A Transport Manager is a challenging role, with many responsibilities. In a department that carries a lot of legislation and formal documentation, a Transport Manager needs to ensure their operators are not only compliant but that their vehicles are maintained and that all elements of their department meet required standards. If one of your operators does not meet the required compliance when visited from the DVLA or the Traffic Commissioner, then it falls on the Transport Managers head. This is why our Transport Managers should be recognised as the Superheroes they are.
The transport department is an extremely important part of the supply chain. Whether you are responsible for shipping and transporting the items that have been produced within your company or you are a third party carrier, without your phenomenal time keeping, planning, maintenance and extensive knowledge of the transport system, your goods would not be delivered to your consumer, to their satisfaction.
Some Transport Managers will deal only with National regulation and compliance, others will deal with international transport and compliance relevant to other countries, and some will deal with both.
To be a successful Transport Manager you must:
- Be comfortable with all transport related activities
- Develop and maintain relationships with internal and external clients, brokers, agencies, suppliers and customers
- Monitor changes in department costs
- Keep transport costs to a minimum where possible and negotiate when needed
- Train your staff
- Ensure you are up to date on compliance related documents
- Ensure insurances are in place
- Ensure contingency plans are in place
- Plan suitable routes for your vehicles and operators
- Ensure that operators comply with relevant driving hours
- Ensure vehicles are maintained and safe
- Replacing new vehicles when needed
- Schedule delivery times
- Be confident on delivering reports to senior staff members
- Managing contracts
- Be comfortable working out of the office and travelling around the country when needed
- Manage budgets
- Be a strong decision maker
- Be able to track your vehicles
- Ensure good contact is maintained with other departments within your company
- Ensure your department meets relevant health and safety needs
Whether you are responsible for a fleet of 5 or 500, this is an important role and the reputation of your company will fall on your shoulders.
This is why, organisations look for their new recruits to have qualifications to compliment their experience, so they know you are competent and have been successful in this department in the past. We appreciate that when you work within this industry and have done this job for many years, academic studying can be a daunting task, which is why we have developed our Recognition of Achievement. We want to reward our Transport Managers for their hard work and diligence. Provide us with evidence of your experience and relevant training and we will recognise you for your competence and send you a certificate to state your achievements.
Want a qualification? With our flexible assessment methods, you can gain a qualification in a fraction of the time, by using your knowledge, experience, skills and previous training towards your studies.
If you look that you have experience and skills discussed, get in touch to discuss how we can reward you, for all your hard work and recognise you, as the Superhero you are.