All About Freight Charges and How to Reduce Shipping Costs

When you are running a business, there are plenty of overhead costs you have to worry about. These costs include rent, utility bills, employee salaries, marketing costs and of course, shipping and freight costs. To a business owner, saving on any of these overhead costs would mean more liquidity or cash flow made available for other opportunities that could come around. Since freight charges for delivering goods in and out of Singapore are notoriously high, many business owners find themselves looking for ways to reduce their overall spending on shipping to save costs.

So, how can you go about reducing overhead costs for your business? More specifically, how to reduce freight and delivery costs for shipping goods across the border? 

Learning how to reduce freight charges

Freight charge, also commonly known as freight rate, is how much a sender pays a carrier company to transport goods to  a specific destination. In 2022, air freight charges are at an all-time high since Covid-19 and due to higher fuel costs from climbing oil price. The pandemic has affected global supply chains since 2020, and shipping prices reflect that. These high prices are estimated to remain at these levels until 2023.

1. Reduce parcel size

It may not be common knowledge but weight is never the only  determining factor in calculating freight charges. Size of a parcel matters and the space it occupies will be calculated as volumetric weight. Typically parcel weight will be determined by either actual or volumetric weight whichever is higher.  To understand how freight charges are calculated, we have to first understand that they are usually determined by several factors — size, weight, location of the destination, shipping method and quantity of goods. Since a parcel that is lighter or smaller would mean a lower shipping cost, you can look into reducing the dimensions of your product packaging to make it as light and small as possible. Eliminate unnecessary design that increases the thickness of the packaging, or cut down on unwanted frills.

If you sell small, non-fragile products like clothing, shipping orders in a mailer envelope or poly mailer can be far more cost-effective than using boxes. This will reduce the dimensions of your package significantly, and uses less packing supplies like tape and bubble wrap, further reducing shipping-related costs.

2. Change your shipping method

While it might have been a cheaper option to ship via ocean before COVID-19, air freight options  might save you more money in the long run due to possible delays in sea shipping.  Lesser delays in shipping would also mean a faster delivery time for your customers, which might even help increase retention rates and revenue for your business in the near future.

3. Ship during off-peak periods

With an increase in orders during the holidays, it’s no surprise that shipping companies increase their prices during these high-volume periods. To avoid inflated freight charges during the peak periods, consider shipping a day or two before. Of course, this method of reducing freight charges should only be used if you are shipping non-consumable products. 

Save on freight costs by shipping with DHL Express today 

If you are looking for the ideal shipping solution for your business, why not give DHL Express a shot? With our Breakbulk shipping service, we are able to consolidate multiple shipments with the same contents, ship them out with a single shipping label, invoice and payment before going off to different recipients. Not only will your goods be able to clear customs faster with a single entry, you will also be able to save on export customs clearance, duty and tax management fees. Once the shipment arrives at our facility, they will be separated by our team into individual packages before being delivered to your customers individually. 

To enjoy further savings on shipping costs, why not sign up for a DHL Express Corporate account today to enjoy 30% off for all import and export shipments? You can even enjoy shipping rates as low as $9.

Find out more about shipping with DHL Express today.