From black swan to unicorn – how LCL logistics can help businesses tackle supply chain disruptions

4 September 2023

In recent years, black swan events have caused major supply chain disruptions and now sit at the forefront of business minds. Whether natural disasters, geopolitical events or inflationary pressures, they all threaten the overall health and productivity of supply chains and have a profound impact on the flow of goods.

As a result, businesses have to find innovative solutions for these challenges. With less-than-container load (LCL) logistics, businesses can mitigate disruptions and ensure continuity in an unpredictable world — allowing you to gain the level of consistent growth that helps you reach your unicorn business potential.

So, how can LCL logistics help you respond to market challenges and grasp opportunities?

Enhanced resilience

While it’s nigh-on impossible to prepare for ‘everything’, organisations that prioritise resilience in their supply chains better position themselves to be ready for ‘anything’ that may arise.

LCL logistics give businesses more options and flexibility to switch modes of transport – enhancing resilience and enabling your logistics supplier to choose the optimal routing.

Male moving shipments on a trolley infographic

Mitigation of inventory risks

Lean inventory is at the heart of an efficient and cost-effective supply chain. Yet, supply chain disruptions can lead to great uncertainties in demand and result in large excess or insufficient cargo.

LCL logistics enables businesses to better manage their inventory by offering the flexibility to ship smaller quantities more frequently. This helps to reduce the risk of excess inventory during periods of low demand or adapt quickly to increased demand during a recovery phase. With LCL logistics, inventory is kept lean, fast and ready for anything – and it’s the bottom line that benefits from this resilience.

Increased reliability

With so much disruption, businesses are struggling to meet tight delivery deadlines. Missing delivery deadlines erodes trust and can see your customers look elsewhere in the future. LCL shipments provide organisations with the reliability they need to meet deadlines and, even in the face of unforeseen circumstances, deliver goods when and where they said they would.

Cost optimisation

Disruptions can lead to significant cost escalations, and especially in a period of high inflation, price is the key factor.

By leveraging LCL logistics, businesses can ship smaller volumes as needed and save the expense of booking a full container. With a logistics partner that can securely consolidate shipments to maximise container space utilisation, overall transportation costs can come down, and this, in turn, can help businesses increase their financial valuation.

Illustration with a female representative and a Maersk truck

Less is more with Maersk LCL

You may not always have shipments large enough to occupy an entire standard-sized cargo container, but with the Maersk Global LCL Program, you no longer need to. Maersk LCL services take care of your small-sized or small-volume cargo by consolidating it with other shipments to ensure on-time departures and the constant flow of goods.

Our suite of LCL solutions is thoughtfully designed to focus on specific business needs, offering end-to-end flexibility, reliability, transparency and ease of operation. We offer complete track-and-trace ability through our easy-to-use digital platform, giving you proactive delivery timelines and full, real-time visibility of cargo flow along every step of the journeys.

With our support, you can help ensure your cargo reaches its final destination on time and as planned, despite any challenges or disruptions that may be around the corner. By helping you to build resilience, increase efficiency and optimise costs, Maersk LCL services provide the type of innovative solutions to assist you in overcoming black swans and reaching your unicorn potential.