6 Key Questions To Ask When You’re Choosing the Right Logistics Service Provider in the Philippines

Picking out the perfect logistics service provider for your business is hard especially when you’re choosing from a sea of companies in the Philippines. You have to be meticulous because it is more than just business; it is a partnership between two different corporations who possess distinct ideals and principles. In order to get that partnership going smoothly, here are 6 important questions to ask your logistics services provider:

1) What is the company’s history?

As stated by Harvard Business Publishing, an intricate understanding of the past is one of the most powerful tools we have for shaping the future. The history of a company is an important factor in knowing their identity, purpose and goals. Once you have those in place, you are one step closer to getting to know them on a much deeper level. How long the company has been operating and how extensive their network is are just some of the most important things to consider.

2) What is the company’s central philosophy?

A business philosophy is a set of beliefs and principles that a company strives to work toward. A company’s vision, mission and goals are more than just a list of mandates; they give life to a company’s central purpose. Your company’s ‘philosophy’ also serves as a code of conduct for decision-making processes.

3) What kind logistics services do you propose for my business?

An accurate view of your logistic needs should always be met by your business partner. Research is a key when it comes to expecting your demands. From the initial stage such as supplying to the final stage like warehousing, a remarkable provider would know the process inside out. An extensive knowledge of your needed services is a reflection of the provider’s accountability.

4) How do you deal with operational disruptions?

Unexpected challenges are always experienced in any workplace but how it is handled is very significant. Thinking on your feet in times of unforeseen events is a way to know whether the logistics provider can provide efficient solutions and if they’ll make a good partner. Don’t hesitate to ask them if they have cargo insurance in case of theft, damage or loss.

5) Is your company technologically deft?

Technology plays a huge role in logistics. First, it increases the operational efficiency of various functional areas. Second, processing and analysis are done swiftly. Third, it facilitates system automation. Everything is faster and more efficient with technology. All of these result to cutting of costs, too.

6) Is your company an affiliate in professional associations and accreditations?

Validation from other associations is a sign of commitment to the craft. One of the country’s freight organizations, the Cold Chain Association of the Philippines (CCAP), specializes in the supply chain of chilled/frozen food products and other temperature controlled product storage. They promote and raise standards of the local cold chain industry by providing forums, training seminars and active sharing of ideas among its members. Joining associations establishes formal linkages making the company accredited.

If your probable third-party logistics provider has a foolproof answer to all of these questions, then you can now commence with your business matters. Building trust is the core factor not only in choosing a logistics service provider here in the Philippines but also in starting a relationship with your possible business partner.

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Currency, Trade and Sea Freight in the Philippines: How Did They All Start?

Ever wondered how the trading system in the Philippines started? Is there a big difference in the evolution of Philippine numismatics? The development of the Philippine currency is not something that usually comes up in a conversation but once you have scratched the surface of this occurrence in Philippine history, you might be surprised by how opulent the story is. Sea freight in the Philippines, too, is a part of the country’s rich history.

Pre-Hispanic Era

The earliest form of trade was through barter. The early Filipinos exchanged goods or services without the use of money which caused some inefficiencies. As detailed by Choose Philippines, the system’s heavy reliance on the discretion of the two parties led to its demise. It was then replaced by gold. Well before the Spaniards colonized the Philippines, gold was the early form of currency. Barter rings and gold coins or Piloncitos were recognized as the first coinage of the country.

Image Source: bit.ly/2bx7CHb

Acquisition of products came from neighboring countries such as China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, Siam and India through the Port of Cebu (Pantalan Of Sugbo). This was as one of the earliest forms of sea freight in the Philippines. Cebu (which was then called Zubu), was already considered as a “bustling trading center” which was vital for its economic growth. This led to Cebu being dubbed as the “Queen City of the South”.

From other parts of the Philippines, the Port of Manila (Seludong or Sleurung) was also an important form of sea freight in Philippine for it was a part of Ancient Tondo. Tundu (as Tondo, Manila was called during that time) was a thriving Indianized kingdom in the 9th Century. Diplomatic ties with China during the Ming Dynasty were also prominent and the city had a strong alliance with Brunei. Tondo back then was a prosperous city.

Image Source: oocities.org

Spanish Era

When the Spaniards colonized the Philippines, the trading industry in the Philippines flourished which initiated the Galleon trade (Kalakalang Galyon ng Maynila at Acapulco). This made the Philippines known as a trade center for oriental goods. Trades from Acapulco and Mexico to Manila transpired. The form of currency then were through “cobs”, “macuquinas”, “pillar dollars” and “counter stamped coins.” These were in silver.

In the 18th century, because of the Ayuntamiento of Manila, it was declared that barillas (crude bronze or copper coin worth about a centavo) should be used due to shortage of coins. In 1852, peso fuertes, were issued, making it the first banknote of the Philippines.

The discovery of the route from Acapulco-Manila Galleon trading was a pivotal event that ignited modern and Liberal ideas. According to Philippine-History, Basco’s Reforms enabled a self-sustaining trading system that helped the economic growth of the Philippines.

