The practice is five files, not a catalogue of forwarding products. Each file answers a different decision. Cost review asks where the money sits. Import and export design asks whether the commercial terms, the documents and the physical move are the same program. Network design asks how many nodes you need and what you give up if you stay as you are. Supplier selection asks who should hold the work, under what SLA, with what data. Compliance and risk asks which failure would actually stop you, and whether the process would survive a hold.
Companies often ask for all five in one sentence. That is usually a sign that the first file has not been named. We will name it. If you need a 3PL contest, we will not hide it inside a strategy workshop. If you need a baseline, we will not start by inviting suppliers to a beauty parade. Each service page sets out method, deliverables and the work we will not do.
How the files connect
A cost review often produces a tender. A tender that was not preceded by a baseline produces a cheaper version of the same mess. An import program that ignores the DC calendar produces a beautiful Incoterms slide and a storage bill. A second DC that was justified on rent alone produces a service problem you have now funded. Sequence is not bureaucracy. Sequence is how you avoid paying twice for the same lesson.
What you receive
A written scope. A diagnostic baseline where the file requires it. Options ranked by saving, risk and effort. Handover notes your operators can run. We do not retain a copy of your freight as a product. We do not need your volume to fill a shed. If a licensed broker or a lawyer must finish part of the work, we will say so rather than impersonate them.
Fees are scoped before work starts. The client signs supplier contracts. That rule is the same on every file.
Which file to open first
Open cost review when you can see the invoice total and cannot see a cost per consignment, or when accessorials have become climate. Open import-export when buying terms, the broker, haulage and the DC are not working from the same dates. Open network design when one node looks efficient until the far side of the customer map complains, or when a second lease is already being toured. Open supplier selection when you can describe the work and you are prepared to invite more than the incumbent. Open compliance and risk when a hold, a concentration or a named failure would stop the plant, and you are tired of calling that weather.
If two files both look right, start with the one that produces a baseline. A tender without a baseline is a cheaper version of the same mess. A second DC without a service-and-inventory number is a real-estate decision wearing a logistics badge. A customs workshop without a document pack is a conversation. Sequence is how this practice stays useful.
What we will not bundle
We will not wrap a warehouse tenancy inside a review. We will not wrap ocean space inside an import design. We will not wrap a favoured 3PL inside a scorecard. Those bundles are how independence leaks. If a supplier is selected at the end of a file, you sign. If a licensed broker must lodge, they lodge. If a lawyer must finish a clause, they finish it. Our paper stops at the operating edge and says so in writing.
If you need a rate on a container, write to a forwarder. If you cannot tell whether that rate is the problem, open a file.