Outsourcing Trends

Outsourcing Trends
It used to be just a few years ago that most manufacturing companies, including startups, would hold their manufacturing base in Far East nations overseas. The reason for this was due to the lower cost of wages for overseas workers, including wages immensely lower than the US minimum wage. And shipping carriers would help the manufacturing companies by supplying container-shipping services to bring their completed products back to the US.
In the past few years, we have seen an abundance of manufacturing companies returned to the US, including start-ups that are staying here. The term that describes this new manufacturing trend is called re-shoring. AlixPartners projected that by 2015, the outsourcing cost to China would be equal to the cost of manufacturing in the US. The reason that these companies are returning to the US is because staying in China is now proving to be really expensive. China’s workers have seen a jump in wages in the past few years. In addition, the cost of shipping items domestically is usually more affordable than international shipping. For example, during certain times of the year, exports from Asia to the US will have an additional fee known as a peak season surcharg*e. In addition to that, international shipping has the added *warehousing fees, a longer transportation journey than trucking and the risk of piracy.
Shippers who ship international containers should work with a trusted freight forwarder who can provide competitive ocean freight shipping quotes that will lower shipping expenses.