
30% Savings in Freight
H&Z transformed ocean freight procurement by implementing a global strategy, achieving significant savings and enhanced logistics efficiency.
CLIENT CHALLENGE
Our client had, for many years, managed its Ocean Freight commercials at a local/country level with individual plants procuring rates on an annual contracted basis or through spot rates to suit individual manufacturing sites. As part of a procurement cost reduction programme, H&Z proposed looking at the procurement of Ocean Freight at a strategic global level, leveraging scale, volume and total company requirements.
H&Z APPROACH
For delivery of a successful market engagement, it was key for H&Z to break the project into a number of key stages:
- Clearly define the scope of the tender, including geographical coverage, volume, and service level requirements
- Identify and engage key internal stakeholders, including logistics, finance, and operational teams, to ensure alignment with organizational goals
- Conduct a comprehensive risk assessment to identify potential challenges and develop mitigation strategies
- Develop a detailed timeline outlining key milestones, from tender preparation to contract finalization and make sure this aligned with all key stakeholders
- Exploration of incoterms transitions, from supplier-managed to self-managed
- Conduct a detailed tender process, supplier selection and negotiation strategy that aligned with the client’s goals and objectives
- Development of a logistics strategy to enhance the capability of the function and enable future savings
RESULTS
- 30% savings across regions for FCL (Full Container Loads) and LCL (Less than Container Load) meeting the needs of all the key business units and stakeholders
- Risk mitigation, through full contracting across all selected providers
- Established cross-continental collaboration between, business units, departments and key stakeholders
- Framework for future global Ocean freight tenders in place
- Logistics strategy enhancing overall performance of logistics function
GET IN CONTACT WITH OUR EXPERT
Neil Jordan
Neil leads supply chain and logistics optimisation at H&Z, focusing on cost efficiency and process excellence across transport, warehousing and global supply chain networks.




