Where to Ship: Digitization Helps Cargo Move Around the World

Sea shipping is the main artery of international logistics and a barometer of foreign trade. According to statistics, more than 85% of international trade is completed by the shipping market.

Affected by factors such as the new crown epidemic, there has been a severe shortage of global containers recently, resulting in a substantial increase in shipping costs. On February 19, the latest data released by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange showed that the composite index of China's export container freight rate was 2071.71 points, a slight increase of 0.5% from 2061.51 points last week. In response to the changes in the market, Zhou Shihao, founder and CEO of the international logistics online service platform Yun Qunar, said to the CEConlines: "Due to the soaring freight rates, many goods can no longer be transported. Currently, consumer goods, as well as photovoltaic and solar energy equipment are still being transported. Components, auto parts, and other manufacturing-related goods with strict delivery requirements. In terms of consumer goods, most of them are finished products, and there are very few semi-finished products. The surge in container freight also reflects the two major trends in the international logistics market. The problem—the lack of flexibility and redundancy, and the lack of an organization that responds to immediate demand, should establish a corresponding mechanism in the future."

After this round of epidemic tests, many logistics service companies have realized that The importance of digitalization, Maersk, a global integrated container shipping and logistics company, also pointed out the risks in the report "Digital Revolution in Logistics": Enterprises should prepare for the transformation to data-driven logistics, otherwise there will be a risk of falling behind. According to the forecast of authoritative institutions, it is expected that in 2-3 years, the proportion of E-quoting, E-booking and E-tracking in the whole industry will reach more than 40%, and digitalization will become the standard of medium and large international supply chain logistics enterprises and become the innovation of enterprises. breakthrough point. On the one hand, various roles in the industry chain such as shipping companies and freight forwarders are accelerating the pace of digitalization; on the other hand, cargo owners have a stronger demand for standardized services and deterministic services.

Innovative practice of digital services

"Let international logistics be as convenient and efficient as sending and receiving express delivery. Optimize a most economical or most valuable digital solution to realize the flow of goods all over the world. The coverage of logistics services." Zhou Shihao looks forward to gradually implementing innovation through the Internet and digital technology.

Zhou Shihao is a person with bright eyes. In 2000, Zhou Shihao graduated from Shanghai Jiaotong University majoring in international trade. Five years later, he started to establish an international logistics company. He found that there are many shortcomings in the traditional international logistics industry. With the successive introduction of favorable logistics policies and the outbreak of the "Internet +" boom, It was launched in 2015, and it is trying to use the "Internet +" method to innovate the traditional international logistics market, reduce the intermediate links of transactions, and improve the transparency of the industry.

“In fact, the underlying logic behind online products comes from the ability to scale, network, and data that really uses digitization as a tool and digitization as a means.” Zhou Shihao told the CEConline.

For logistics companies, digital services are inseparable from countless innovative practices, such as breaking through data silos and building an end-to-end fully intelligent cross-border logistics platform to reduce costs and increase efficiency and improve quality. According to statistics, Yun Qunar has opened up the digital services of shipping companies and completed the transportation of goods with a total TEU of more than 1,000,000+. The efficiency of digital contract performance is more than 5 times that of the traditional shipping industry.

Full-process visual management of logistics

Enterprises can improve service experience by using big data. In the mobile Internet era dominated by users, the creation of enterprise value must be based on creating value for users. Therefore, using many new technologies represented by big data to optimize the operation and management of enterprises and provide consumers with a better service experience will become the key for enterprises to develop differentiated competition and establish core competitiveness.

Compared with the traditional international logistics market's information asymmetry and opaqueness, lengthy execution links, and homogeneity of services, the solution of Yunqunana is more breakthrough and innovative. Its one-stop digital solution tracks shipments and understands real-time prices and availability, and guarantees transparency in logistics. "The synchronization of information in the cross-border transportation of goods is very important, especially for high-tech export manufacturing enterprises, where the product is small in size and high in value, and the safety and punctuality of transportation are more important." Zhou Shihao said.

Fengqing (Shanghai) Biotechnology Co., Ltd. is the top three food additive manufacturer in the country, mainly engaged in thickeners, sweeteners, sour agents, vitamins, amino acids, dehydrated vegetables, preservatives, etc. product. In 2019, about 500TEU of goods were transported from major ports in China to many countries around the world. In recent years, with the high growth of Fengqing Bio's business volume, the pressure on international logistics has become more and more obvious. The company was once troubled by the punctuality rate of transportation, which made it difficult for the company to deliver goods to overseas buyers on time. Since 2015, Fengqing Bio has started to use the visualization service provided by Yun Qunar, and through the logistics housekeeper SaaS system, the transportation progress can be checked in real time. When encountering potential logistics risks, such as delayed trailers, ship delays, etc., the system will issue an early warning reminder to reduce the overall delay rate to less than 10%.

The research and development of these digital tools has realized the digitization, standardization and visualization of international logistics links. Combined with existing technologies such as intelligent quotation, online ordering, logistics tracking, etc., and using big data, artificial intelligence, blockchain and other technologies, functions such as paperless documents, automated order operations, and consignee and consignee sharing and collaboration are realized. At the same time, the Yun Qunar system is open to the outside world, and through API interfaces, it connects upstream and downstream resources in ports, shipping companies, warehousing, trailer dealers, customs brokers, freight forwarders, cargo owners and other industries. "This not only greatly improves the efficiency, but also significantly reduces the error rate." Zhou Shihao said.