Image Source: coolbuster.net

Image Source: http://bit.ly/2bNBLEe

Image Source: bworldonline.com

Screenshot from youtube.com

The Aftermath

A lot has changed ever since the Colonial period. The Philippine currency experienced several tweaks. Coins turned into paper bills and paper bills changed its size and color. Trading is much more than a simple ‘exchange of goods’. Gone are the days when you would barter your fish with chicken. Sea freight since then opened the doors to the Philippines’ globalization!

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Logistics Services getting Richer by the Minute

If your functional image of logistics services in the Philippines is two guys inside a moving truck on the North Luzon Expressway, one of them driving while the other rakes in much-needed sleep, rushing at 90KPH and, to you, it seems like “just another day on the road”, well, there’s a big secret that you just don’t get at the mean time.

They could be the people making a lot of online businesses richer by the minute.

And why not! In the US, the trend of E-Commerce sales has continually grown since 2014 and can only get bigger in the years to come. This is spelling a lot of opportunity for people with big ideas but only have internet connection. Although not all endeavors in the internet industry involves trucking and delivering specific goods (like mobile applications, games, and various internet-based services), it is still amazing how much people will pay just to get something that they can’t get their hands on where they are.

Take eBay. A lot of users have made a living from using the platform to initially establish their business and this involves selling “junk” that they have to people who want them elsewhere. Since 1995, this has been the business machinery that, today, makes eBay earn as much as 19M daily.

You may be asking “what does have to do with logistics?”

Well, almost everything apparently, and logistics being the heart of the business of eBay is especially true for the infamous and well-trusted Lazada. Especially for Lazada PH, a lot of users find that not only does the retailer offer a lot of items for up to 70% off on their retail price but they also deliver on time, some of them receiving their packages just after a day or two! Sure, there are some issues with scams and fake products, but all those are from fakers who use wrongly spelled varieties of Lazada’s URL.

To prove how important logistics is, let’s take Lazada again. It has seen it’s worse performance just halfway through 2016 in the guise of, and you guessed it, and inefficient logistics partner. According to a LinkedIn user Apple Allison’s very detailed experience, she had a very good experience with the brand’s “Effortless Shopping”, as catch phrased by Lazada themselves. She however struggled so much with how long one of their orders came and how difficult it was to get the logisticians to cooperate. The well-known logistic service provider in the Philippines event went so far as to suggest they just go ahead and pick up their product from the warehouse.

As much as trying to do business online is concerned, when selling actual items that you’re supposed to ship, reliability is what must define the logistic service in the Philippines that will deliver your cupcakes, hardware, handicrafts, or whatever that is that’s going to be the next thing that breaks the internet market.

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Brief Timeline History: Sea freight Forwarding

The world was surrounded with a huge amount of bodies of water. Before the invention of technologies, people was not able to go through neighboring countries without being stopped by the unstoppable bodies of water that could swallow them up but for some reasons people was still able to advance on their natives ways and resulted to innovations that changes how living works.

Innovations that conquered the world little by little extending to the birth of business. As for business concerns, people had come grown to developing new technologies each day. They’ve developed such inventiveness that even transporting good through the sea is made possible. Created wonderful watercraft ready to carry large sum of loads. And given way to make freight forwarding a reliable way of delivering goods.

Sea transport, people’s way of carrying goods from one place to another by means of a vessel. Upon the idea of the sea transport, ship transport has been the familiar name, this transport could either be by a boat, ship, sailboat or barge to any distance may it be through oceans, lakes, canals, and along rivers. In simplest terms, it is any material that could be moved through the sea.

Shipping containers have been around for quite some time but when you go 60 years back, such machinery has not been possible and this luxury of having goods transported through the sea was just a dream of the visionary.

I think it’s about time that we delve into the goodness and greatness of the before and rise of shipping containers. On what was the means before such has been invented and how it finally came to be.

Before the rise of Shipping Containers

It was of known facts that people has been able to transport not just themselves but food and other goods as well just ask the Egyptians, Greeks, Roman and more recently the British. Though they may be able to ship goods themselves, it was clearly not under any standards resulting to slow and ineffective process.

Break bulk cargo has been the popular choice at that time where they store the goods in a warehouse and load them by hand onto the ship once it is ready for transport. And the ships could only carry 200,000 pieces of cargo.

It was until early 1900’s that the issue of lack of standardization has been greatly seen which slowed the flow of business for quite some time. This method has been so slow that transferring cargo from ships to train became a cry for help. For centuries, this method was the only way to transport goods. Imagine how tiring and slow it must have been.

The name Malcolm Mclean

Malcolm Mclean born on 14th November, 1913, an American businessman. On 1935, he co-founded Mclean Trucking Co. together with his sister Clara Mclean and his brother Jim Mclean. The trucking services included delivery of empty tobacco barrels.

In 1950, a successful Mclean with 1750 trucks and 37 transport terminal has experienced dilemmas in his business. Then came the fining of overloading cargoes. From then on, it hit him, an idea that spark into a vision that could change transporting goods for ages.

He idealized of constructing a standard sized trailer and then be loaded to boats exceeding the loading capacity of the trucks he once used. From such brilliant idea, he abandoned most of his trucks and focused on transporting goods through the sea.

From then on his trucks has been the way of transporting goods in short, intrastate deliveries. Hence being able to diminish levying fees which were introduced in the time.

