Freight Operations Support, delivered from a managed offshore desk.
A dedicated team that books, tracks, coordinates and resolves exceptions across ocean, air and inland freight — inside your TMS, on your SOPs, against measurable SLAs.
Overview
Freight operations is where margin is either protected or lost. Operanta builds dedicated offshore freight operations teams that take ownership of the entire post-sales workflow — from booking confirmation to PoD — so your local commercial team can focus on selling, pricing and relationship management. Our specialists work inside CargoWise, MercuryGate, Magaya, GoFreight, Logitude, Descartes, BluJay and bespoke TMS environments. Every desk is built on documented SOPs, follows a daily quality scorecard, and is owned by a senior team lead with 8+ years of freight forwarding or NVOCC operations experience.
Why freight forwarders outsource operations to Operanta
Local operations hiring has become unsustainable for most freight forwarders, NVOCCs and customs brokers in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Europe. Wage inflation, talent shortages in night-shift and bilingual roles, attrition after 18 months, and the 60–90 day ramp time for a new ops coordinator have all combined to push fully-loaded local cost above USD 75–95K per seat. Operanta solves this by delivering trained, dedicated offshore freight operations specialists at a 55–65% lower total cost — without the recruiting, training, attrition or infrastructure burden. Unlike traditional BPOs that pool agents across multiple clients, every Operanta freight ops seat is dedicated to a single account, accountable to a named team lead, and measured weekly against your own KPIs.
- 55–65% lower fully-loaded cost than equivalent local freight ops hires
- Dedicated FTE model — your offshore team works only on your account
- Senior team lead with 8+ years of freight forwarding operations experience
- SOP-driven delivery with documented escalation matrices and daily QC
- Native English (and bilingual French / Spanish / Arabic on request)
- Follow-the-sun coverage across UK, US, Canada, Australia and UAE time zones
Scope of work — what an Operanta freight operations desk owns
Pre-shipment
- Booking creation, amendments and cancellations in your TMS
- Carrier and co-loader rate validation against your contracted tariffs
- Equipment availability checks, empty container release coordination
- Pickup scheduling, drayage assignment and live driver follow-up
- VGM submission, OOG / DG paperwork preparation, hazmat declarations
In-transit
- Live container and AWB tracking across 600+ ocean and air carriers
- Pro-active milestone updates (ATD, ATA, gate-out, gate-in, customs hold)
- Exception management — rollovers, transshipment delays, weather routing
- Vessel and flight schedule monitoring with shipper / consignee notifications
- Pre-alert preparation, arrival notice issuance, demurrage clock monitoring
Post-arrival
- Delivery order release and coordination with destination agents
- Last-mile drayage / final-mile follow-up and PoD capture
- Job costing reconciliation and freight invoice audit
- Closing the shipment file with full document e-archival
- Customer reporting, KPI updates and weekly scorecards
How we onboard your freight operations desk
Discovery
30-minute call to understand current TMS, volume, lane mix and offshore-able tasks.
Workflow audit
We document your as-is operations workflow and identify high-leverage offshore tasks.
SOP build
Co-authored SOPs, screen recordings, system access provisioning and QC framework.
Pilot (30 days)
Single specialist runs a controlled pilot on a sub-set of shipments to prove quality.
Scale
Phased ramp to full team strength with a dedicated Operanta team lead from day one.
Monthly review
Scorecard review, optimisation opportunities and capacity planning every month.
Industries we serve with Freight Operations Support
- International freight forwarders (Tier 1 and SME)
- Non-Vessel Operating Common Carriers (NVOCCs)
- Customs brokers and trade compliance practices
- Third-party logistics (3PL) and contract logistics providers
- Project cargo, OOG and break-bulk operators
- Domestic trucking and intermodal operators
Frequently asked questions
Do your freight operations teams work inside our TMS?
Yes. We work natively inside CargoWise, MercuryGate, Magaya, GoFreight, Logitude, Descartes, BluJay and most bespoke TMS environments. We do not require you to migrate or change systems.
How quickly can a freight operations desk go live?
A single-seat pilot can go live in 14–21 days after the discovery call. A full team of 8–15 specialists can be fully operational within 6–10 weeks.
Is the freight operations team shared with other clients?
No. Operanta runs a dedicated FTE model — every seat is allocated to one client. Your offshore team only sees, only works on, and only escalates within your account.
What time zones do you cover?
We provide follow-the-sun coverage for UK, EU, US (Eastern, Central, Pacific), Canada, UAE, Australia and New Zealand business hours, including overnight and weekend windows.
How is quality monitored?
Independent QC layer with sample-based audits, a daily quality scorecard published to a shared dashboard, weekly trend reports and a monthly delivery review against the SLAs we signed off in onboarding.
What happens if a team member leaves?
Operanta owns the entire HR liability, including attrition and back-fill. A trained backup is rotated into every desk weekly so continuity is built into the model — you never face a single point of failure.
Ready to offshore your freight operations desk?
Book a 30-minute discovery call. We will review your workflow, propose a team size and outline a 60-day plan — no obligations.