Freight transportation is a highly demanded business sector today. Transport companies will always be in the black if there is a need to transport goods or to move. However, why do some firms go bankrupt? Just because their owners initially led the wrong business policies. The strongest survives in the freight market, and this is a fact. But how not to become bankrupt and how to open a transportation company from scratch? You will find answers to all these and many other questions in the course of our article today.
Choosing a work scheme
Before you open a transport company, you should determine the appropriate scheme of work. There are two options:
- Organization of own transport company with its own fleet of trucks. In this case, you can rent a car or purchase them in the right amount by renewing them to an individual or legal entity. In addition, if you are counting on a large share of cargo transportation, you should hire qualified working personnel (mostly drivers). If the company’s budget is small, you can hire a driver with a personal car. So you save not only time on the search for suitable personnel, but also money on the purchase of your own fleet.
- Provision of forwarding services. In this case, your company turns into a dispatch service for freight traffic. The essence of her work is to find outside carriers. Thus, firms get pretty high profits. On average, they charge from 5 to 10 percent of the total cost of transportation (for 1 freight). And this is in the complete absence of its own fleet and a minimum set of working personnel. In general, the business is also very profitable.
How to open a dispatch services transportation company? Pitfalls and more
The scheme of work of a company providing forwarding services is quite simple: the cargo owner - dispatcher - cargo carrier. What does it mean? A dispatch company connects the owner of the cargo with the carrier with the goal of mutually beneficial cooperation. In this case, the forwarding company takes into account all the interests of these two parties.
How to gain your carrier base?
In order to make a profit, first the company must have its carrier base, otherwise there will be no one to cooperate with. Here you can make a list of transport companies and private carriers - owners of freight transport.
You need to compile this base in such a way that you can organize not only automobile types of cargo transportation, but also sea, air or rail. Most modern forwarding companies operate according to this scheme. However, at first you can try yourself only in one form of transportation (it is desirable that this was road transport).
Documents
All companies and drivers with whom you will cooperate must have a full package of registration and authorization documents. An agreement should be concluded with the owner of the freight transport, since without it the dispatch company would be responsible for the delivery and safety of the freight. What should be indicated in this document? When making an agreement, pay attention to the following points:
- Shipping Name.
- Its mass.
- Type of cargo carried.
- Volume.
- Place of loading / unloading.
- Type and number of the vehicle.
- Penalties for the failure of delivery (forfeit).
At the bottom of the contract, indicate the signature and seal of both parties (carrier and dispatching company). Documents are exchanged in several ways: by fax or e-mail. Delivery of goods can also be paid in several ways: in cash (when loading / unloading) or by bank transfer.
In the latter case, payment is made within 7-14 banking days. But, as practice shows, money by "non-cash" may not come in a month (fortunately, this happens very rarely).
How to open a shipping company?
First of all, you will have to think about purchasing a transport, as in this case, you just can not do without it. How does the transport company work? The whole essence of your company’s work will be to search for orders (this can be done through the same dispatch services) and to deliver goods in various directions.
Thus, trucks will be the main “gear” in the work of the entire huge mechanism of the carrier company. Many start-up companies rent a car fleet. But if your initial capital is large enough, it is best to buy your own trucks and not pay monthly rents, as in the previous case.
When the number of vehicles in your fleet will be 15 or more units, think about building your own service station or about tight cooperation with a specific company engaged in the maintenance of such equipment.
How to open an office?
Where exactly your office will be located does not matter. And if you decide to equip it, be sure to connect a multi-channel telephone to it. Next, you should think about buying furniture, office equipment and take the Internet. In general, an office for such a company that deals with the delivery of goods is not a mandatory aspect.
Most often, it is needed by dispatch companies that simply do not have their own fleet of vehicles. If you are a private carrier, open a website instead of an office. There you can specify all the detailed information about your company, tariffs, as well as post photos of the fleet. So you are definitely interested in a customer who wants to work with your company.
Company staff
When drawing up a business plan for a transport company, it is impossible not to touch upon the problem of employing employees in your company. Is it worth it to hire people in your company? The question is very controversial. And the exact answer to it depends on the scale of transportation and the number of pieces of equipment. Agree, why hire a dozen people if you have only one car.
With the role of the driver, you can completely do it yourself. When there are about 20-50 cars in the fleet, of course, you will not be able to carry goods on them. And keeping track of so many cars will be very difficult. That is why large companies hire qualified employees to work. What are the positions in the transport company?
The scheme here is very simple: the company has a director who supervises the activities of his subordinates, a sales manager who works with customers-cargo owners, and a dispatcher who will select suitable orders.
However, the main link is still the drivers. Their number will depend on the number of vehicles. To reduce delivery time, you can combine the work of two drivers together. In this case, the truck will not waste time on various stops, because while one partner is sleeping, the other is driving the whole time. The transportation time is reduced by almost 2 times. When preparing a business plan for a transport company, pay particular attention to this.
All this is good, but who will do the paperwork?
Before you open your transport business from scratch, you should think about the competent preparation of all expeditionary documents. Accountants, who will also keep records of all expenses and income of the company, may well cope with this task.Again, the number of employees involved in this area depends on the size of the firm and its “promotion”.
How to choose the name of the transport company?
The name of the company in the first place should be serious and memorable. No comic names should be used. Although the customer will remember them, it is unlikely that he will cooperate with such a company. The following prefixes can be used in the name:
- "Express".
- "Trance".
- "Transport".
These are the most common words used in the names of shipping companies. You can combine them in any order: "Europe-Trans", "Kiev-Transport", "Russia-Express" and so on. When compiling a business plan for a company, do not allow your company name to be similar to the names of your competitors.
Where to advertise?
Advertising must necessarily be included in the business plan of the transport company, since the total profitability of the enterprise will depend on it. For a large number of people to be interested in your services, it is necessary to correctly compose the text of the announcement and place it in various places.
It’s best to start from the Internet: find sites for searching for goods and cars and place your ad there. Often, for this you need to register and click on the “Add your car” item (but each site has this name differently).
Also advertise in business directories and newspapers. You can use outdoor advertising (billboards), and it is best to put it on the back of your truck.
So, we found out how to open a transportation company for the transportation of goods and how to open a company to provide dispatch services.