Birth of Intermodalism

On the 26th of April 1956, Ideal X has sailed the seas from New Jersey to Houston. Due to having features of lockable containers and offers 25% discount on cargo transport that greatly affect how goods should be transported.

It was since 1960 when intermodal shipping container has been the favorable choice of sea freight. It was solely base in these two (2) reasons:

One was due to the vision of Mclean that helped eliminate dockside break bulk unloading bottlenecks.

Another was the introduction of standardization of container sizes giving way to mass production of container-handling equipment and a large sum of investment on ships.

From then more innovation has been made possible. The biggest container ship that ever sailed the seas was constructed for Maersk (Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller) which can hold up to 18,270 TEUs (9,135 boxes).

Advantages of Shipping Container

Containers have been so much help it could give you these advantages than inland transport: standardization, flexibility, costs, velocity, warehousing, security, and safety.

From such innovation, business expansion was made possible and reaching offshore deliveries is now easy breezy. Being able to widen your reach could mean to more potential customer could see the business leading to more opportunities and success.

Brief timeline history: Sea freight forwarding was brought to you by Metro Combined, the leading land, sea, and air freight forwarder here in the Philippines.

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Traffic Congestion: A Threat to Economic Growth

Everyone who has been on the streets of Manila will surely understand the struggles one must need to go through in order to get to a destination. Looking around your immediate location will make you understand that this issue is not just a result of poor urban planning or lack of discipline; many other matters also make every day traveling feel like a torture. This is not just a problem for commuters and motorists, but also a hazard in the economic growth of the Philippines.

The condition of the public roadways in the Philippines has been a constant threat to businesses in providing quality services. This is not just limited to freight forwarding businesses, delivery services, and couriers. To start off, setting deadlines with the clients can end up in conflict if the traffic congestion isn’t put into consideration. Every minute that is lost while stuck in traffic can also mean added production cost in form of gasoline. The extended hours on the road also means extended hours exposed to possible accidents on the road. These are the reason why it is necessary to plan ahead and consider the threats that may occur while on the road to avoid additional expenses. 

So how is the traffic congestion hurting us as a nation? To put it simply, the traffic congestion is hindering even the littlest of the citizens in fulfilling their occupational obligations. It is both physical and mentally straining which may also hurt their individual affect work performance. Collectively, that could hurt us as an economy. This could mean a decline in the business performance and may discourage foreign investors. Without these Investors, there won’t be enough jobs to provide to the continuously growing population of the country. 

If you will try to identify the main cause of the traffic in the Philippines, you will realize that I will take enormous efforts to resolve it. The government hasn’t been lying down either in trying to address the issue of traffic congestion in the country. They are constantly searching for solutions that will make it bearable for everyone to travel and to enforce order. These are: 

Number coding scheme

Image Source: abs-cbn

The Unified vehicular Volume Reduction Program (UVVRP) or Number Coding is a traffic decongestion scheme which bans private and public utility vehicles from plying the roads on weekday peak-hours. For more information about this, visit MMDA – Things you need to know about the number coding scheme

Truck ban ordinance on main roads

Cargo trucks mostly used in a trucking services are motorized vehicles intended to carry cargos having a gross capacity weight of more than 4, 500 kilos. Refer to MMDA – Truck ban ordinance for further information.

Bus segregation scheme

Image Source: manila.coconut.co

Bus segregation scheme tends to limit the location the buses can stop to load and unload passengers. Visit Rappler - INFOGRAPHIC: How to find the right bus on EDSA for a visualize simplification.

Road widening projects

Road widening projects have taken effect to accommodate more vehicles on the road. This was under Republic act no. 917, for a broad explanation of this law just visit Official Gazette – Republic Act No. 917.

The traffic congestion in the country is a problem that is hurting us as a nation and needs to get addressed to keep us moving forward. It is not just an issue that freight forwarders or delivery services should learn to adapt to. With these numerous schemes being implemented and only minimal observable improvement, maybe it's time we start addressing the issue from a different point of view. Market localization and decentralization, anyone?

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Brief Timeline History: Warehousing

Today’s youth have been lacking time to look back on our rich history. Why won’t we begin with a timeline of the history of warehousing. Warehouse services are quite an essential when starting in an industry where you supply stocks and goods. Did you know that warehousing started in Ostia, Rome. Warehouses are mostly commercial buildings that acts as storage for goods. Warehouses are valued most by importers or exporters, manufacturers, etc. who needs a large area for storing huge amount of product inventory. By history, they mostly have built-in areas for the unloading and loading of goods and one of the busiest areas of the business. 

Early Rome

Ruined Warehouses in Ostia, Rome.
Image source: Wikipedia

Some of the documents found stated that the warehousing industry started in a large neighborhood called Ostia. Way way back in the fifth century, major shipping ports has a nearby warehouse for easy storage and forwarding large amount of goods. On those times, European explorers have created a route designated for such occasions made it possible for easier storage and movements of goods. 

Though at that time warehousing are still primitive and yet to be improved, this shows effective storage for it could provide secured storage and distribution of inventory.

The Industrial Revolution

Watts Warehouse in Manchester
Image Source: Wikipedia

This was on the 18th and 19th centuries, were people took on progression as an essential tool in development. They’ve started making machineries that could make forwarding a lot faster than what was present on that day and made warehouses, a business necessity. Through this, supply chain, a sequence of process responsible for the production and distribution of a commodity, has been a good source of income and made way for the business to start booming. 

