To say that the year 2021 was challenging for the supply chain would be an understatement. As port congestion and buyer demand contributed to increased rates, the supply chain faced an unprecedented amount of pressure.
One area impacted by last year’s hurdles that is still recovering is ocean, air and drayage freight invoicing accuracy.
“In a COVID, virtual office world, manual back-office processes simply couldn’t keep up with how fast rates and fees were — and everything else — was changing,” Jonathan Wildman, VP of sales at Acuitive Solutions, said.
The average percentage of ocean carrier invoices with missing or wrong information jumped from a historical average of 18% to over 45% in 2021, according to Wildman.
Although the number of data discrepancies on ocean and drayage invoices have started to decline from last year, over 30% of invoices still contain erroneous information, Wildman said.
Details such as the number and size of containers and routing can easily get overlooked, leading carriers to undercharge and shippers to overpay. Mistakes like these lead to claims to recoup unpaid money, which can be costly and painful.
“The inherent complexity of these freight bills make it a lot harder to determine whether or not you’re paying what you agreed to pay,” Wildman said.
Shippers can avoid mistakes by leaving behind time-consuming and error-prone manual invoice auditing done through spreadsheets and email. Automating processes with a third-party partner frees up time, saves money, and provides peace of mind and financial control.
Acuitive Solution’s specialized approach to ocean, air and drayage invoice auditing is a highly automated process that standardizes processes for its clients and eliminates human error. Its cloud-based system, AcuAudit, is integrated with all of the world’s biggest carriers and NVOs, such as Maersk, FedEx Trade Networks, DHL, Apex Logistics, Hapag-Lloyd and dozens of others.
Carriers can quickly see and correct any discrepancies identified by Acuitive in its online audit portal. The good news for shippers is that they only have to get involved less than one-half of one percent of the time. The portal also lets shippers view shipment data history and automates the screening of duplicate and missing invoices so that everything is accounted for.
In addition to its auditing software, Acuitive also offers other international logistics solutions, including rate management, ocean, air and drayage procurement and air routing optimization.
Click here to learn more about Acuitive and watch a short video on their patented audit process for ocean freight invoices here.