TradeLanes research highlights intermodal havoc

Costs and disruptions from detention and demurrage are wreaking havoc for our intermodal transportation partners, which, of course, affects our overall ability to deliver on time with a good customer experience, according to Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance (SSGA) member TradeLanes.

In a survey of hundreds of large trucking and rail organizations across the country, TradeLanes and the Harbor Trucking Association found that over half of respondents view this issue as having critical negative impacts on their business, threatening their ability to survive.

TradeLanes.co, also surveyed SSGA members and found that our community is negatively affected as well:

• • 33% of respondents are seeing a high negative effect from recent D&D issues, while 67% of members responding to our survey are affected by recent issues of D&D.
  • The average cost of an invoice is more than $500 for 50% of respondents.
  • Concerningly, these issues are wasting time and money, as 87% of the time, invoices are disputed, with 100% of respondents spending more than one hour to dispute and have of those spending two hours disputing each invoice!
  • The most common reason for dispute is ERD data change (75% of respondents).
  • Unfortunately, disputes rarely result in charge waivers, as the vast majority of respondents are successful less than 10% of the time.

TradeLanes has developed a Costings product to help automate the information needed for disputes – and help commodity shippers better manage their COGS.