Industrial revolution was more noted in the north western England of Manchester where they took warehouse designing more lavishly decorated. All the five types of developed warehouse was mostly seen on Manchester. 

At those times, most products needs time maturation in order to be sellable and this made warehouses more popular than they already were.

Twentieth Century Progression

Twentieth Railway
Image source: Dominion

The twentieth century gave way for the construction of rail warehouses wherein travelling through neighboring countries or state could be easily done. This popularized in North America’s extensive railway channels. Through such innovations, doing business with countries nearby has been possible and made faster and easy. 

With this transportation, new warehouses were built on ideal locations known to have good commerce and become a center for business.

Mid Twentieth Century

This has been the era of modern warehouses wherein they have been dependable on heavy machineries such as cranes and forklift used in moving large amount of goods in a short period of time and made way to mass production of goods. From this huge demand for warehouses, new warehouses were being built from time to time. To this day, they have been an essential to the ever growing supply chain of goods and products. 

Upon seeing the progress of warehouse services shows signs of growth in the business industry. From the start of warehouse establishment at ancient Rome to the modernized supply chain of the twentieth century have clearly evolve the industry’s look of business world. 

Upon the opening of new opportunities for warehouse services, choosing for the right warehouse services could be a tough decision. But through research and article reading, one can make the right choices for the business growth.

This warehousing history was brought to you by Metro Combined.

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Cargo Vessels Used in Freight Forwarding: Tanker

From my previous article about ‘Cargo Vessels Used in Freight Forwarding: Dry Cargo Vessel’, here is the continuation of the cargo vessels used in forwarding.

In the early ages, transporting goods to neighboring states or countries can only be done through the sea with a trusted shipping company in the Philippines by your side unless the area is connected with enough landmass to walk or pass by on without hassle. To make trades with another country, one must convey sea freight forwarding through ships or vessels yet could not afford to transport in bulks. But as the years passed by, magnificent innovation have ruled the world. Being a freight forwarder  in the Philippines will not be a hassle anymore. The society now has modernized means of transportation resulting to secured and delivered goods.

In a sea freight business, most of the products to be delivered are heavy duty, some are liquefied and most of the time temperature-conscious. One must consider the needs of the products to be delivered to result to effective forwarding.

A liquid vessel or mostly known as the tanker (or tank ship or tankship) is a merchant vessel designed to transport liquid gasses in bulk. These vessels range its size capacity to several hundred tons depending upon the amount of freight to be delivered. Major types of tankship where oil tanker, the chemical tanker, and gas carrier. Fun fact about tankers, any type of tanker used to refuel other ships is called an oiler.

Oil Tanker

An oil tanker or petroleum tanker was built for bulk transport of oil. There are two basic types of oil tankers:

Crude Tankers	Oil Tankers
- Are tankers that weigh large quantities of unrefined crude oil from its point of extraction to refineries.	- Are tankers responsible for moving refined product from refineries to points near consuming markets and much smaller than crude tankers.
- These tankers have difficulty in docking due to their supersize so instead, it was unloaded at offshore pumping stations/ terminals.	- These tankers carry petroleum, diesel, asphalt, jet fuel, tar and lubricating oil. They also carry petroleum bulk products such as palm oil.

These tankers classification varies from their size as well as their occupation. Their size ranges from inland or coastal tankers of a few thousand metric tons of deadweight (DWT) to the mammoth ultra-large crude carriers(ULCCs) of 550,000 DWT.

Source: Wikipedia

The Zoroaster tanker is the world’s first tanker named after the Persian prophet Zarathustra. It was operated on 1878 and built with steel (Bessemer variance) while its oil holds were built with iron.

Chemical Tanker

A chemical tanker is a tanker ship solely built to forward industrial chemicals and clean petroleum products in bulk, these ships also carry other types of sensitive cargo that requires heavy cleaning of tanks, these are palm oil, vegetable oils, tallow, caustic soda, and methanol.

These tankers have identifying specialize coatings to determine the type of cargo the tank is carrying, such as aggressive acid cargoes: sulfuric and phosphoric acid and easier cargoes such as vegetable oil could be carried in epoxy coated tanks. Through its coatings, determining the level of cleaning should be taken effect from the coatings of the vessels. The coatings have such huge influence in this type of tanker.

Gas Carriers

Gas carrier or gas tanker is designed to forward liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), liquefied natural gas (LNG) or liquefied chemical gasses in bulk. It has a design feature of having spherical tanks for cargoes with strict temperature which is under high pressure and often at low temperatures. These carriers require specialist terminals and handling equipment in loading and unloading of the freight.

Source: Wikipedia

LGNs are usually larger than LPGs, Q-Max being the largest type of liquefied gas vessel. Q-Max name was a combination of names, ‘Q’ being Qatar and max as the maximum size of ship able to dock at the LNG terminals in Qatar. It size measures to 345 m (1,132 ft) being the length, beam sizing to 53.8 m (177 ft) and height of 34.7 m (114 ft) with an LNG capacity of 266,000 cubic meters (9,400,000 cu ft), equal to 161,994,000 cubic meters (5.7208×109 cu ft) of natural gas. Making Q-Max as the largest LNG carriers in the world.

