Freight Manager
When you’re the freight manager at a large supply chain operation, it can almost be like running your own logistics business. As well as overseeing teams that ensure fleets are staffed, well maintained and legally compliant, you might also be negotiating deals with third party carriers and logistics hubs, and you will be keeping a close eye on the department’s incoming revenues and outgoing costs, to better balance the books and keep the business profitable.
Freight manager jobs can also be quite specific when it comes to regions and modes of transportation. The typical rail freight manager and road freight manager will have distinct skill sets, responsibilities and abilities, but both will be very different to someone who deals port to port with shipping companies. What they all have in common is a deep understanding of how time pressure and transport capacities go to make freight management an exact science, with as little room for manoeuvre as a supertanker in the Suez Canal.
The skills required
The budgetary oversight of the department or company you are managing will be in your hands. Therefore, you’ll need to be a person who not only understands how finances work in the freight industry, but also how to do it efficiently and to root out areas that are underperforming and replace them with more cost effective solutions.
As freight manager, you’ll also be overseeing a potentially complex team of drivers, warehouse staff, brokers, legal experts and contract specialists who will need to work like clockwork to keep your freight moving to where it’s meant to be. You’ll need to be confident in your decisions and able to communicate them to the whole team to see your strategic vision to completion.
Freight Manager Jobs in Great Yarmouth
The Norfolk town of Great Yarmouth is almost the UK’s most eastern place, pipped to the post by a few metres by Lowestoft 8 miles (13 km) to the south. Norwich, Norfolk’s county town, is 18 miles (30 km) to the west. Great Yarmouth has a well earned reputation for being a holiday resort, and it is one of the most popular in the UK. However its hinterland is actually rather industrialised, and is heavily involved with the gas and oil rig industries. Just offshore there is a large wind farm, with 30 turbines harvesting the North Sea breezes.
Like several towns on the North Sea, Great Yarmouth was unfortunate enough to be bombed in both world wars, by Zeppelins, the German navy and the Luftwaffe. Both times the town rebuild to carry on its tourism industries in peacetime. Great Yarmouth has managed to retain its tourism industry where many others have failed, perhaps because it is a diverse town as far as industry is concerned, and the locals use the same amenities as the tourists. Whatever the reason, its 50,000 population, made up of a mix of families and retirees, is reasonably affluent and the town is steadily growing.
The oil rig plant and the gas industry themselves can be great indicators that Freight Manager work could become available in Great Yarmouth, but the town’s population and its attractiveness to tourists also create an environment where the town has complex logistical needs to be met. With Norwich nearby, opportunities could arise just down the road, too.
Popular locations
Freight managers needed nationwide
Every supply chain operation needs efficiency, so a good manager is like gold dust to any logistics operation. There’s a thriving market for anyone with the talent, and businesses offer attractive packages to the right candidates.
If you’re a freight manager with good experience, you are in demand right now, so please register your details via the link below. We can then match you up with some of the biggest and best supply chain companies in the world.
Companies that are looking for freight managers need to know they’re getting the cream of the crop when it comes to candidates. At Cast UK we only deal with managerial and executive-level freight managers, so we can whittle down an experienced shortlist for you to choose from. Call us on 0333 121 3345 to talk about specialist recruitment or get in touch here.
Contact us