13 Dec
Before you read any further, do you know how to define shipping success rate? In simple words, it is the rate at which your export business successfully ships consignments to their intended destinations without any hiccups. Now, what these hiccups can be? Let’s highlight some of them:
- There are delays in shipping and your importer doesn’t receive the consignment on the designated time.
- Your business bears monetary losses and penalties as well as punishments.
- As an exporter, you fail to meet the international trade standards and norms and so on.
One of the most common reasons that push export businesses to such situations is inefficient export documentation. In fact, preparing accurate export documents is one task that a majority of exporters acknowledge among the most challenging ones. Let’s find out the top ways in which it can decide the hassle-free shipping of your export goods.
Human Errors Can be Disastrous
Manual handling of export-related data leads to slow processing. What makes it even more time-consuming is the human tendency to err. For example, consider you need to apply for export permit and the employee responsible for it makes a few wrong entries in the form. Needless to say, it can lead to repeated rejections, thereby leading to delays.
The solution is to automate the process. For this, you can choose a software tool, feed it with data and let it automatically fill in the forms every single time. It would not only save time, but can also save you from hefty costs.
Non-compliance Is Inexcusable
Undoubtedly, you need to be in complete sync with the prescribed formats and standards while preparing export document. For instance, a health certificate in Australia to ship animals or animal-based products should follow the guidelines aptly. Any sort of deviation may prove to be a roadblock for the Customs’ clearance.
Make sure that you and your documentation team stay up-to-date with the changing standards, both nationally and internationally. It should be noted that these updates are easily available on the internet.
Failure to Meet Importer’s Requirements
You may export to different importers who hail from different countries. Due to the fact that each country may have a different set of importing requirements, you need to be careful while preparing documents for specific destinations. One good example is that of phytosanitary certificate (for exporting plants and plant-based products) and health certificate (for the export of animals and animal-based products, as mentioned earlier).
Before you prepare these documents, make sure to refer to the Manual of Importing Country Requirements. Also, you must request clear instructions and suggestions from your importer to avoid mistakes and deficiencies in documentation.
Poor Management of Documents
It is important to understand that it is not all about filling and submitting forms. There are a number of aspects you need to take care of:
- Firstly, the information vital to prepare documents should be stored securely and easy to access in real time. You may think of using cloud technology for the same.
- Secondly, there should be a proper flow of information across different systems in company’s IT ecosystem. In other words, there should be a seamless integration between different software tools you use.
- Thirdly, you should be ready to instantly produce the documents as and when required. For example, provide transport documents in international trade without any delay to different parties like warehouses, local transporters, shipping companies and others as they demand it.
- Besides, keep the documents and information related to each shipment organized for analysis and reporting. It is an important step to take improved decisions in the future.
The export documentation process can be simpler than you think. By keeping a check on each of these points, you can accomplish the desired export business success and growth.