This article is brought to you by Metro Combined, the leading land, air, and sea freight forwarder in the Philippines founded since 1997.

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Trucking Road Hazards and Safety Tips

While on the road, unwanted circumstances could arise and could not be avoided. There are times due to too much road hazards the trucking services philippines is experiencing quite a huge setback on their business. The road hazards experienced by truck drivers where:

Types of Road hazards Experienced by Truck Drivers:

Truck road hazards could be specified and caused by different things such as people, animal, and many more. These intolerable situations could truly put a dent on our business. This could cause major loss on the business’ progress. Other factors that could contribute to these hazards where non-vehicular activities, weather condition and even environmental factors.

These truck road hazards could be seen everywhere and could happen to truck driver and even non truck drivers:

Debris: These are falling objects coming from the sky or from the top of the mountain. Debris could range from sand to rocks to ice to water and even litter. Sudden things falling from the sky could truly shocked a driver most especially when the situation was on a dark night and most surroundings was dim and quiet. It could really startle anyone even none drivers and cause them to react thoughtlessly leading to mishaps.

Potholes/ Uneven Roads: These are roads with unseen holes and uneven roads means the road is not level and could put the truck into an unbalance situation. When the truck pass by an unseen holes could shake the vehicle and cause the driver a short or severe panic. Uneven road could cause the vehicle to major damages to too much shaking up for it makes the vehicles’ loosen some screwed knots and the drivers’ grip be a bit loosen that could lead to motor vehicle collisions.

Pedestrian: Due to the heavy load of trucks making it go to a full stop could not be done easily for every pedestrian passing by. Most of the time, pedestrian is not diligently following the rules set by law enforcers causing a number of unwanted serious road accidents.

Animals: They are quite known to be the ‘badass of the road’ for they do not care and lookout for incoming vehicles. This was due to their limited awareness of the road hazards. These should be the ones to be avoided not them to avoid you for if you don’t, the authorities would definitely come and pick you up from the crime you did.

These are quite hazardous but with a little of self-awareness could possibly prepare you for such occasions. Here are some tips for truck drivers’ road safety:

8 Road Safety Tips

1. Watch your blind spots

Blind spots is where the person’s area of view is obstructed. Be sure to make yourself aware of your blind spots. These are:

• Just behind trucks 

• Behind the reach of the side mirrors 

Some might not know of such but as a person who already know these, they should be the one adjusting just to avoid accidents or unwanted situations. Just always remember not to drive too close and be cautious or else.

2. Slow Down on Work Zones

It is a must to reduce speed on road construction being too hot-headed on these occasion could cause major arguments even cause much heavier traffic. These work zones could be avoided by planning different route and knowing the lightest roadways possible. If only the fastest way to go through your destination is going that route, I suggest you to just keep your cool and be patient at most times.

3. Check your vehicle

Always make it a habit to maintain your vehicle from time to time. Be sure to always check for any damages or any old parts that needs repairing. Making sure of your vehicles’ maintenance could not just help you deliver your goods on time but also secure yourself from hazardous situation.

4. Fasten your seatbelt

This safety tip might be a bit of a cliché but it is a must to do so. It may cause some people whose wearing such the feeling of uneasiness or in a state of being uncomfortable due to being too tight or it being irritable while you’re driving. These could be less of a hassle if  you clip on somewhat of a cushion pillow to decrease the irritability being experienced.

5. Arranging cargoes wisely

Trucks drivers delivers quite a heavy amount of goods. These could be bothersome if the goods is not arrange wisely by wisely I mean the weight is being scattered equally not being stacked piles of piles of stacks leaving empty spaces around. From such, it could be prone to damage goods for it could cause the goods to fall then break or lose its quality. Be mindful of the capacity of vehicle and strategize a stacking plan.

6. be mindful of the Weather

Always remember to check for weather updates just so you could prepare for it. Because alertness is a good trait to exercise. Have a sense of what was happening in your surroundings, if the following trucks are pulling over due to bad weather, I think it is best to do the same just so you could avoid any damage that might hurt you or your goods.

7. Reduce speed on curves

Road curves are regular bends provided for a gradual change of direction. These road type could really be prone to accidents because of unseen incoming vehicles. I think it would be wise to reduce speed on such for own safety.

8. Take care of yourself

Trucks could not run by itself so to make it operational always keep yourself in good condition. Always keep mind to hydrate yourself for some weather conditions could really be challenging or demanding. Remember to stop over some pit stops or pull over to take a break and eat and stretch your legs to avoid strain muscles.

From determining the road hazards, we could now be prepared by remembering these road safety tips. Always remember, having a job is important but keeping yourself healthy is more important.

These road safety tips is brought to you by Metro Combined, a logistics company that handles land, sea and air freight forwarding.

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4 Tips on Selecting the Best Warehouse Services

On the growing industry of warehousing, many believe not all can be trusted. Not all can manage your interest resulting to wasted time, effort and money. Having the best warehouse services could be achieve through following these tips. Keeping in mind that things will go smoothly once you’ve analyze your needs as well as your expectations.

Looking for the right one could be tough as you go along and learn. One can easily filter the goods ones from the bad ones through experience but not everyone had experienced such. Here are some tips to have you ground up on what needs to be done and be prioritize.

