Operational inefficiencies drive up freight transportation costs in Colombia
The cost of freight transportation in Colombia is driven by operational inefficiencies that go beyond fuel prices and affect fleet productivity.
Logistics costs in Colombia account for more than 12.6% of sales value, a proportion that exceeds the average in OECD countries and reflects the efficiency challenges facing freight transportation in the country.
In last-mile operations, operational inefficiencies represent an additional source of costs and affect fleet productivity.
Although fuel accounts for between 35% and 40% of transportation operating costs, other factors can add up to 25% in additional hidden costs. These include waiting times at loading docks, underutilized vehicles, poorly planned routes, and rework resulting from a lack of real-time traceability.
Delays reduce productivity.
Delays in logistics processes are one of the main sources of inefficiency. Delivery trucks can remain idle for between four and eight hours a day during loading and unloading operations or manual documentation procedures, reducing the time available to complete routes and make deliveries.
Vehicle underutilization adds to this situation. It is estimated that nearly 30% of transportation trips in Colombia are made by empty trucks or vehicles operating below their optimal capacity. Poor planning also affects costs: the absence of dynamic routing algorithms can increase mileage by up to 15%, contributing to vehicle wear and carbon emissions.
Digitizing transportation management.
In response to these inefficiencies, digitizing transportation management makes it possible to address operational factors that are within companies’ control, unlike external variables such as fuel prices.
”Fuel prices are an exogenous factor that companies cannot control, but operational inefficiencies can be managed. Integrating a TMS allows Colombian companies to move from reactive logistics to data-driven predictive management. By eliminating unnecessary miles and optimizing vehicle time, companies achieve reductions in operating costs of between 15% and 25%”.
This is according to Juan Angel, Country Manager of Descartes + Drivin in Colombia, who highlights the potential of transportation management systems (TMS) to improve fleet planning and utilization.
These tools integrate route planning, real-time tracking, and capacity management functions, as well as mechanisms for coordinating appointments at loading docks and distribution centers.
Routing algorithms take into account variables such as urban traffic, driving restrictions, and customer delivery time windows, resulting in mileage reductions of up to 20%, according to figures presented by the company.
Efficiency and sustainability.
Integrating information on routes and deliveries also helps reduce administrative friction, speed up billing processes, and improve vehicle utilization by avoiding dispatches with low load factors and trips without cargo.
Beyond the economic benefits, optimizing transportation operations has environmental implications. Reducing unnecessary trips and fuel consumption helps lower emissions associated with freight distribution and contributes to companies’ decarbonization goals in Colombia.
Thus, last-mile transportation efficiency depends not only on fuel costs but also on organizations’ ability to manage fleet schedules, routes, and capacity utilization through data and digital tools.
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