การวิเคราะห์ต้นทุนการส่งออกเพื่อการวางแผนเชิงกลยุทธ์และการลดต้นทุนในอนาคต

Abstract

This quantitative research aimed to study the ocean freight cost structure of an automotive parts manufacturer exporting under CIF terms, compare transportation costs across internal shipping routes, and propose approaches for future cost management. The sample consisted of actual cost data from Freight Forwarder invoices covering 341 containers in 233 shipments across 6 export routes — Moji, Nagoya, Osaka, Taicang, Lazaro Cardenas, and Busan — during 2024. Data were recorded using Microsoft Excel and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The analysis applied median values as Cost Baselines for reference and comparison, alongside supporting variables including container utilization rates and the average number of containers consolidated per shipment. The findings revealed that the cost structure can be divided into two groups based on the level of managerial control. The first group consists of Ocean Freight and THC charges, which fluctuate with global market conditions and are largely beyond the company's control. The second group, operationally defined in this study as Flexible Cost, refers to expenses with sufficient flexibility to be managed or negotiated with service providers, such as Freight Forwarder service fees, inland transportation charges, and documentation fees. These costs were found to behave as fixed rates with minimal variation. It was also found that documentation fees such as B/L fee are charged per shipment rather than per container. Consolidating multiple containers within a single shipment therefore directly reduces the documentation cost per container. Furthermore, service fees varied significantly across Forwarders despite identical shipping conditions, reflecting differences in cost management practices among providers and indicating clear opportunities for price negotiation. The research proposed four cost efficiency improvement approaches: (1) adopting best practices from the Nagoya route, (2) negotiating service fees with Forwarders to align pricing under equivalent conditions, (3) improving container utilization to maximize loading capacity, and (4) entering into long-term contracts with shipping lines on high-volume export routes. The Cost Baseline developed in this study can serve as a reference point for annual budget planning.