1. Have a background check

Knowing the company to gain services from is not sneaky nor bad in a way. It’s just like having a little research on the person you wanted to talk to just so you could not get their hopes way up. How to start background checking:

• Do a research on the internet. 
• Look up their former clients and ask them comments about the services. (if possible) 
• Ask for a copy of the services they offer and have a read of the services they offer. Read the fine print as well. To avoid shocking bill dues. 
• Look thoroughly if they do exercise the services you’re interested in. 
• Look for their qualifications for validity purposes. 

2. Have them send a personnel over to broadly discuss their services

If you’re still confused I could suggest you to have the company send over a personnel or a contact person to carefully discuss with you the services they offer and the benefits you can gain from them. No one can gain more than you being all careful and meticulous to details. These are question you could ask and might ease the confusion in you. 

• Do they have the appropriate adequate volume and space? 
• Do they have the right equipment handling for your products? 
• Do they practice warehouse management system (WMS)? 

"A warehouse management system (WMS) is a software application that supports the day-to-day operations in a warehouse. WMS programs enable centralized management of tasks such as tracking inventory levels and stock locations", as defined by Searchmanufacturingp.techtarget.com.

Through such system, an assurance of accurate reports could be delivered in an instant resulting to more time for other business processes.

3. Accessibility issues

You should always consider its accessibility. Will having their services be a benefit or a setback? One must specifically determine their area of need. Does the place could easily be reach? Have it in your hand to know whether they could be easily accessed. Like, ask them send over a specific amount and be delivered on the time and date expected. Also consider if they are near any port locations, just so you could benefit in your importing and exporting venture. If they could also be accessible to major highway arteries for faster delivery transaction needed in forwarding freight by land. 

4. Risk management

Do they offer insurance for the safety of your products? Though it seems like it was already given, it should still be asked whether the company offers goods insurance. There are times, they do have insurance but you’re not satisfied on what was included so to fully enjoy the services, ask and be keen on details. 

Do they have top of the line security system? If the company practices security system such as alarms, CCTV and be monitored 24/7 would be the best company to avail services from. Though insurance on your goods are already given on the table, being reliable in terms of security will be much approved by most.

This article is brought to you by Metro Combined, a leading logistics solutions that offers reliable warehousing services as well as managed you freight forwarding venture.

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The Role of Logistics Companies In The Philippines and the Undertakings They Need to Commit to

Wouldn’t it be convenient if we can just ride a bus to take us to Cebu, Palawan, or Davao? For an archipelago like the Philippines, traveling has always been a disadvantage. Unlike the United States of America wherein one can easily drive from one state to another, the bodies of water surrounding our country makes this impossible. This is also a major hurdle in business. The topography of our country makes it harder for goods and products to reach other provinces without careful business planning. Luckily, there is a solution that connects us with the other islands in the Philippines.

Freight transport has been the refuge of businesses in the Philippines to overcome the topographical and geographical hurdles. Partnering with a logistics company that offers freight forwarding services, air freight, and sea freight as well as trucking services will make transporting goods easier, opening a window for a wider market. Following the principles of the law of supply and demand, a businessman can take produce that is abundant in one place to another place where that produce is needed but is scarce, and sell it for a higher price. This could lead to higher profit if utilized properly.

In plain view, the freight forwarding system seems simple. People might think that you just need to own a truck, a ship, or a plane and you can ride the freight forwarding business train. If you think it’s that easy, then you’ve never been so wrong. Let us breakdown some of the technical issues that a freight forwarding business needs to undergo.

To start off, it is important to understand that the Philippine Economic Zone Authority is the government office that is responsible for checking the services of logistics companies. A person who would like to start up a logistics business in the Philippines needs to commit to the following undertakings, as enumerated in the registration form to be an Ecozone enterprise:

1. That the applicant is capable of operating, on a sound and efficient basis, and of contributing to the objectives of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority in particular and to the development of the national economy in general;
2. That the project is economically, technically and financially sound;
3. The applicant proposes to engage, in good faith, in the creation of a market for its project/product;
4. That the applicant has installed/undertakes to install an accounting system adequate to identify the investments, revenues, costs and profits or losses of the project covered by this application separately from the aggregate investments, revenues, costs and profits or losses of the other business activities of the applicant not registered under Republic Act No. 7916, as amended by Republic Act 8748 or has established/undertakes to establish a separate entity for the project/activities covered by this application if so required by the Authority. (Applicable only if applicant is engaged or proposes to engage in undertaking or activities in addition to the project covered by this application); 
5. The exported products/services meet the standards of quality established by the Bureau of Standards or in default thereof, by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, or by such public organization, Chamber, group or body as the Authority may designate.
6. Domestic raw materials and supplies will be used in preference to imported goods whenever these are available at comparable quality and price.
7. That the applicant shall submit periodic reports and other information, pertaining to its activities in the Ecozone that the Authority may require;
8. That the applicant has read Republic Act No. 7916, as amended, and the Rules and Regulations adopted by the PEZA and commits itself to abide by the provisions thereof as well as amendments thereto;
9. The applicant will start and operate the project covered by this application within such reasonable time as may be fixed by the Authority;
10. That the applicant's Board of Directors has authorized the filing of this application in accordance with the terms thereof if the applicant is a corporation;
11. That applicant has neither opened nor cause to be opened a letter of credit or entered into a contract for the importation of capital equipment for which tax exemption will be claimed, prior to its registration with the Authority. (Approval of the project brief containing a list of capital equipment proposed to be imported does not amount to an implied approval of the tax-free importation of said capital equipment; a separate application for this importation should be submittedfor PEZA approval.)
12. Applicant shall comply with all rules and regulations on exportation of Philippine products/services promulgated by the Central Bank, Department of Finance, Bureau of Customs and other government agencies.
13. Pursuant to the provisions of Sec. 3 and Sec. 14 of R.A. 3019 (Anti-Graft Act), the applicant-enterprise has not given or promised to give and will not give any gift to any officer or employee of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority in connection with the filing and processing of this application.
14. The applicant's Board of Directors has authorized the release of the portion of its project study entitled "Brief Description of the Project" to the public.
15. That based on the records of the applicant, no Board member or officer of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority has an investment or any other financial interest, direct or indirect, in the applicant's enterprise; and
16. That there exists no dummy relationship between any of the stockholders and/or principal officers of the applicant and any foreign individuals/business entity.

