Cutting Cross-Border Costs and Boosting Reliability
Logistics & Transportation | ~1000 Employees
The Challenge
Before working with Board North, the client’s UK–Scandinavian routes suffered from:
- Fuel volatility, port congestion, and seasonal disruption.
- Spreadsheets and siloed TMS/WMS/telematics data limiting visibility.
- High empty-mile rates and demurrage eroding margins.
- Overlapping committee mandates and unclear accountability.
- Board lacking consistent lane-level profitability metrics.
The Solution
- Run a governance + operations diagnostic with lane-level margin analysis.
- Clarify decision rights for network design, pricing, and carrier selection via RACI.
- Building a unified data layer linking TMS, telematics, ferry schedules, and costs.
- Creating a network digital twin and AI forecasts for demand, dwell risk, and no-show rates.
- Introduced concise board KPIs and decision memos tied to investment gates.
- Coaching COO, operations director, and committee chairs on disciplined meetings and follow-through.
The Results
- -8% cost per mile after network optimization and ferry alignment.
- -15% empty miles within six months.
- +9 pp on-time delivery across Scandinavian lanes.
- -35% demurrage & detention fees via automated slot booking.
- £3.6 – £4.5 m annual savings and ≈ 3,100 t CO₂e reduction.
- -60% invoice disputes, -7 days DSO through ePOD + auto-rating.