that the inflated logistics costs could be attributed to inefficiencies caused by various reasons. These include geographic constraints, lack of digitization, poor visibility over logistics processes, etc.

“The bigger worry is that if this continues, the country will only partially realize its economic potential. The key lies in understanding how to modernize deliberately for sustainable growth. This is how end-to-end shipping management software can help Indonesian companies,” explained Soham, in an official statement in Jakarta, Wednesday (29/3/2023).

Soham said that with the topography of the islands, the dependence on the use of multimodal transportation is very large. This is one of the main reasons behind the high cost of logistics in Indonesia. The inability to track packages across these modes and the lack of customer communication adds to the woes.

An end-to-end delivery management platform can help businesses achieve better visibility across multiple carriers and bulk shipments. Smart management and real-time alerts keep stakeholders informed and ensure greater transparency over shipment movements. Automatic billing, multi-channel functionality and digital document handling further optimize processes making them more cost-effective.

According to him, Indonesia’s cargo and logistics industry is highly fragmented. Processes such as direct inquiries, RFQ, document handling, etc., are managed by different players. The absence of automation makes operations very complicated and results in silos of data and information.

“ A cargo management platform capable of automation provides a consolidated view of all processes on a single dashboard. They also extend integrated information on shipment tracking details through multiple modes and provide real-time updates , documentation and communications centrally. Such a tool helps businesses increase shipping cost savings by 10 percent,” he explained.

Soham’s manual routing and advanced logistics planning also led to poor resource utilization, such as trucks returning empty or half filled which resulted in cost overruns. Older tools do poorly in this regard, because they can’t take many constraints into account.

Advanced freight management takes into account multiple parameters, such as vehicle capacity, shipment volume, weight, size, vehicle make, etc., to plan routes effectively. This reduces the distance traveled and allows the vehicle to utilize its full capacity. Businesses can save money, especially during cold chain logistics, and make the best use of resources. This can increase deliveries per driver by 14%, vehicle capacity utilization by 31%, and savings in optimization and route planning time by 18%.

Unlike legacy tools or one-size-fits-all software, solutions aligned with an organization’s broader digital transformation goals can unlock extraordinary potential.

Businesses can track shipments and get real-time visibility that provides transparency. This newfound visibility empowers businesses to take advantage of the benefits of data-driven delivery management. For example, by Utilizing intelligent freight management tools, businesses can reduce overall transportation costs by 12 percent and SLA gaps by 37 percent. In addition, it facilitates strategic and informed decision-making and increases operational efficiency by minimizing losses due to demurrage, detention and transportation delays.

“Indonesia’s export-import statistics are very promising. Therefore, businesses must be agile to navigate the growth potential. For example, the growing volume of data involved in shipping goods can be used to automate repetitive tasks that are prone to human error. Therefore, decision makers must ensure their technology stack is aligned with broader business goals. Smart tools streamline end-to-end processes, improve procedures, and eliminate inefficiencies when deployed.”