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Land Transportation Makes Forwarding A Lot Easier

For over decades and decades upon its first creation, roadways have undergo major changes for the people’s benefit. Roadways play an important role on business transactions such as freight forwarding. In the Philippines, nation’s infrastructure was not being focused on, not until these recent years. The government has been investing on projects for the improvement of the country’s pathways.

Land Transportation could be classified into three (3) categories mainly the roads, highways and expressways:

Roads

The Philippines’ roadways has measured to 199,950 kilometers (124,249 miles) of roads, of which 39,590 kilometers (24,601 miles) are paved. The roadways were under the care of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), but as how things have been going, the roadways development have been passed on to Local Government Units (LGUs). The nation’s topography have its fair share of hurdles, due to its mountainous areas and scattered islands. But through some innovative minds, transportation have progressed from being by feet or horsepower to by engines and fuel-powered machineries.

In rural areas, the roads make or break a forwarding business. Sending goods in remote areas could really be challenging but through major efforts, pathways has been undergoing enhancements for better handling of freight transport.

Highways

Highways make transporting goods a lot easier from its purpose on connecting major towns or cities. The Philippines’ highway includes roads categorize into six (6) divisions: the Maharlika Highway, Controlled-access highways, the Regional Highways, the Provincial Highways, the Manila Arterial Road System, Pan-Philippine Highway and the secondary city and municipal avenues and roads.

Source: Wikipedia

The Pan-Philippine Highway, also known as Maharlika ("Nobility/freeman") Highway was proposed on 1956 and built under President Marcos’s governance. Its main purpose is to connect the islands of Luzon, Samar, Leyte and Mindanao to make moving of goods less costly and more efficient.

Expressways

An expressway is functioned to reduced traffics among connecting towns or cities. It was designed to have a controlled entrance and exit, dividing ongoing to outgoing lanes and each sides both have two or more lanes resulting to decrease unwanted heavy flow of traffic and increasing on road safety.

The Philippines have modernize their roads turning it into expressways. And its most widely-known expressways were located at the main island of the country, Luzon. The first expressway systems in the country are the North Luzon Expressway formerly known as North Diversion Road and the South Luzon Expressway, formerly known as South Super Highway. Both were built in the 1970s, during the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos.

Source Wikimedia

The North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) under the operation of Tollways Management Corporation is a 2 to 8-lane limited-access toll expressway connecting Metro Manila to neighboring provinces of the Central Luzon region. It was designed to expand the reach of local transport coming from Manila to another town or city. The routes entrance and exits were divided into two ends, North end: Mabalacat-Magalang Road (in Barangay Sta. Ines, Mabalacat, Pampanga) Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (in Mabalacat) and South end: Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (in Barangay Balingasa and Pag-ibig sa Nayon in Quezon City) A. Bonifacio Avenue (in Balintawak, Quezon City).

The South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) is the country’s another important expressway, it serves the southern part of Luzon. The expressway is a network of two expressways that connects Metro Manila to the provinces of the CALABARZON region in the southern part of Luzon. It was still under construction expanding pathways for the public to improve passable roads to far away areas to reduce the unwanted cost of land transportation.

Having ways to transport goods is both beneficial to the consumer and the producer. Being able to do 

so will produce more opportunities for the society’s growth.

This article was brought to you by Metro Combined, leading freight forwarder, provides logistics solution and trucking services.

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Cargo Vessels Used in Freight Forwarding: Dry Cargo Vessel

In the freight forwarding business, one of the means of forwarding is through the sea. The earth is surrounded by bodies of water. And in order to deliver goods is by having a vessel and a shipping agency philippines fit for the job. One of the goods being delivered were dry. An example of dry goods will be metal ores, coal, steel products, forest products, and grains.

Dry cargo vessels are ships that carry dry cargo such as boxes, bales, bags, or lumber, which is normally hand-stowed. These vessels are not precautious due to the fact that they carry dry goods. Dry goods are not temperature conscious. It also has on-deck cranes and other mechanisms for the loading and unloading of goods.

