Freight Analyst
Among the many rewarding off-shore career opportunities is that of freight analyst. If you prefer to keep your feet on the ground, but love interpersonal interactions with a variety of people, enjoy market research, have a strong analytical mind and good customer relations skills, and are excited by the process of moving goods around the world, then a freight analyst job could be for you.
Responsibilities
As a freight analyst your responsibility is to ensure that your company is financially successful. You will need to monitor factors such as the shipping freight index, known as the “Baltic Index,” fuel costs, cost of insurance, and cross country currency fluctuations. You will need to be up-to-date on what is happening on the global trade market, closely monitor oil markets, conduct assessments on freight operations and prepare reports. Based upon your analysis, you will be making recommendations as to what kind of vessel to hire, price for the freight, and other factors associated with the profitable movement of goods.
Among your main duties are the following:
- Collect and analyze data to identify freight trends, potential threats and opportunities.
- Monitor vessel routes for efficiency and/or alterations.
- Uncover and employ cost efficiency strategies and other techniques that will enhance the performance and image of the organization.
- Manage records of carrier pricing, contract rates and freight payments.
- Resolve issues between carriers and clients, such as delivery and charging discrepancies.
- Analyze overall freight processes, conduct audits, and make recommendations to management for improvements, upgrades, discontinuation, etc.
- Investigate and resolve all claim related to international and domestic shipping.
- Organize freight routes and set charges
- Prepare progress reports of scheduled freights, and monthly reports for management to assess overall effectiveness of current freight systems.
What education and skills do you need?
To be a freight analyst you need an undergraduate degree in business administration, shipping, economics or logistics. Most employers also require education and/or experience with spreadsheets and other financial presentation documents, bookkeeping, computer skills, organizational development and good customer relations skills. Transportation or supply chain experience is an added bonus to your resume.
A job as a freight analyst requires dedication and long hours. But you will be an integral part of your shipping company, and you will enjoy tremendous job satisfaction, a good salary and advancement opportunities.