Data-driven, reshaping services

“You must not be lazy when you start an Internet business, because when you just do simple mapping, you will find that the digital capabilities of the enterprise are not enough.” Zhou Shihao express. The study found that the sub-sectors of international logistics are trying to drive the upgrade of business models through digital technology, but many technological innovations are focused on local business areas, such as booking platforms, digital storage yards, customs integration and visual information release. In response to this pain point, Luck can improve service capabilities, process optimization and product innovation based on digital means and tools. "In short, do solid bottom services and become a persistent platform, so as not to be eliminated." Zhou Shihao said with a smile.

Since its establishment six years ago, Yunqunar has shown three major characteristics: large-scale brings efficient service order processing capabilities; networking, continuously expanding international service networks; data-based, business from It comes from real-world scenarios, but new sustainable development is generated behind the data. "Data will be generated in the process of scale and networking, and the data will in turn help platform companies to replicate and innovate their scale or business model." Zhou Shihao told CEConline.

Zhang Yiming, the founder of Toutiao, once said: "A good CEO should first be a good HR." In this regard, Zhou Shihao agrees very much. The Internet platform emphasizes a high degree of agility, and for the international logistics platform enterprises, the future development is still faced with the problem of talent shortage, especially the lack of cross-border talents. According to the report "Digital Transformation of China's Economy: Talents and Employment" released by the School of Economics and Management of Tsinghua University, my country currently has a talent gap of 1.5 million in the field of big data, which will reach 2 million by 2025. The report shows that these cross-border talents with both digital technology and industry experience are in short supply.

In this regard, Zhou Shihao's solution is: comprehensive training of talents on the business side of logistics majors + talents on the Internet side of product technology. The application of the Internet thinking centered on high-quality service is also reflected in the distribution of employee levels. The talents on the Internet side of product technology serve as department heads, while the talents on the business side of international logistics are the assistants of the department. "This kind of distribution not only ensures that all departments attach importance to and effectively penetrate the fresh ideas and service awareness of the Internet, but also ensures the effective use of professional knowledge and skills required by the international logistics industry." Through "digitalization of organizational capabilities" in the team The task execution process is digitally disassembled, and the service results are digitally evaluated. By comprehensively improving everyone in the organization's digital understanding and innovation ability, it provides customers with more standardized and more secure international logistics services.

Intensive management experience of traditional enterprises

There are two indicators to judge whether a company is a digital company: whether it is a large-scale company, and whether it is a data-driven company company. However, even digital companies still need to continue to learn from traditional companies, especially Internet platform companies. "Let's talk less about innovation and more about learning." Zhou Shihao is convinced that management is a science. In his view, Maersk, a global integrated container shipping and logistics company, is an example of where to go. As a veteran giant of traditional shipping companies, Maersk has continued and resolutely implemented digital transformation and implemented a "gentle and firm" corporate culture. As written in the report "Logistics Digital Revolution": New technologies are developing at an unprecedented speed. Processing power is getting cheaper, and innovations such as blockchain, AI, and data-driven logistics will revolutionize the way logistics operates, presenting both disruption and opportunity.

“As a leading international logistics platform in China, Yunquna has always attached great importance to cultivating and building competitiveness.” Zhou Shihao said that he will continue to expand its service network, and in terms of overseas service network, strengthen Mexico, Brazil, Business expansion in key regions such as Vietnam, the United States, Thailand, and Japan.

Talking about the reasons for the rapid recovery of China's import and export trade, Zhou Shihao believes that the resilience of China's manufacturing industry is strong, and the recovery of overseas manufacturing production is very slow. Through this epidemic, we can see that China's manufacturing industry is very competitive in the international market. The status of "Made in China" has been further strengthened to build a solid foundation for international logistics.

"Born to simplify shipping" is our strategic vision. Taking this as its strategic goal, it accelerates the construction of digital supply chain service capabilities, and continues to improve quality and efficiency and optimize processes. In the next step, Yun Qunar will further improve its operational capabilities through resource allocation, and better provide customers with cross-border supply chain logistics services through digital services, standardized processes, and global collaboration.

In the future, a number of Chinese supply chain logistics companies with global service capabilities will emerge. At present, very few Chinese logistics and freight forwarding companies have truly achieved globalization. It used to be "Made in China", but in the future it will become "Made by Chinese" as more Chinese companies and Chinese experts go abroad and establish production bases in countries around the world. This will inevitably require Chinese logistics and supply chain companies to go abroad and establish a global transportation network, so as to better support Chinese companies to go global.

"It is expected that in 3-5 years, such Chinese supply chain logistics enterprises with global service capabilities will emerge." Zhou Shihao said, "To take the road of logistics technology development, technology must be advanced, but it should be Pay more attention to low cost and reproducibility. And put the digital operation concept into practical application, which will reduce costs and increase efficiency, and such a logistics platform will be more long-term.”

Photo / Yungo Which