Dry cargo vessels Types

Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) Vessels

RORO ships are vessels designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, trailers, and railroad cars. These vessels have either built-in or shore-based ramps which make the cargo be easily rolled on and off the vessel when in port without causing any damage to the goods. There are various types of ro-ro vessels such as ferries, cruise ferries, cargo ships, and barges.

Source worldmaritimenews.com

Mark V class, being the world’s largest ro-ro with a cargo capacity of almost 1, 400,000 cubic meters and first begin its operation in the year 2011. It was also named as ‘Ship of the Year 2011’. Each Mark V Class vessel measures over 260 meters lengthwise with a width of slightly over 32 meters and a draft of about 11 meters. It truly is magnificence for what it was cut out for.

General Cargo Vessels/ Break Bulk Cargo

Source: maritimejobs.org

General cargo vessels are designed to handle break-bulk cargo such as bags, cartons, cases, crates, and drums, either individually or in unitized or palletized loads and move packaged merchandise from one location to another. These cargos have its own cranes and other heavy lifting machinery needed in loading and unloading of goods. Generally, they carry cargo that is too large to be carried in a container. 

Bulk Carrier/ Bulk Freighter or Bulker

A bulk carrier is a merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo, such as grains, coal, ore, and cement in its cargo holds. Bulk carriers could be identified by how it was built mainly from the construction of the cargo which was divided into separate cargo holds and covered hatches.

It was known to identify goods carried through abbreviations to describe bulkers. "OBO" describes a bulker which carries a combination of ore, bulk, and oil, and "O/O" is used for combination oil and ore carriers. The terms "VLOC," "VLBC," "ULOC," and "ULBC" for very large and ultra large ore and bulk carriers were adapted from the supertanker designations very large crude carrier and ultra large crude carrier.

Source: www.aukevisser.nl

MS Ore Brasil previously known as Vale Brasil is a very large ore carrier with an overall length of 362.0 meters (1,187.7 ft), making her one of the longest ships currently in service owned by Brazilian Mining Company Vale.

Container Vessels

Container ships are cargo ships that carry all of their load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. These ships load and unload their cargos through gantry cranes which move the containers straight between the vessel and the truck, removing the need for a warehouse. 

Source: Wikipedia

The Maersk Triple E class container ships comprise a family of very large container ships (more than 18,000 TEU). The name "Triple E" is derived from the class's three design principles: "Economy of scale, Energy efficient and Environmentally improved". These ships are expected to be not only the world's longest ships in service but also the most efficient container ships per twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) of cargo.

This article is brought to you by: Metro Combined Logistics Solutions Inc

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The Path Always Taken: An Analysis on How Public Roadways Affect Logistics Business in the Philippines

The present condition of the roadways of our beloved country, the Philippines, is a double-edged sword for logistics service providers. The state of our roadways is one of the main reasons why people are buying the idea of taking advantage of logistics services but at the same time, it is also what causes most of the biggest challenges for logistics companies.

Transportation is a major problem in the country. Just recently, we have been labeled as one of the countries with the worst traffic and airport. If we will look closely, there are many factors that contribute to this situation like overpopulation, poor urban planning, lack of discipline, and corruption. In the Metro Manila alone, more private vehicles are occupying the road than public utility vehicles and the number of registered motor vehicles only seem to increase each year. With the election for public officials looming, we can expect that the already chaotic traffic will worsen with the attempts of the outgoing officials to arrange last-minute road patch-up projects for the sake of having one.

Logistics companies have learned to embrace the fact that the current state of our roadways is one of the hurdles that they need to accept and adapt to but there is more to it than what meets the eye when it comes to logistics business. The poor roadways can affect the logistics companies in many ways.


Quality of service –

Source: Business World Online

Traffic condition is one of the things that is put into consideration when deciding deadlines and estimating time for deliveries to be completed. Trying to give out a realistic timeframe on when a transaction can be completed can be a real challenge. The traffic can stall the progress of deliveries and can sometimes cause delays. This is why there are some logistics companies who do not accept transporting perishable good. This could also be a problem with setting the expectations of the clients especially those who are trying to catch tight deadlines.


Maintenance --

Long hours on the road put a huge toll on the vehicles that are used in deliveries. The poor condition of the road can also add up to the strain and, in worse scenarios, may cause damages. If a vehicle will be out for repair or maintenance, this could affect the production and could lead to missed deadlines and decrease in the company output quality. Not to mention, repairs could be really costly almost 100% of the time.

Fuel Costs –

Representation of Money spent on Fuel

Fuel is essential to keep the vehicles needed for the deliveries alive and running. We are all aware on how much fuel can cost nowadays. For people in the business of transportation, getting stuck on traffic is losing money with every stagnant drone of the engine.


Damages –

In the worst of worst situation, no matter how cautious a driver is, accidents may occur on the road due to many circumstances. This may lead to damages in properties that will probably lead to unnecessary profit loss. These could be in the form of potholes, faulty bridges, fellow motorists or even an errant piece of jagged rock.

This is just a careful analysis of some of the challenges that logistics businesses experience due to the current state of our pubic roadways and a reflection on how much attention is needed to develop more reliable and dependable roadways that not only big businesses can use but are also beneficial for ordinary Filipinos.

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