Monthly Member’s Meeting in May 2022: What You Need to Know
The highlights of our May Member's Meeting are included here. The monthly meeting is a chance to learn about Digital Freight Alliance's planned projects. We begin with a brief overview of last month's meeting and then examine many of the important debates that occurred.
This article will outline the agenda for future meetings and provide information on upcoming Digital Freight Alliance events that you may be interested in attending or participating in.
Today’s digital world demands we work in an entirely new way.
Vision & Strategy
The DFA is a network association designed to connect freight forwarders to each other and to cargo opportunities.
Uniquely among such associations, this design is part of a wider vision to facilitate digital transformation for members, by providing the best online digital tools and access to a dynamic cargo booking platform.
Digital Freight Alliance & SeaRates
We set up DFA in 2020 as a development from the SeaRates.com freight booking platform which was designed to help smaller cargo owners looking for spot rates to make up that 10 - 15% of their overall freight spend that is not already committed on a contract logistics basis.
Member’s directory
As DFA is powered by the digital solutions of SeaRates, all members have access to a Virtual Office, with all features unlocked.
In your Virtual Office, you can manage your new and current bookings, chats, followers, rates, storage, etc.
To access your dashboard, sign into the SeaRates website or click on ‘Dashboard’ from your DFA directory account.
Dashboard
Digital Freight Alliance connects its members on our digital platform, SeaRates.com.
When you sign in, you land on the Dashboard homepage, where you can see all your current activity and a summary of all the tabs inside Virtual Office (new and current bookings, documents, finances, chats, followers, etc.) for easy navigation.
Profile
The Profile tab provides all the details about your company and your account.
Here you can edit all the information, including contact details, important notes and descriptions. You can also link social accounts and upload company documents as well as other important files that are accessible to your partners.
This section can also be considered as your profile settings page.
‘Network’ is one of the sections in the platform which can be found in the Profile tab. There you can view all members whose rates you may be following, and you can also see partners who follow your rates.
Following rates helps members to potentially increase their sales geography and shows their rates in the Logistics Explorer tool – a freight calculator and booking system that is available to each DFA member to be used as a white-label tool for customers to calculate rates on your website.
Know Your Customer
The KYC (Know Your Customer) form is the requirement for the verification process and DFA Payment Protection.
As a Standard DFA member, you need to submit a short KYC form, which appears once you click on the KYC tab.
Premium members have to submit short and then long KYC forms.
After submission, our team will check if the information provided is in order and approve or reject it, therefore you will receive a notification about it by mail.
All Shipping Leads
With the aid of SeaRates, DFA members can expand their geographic coverage and increase their revenue in the logistics industry. Even if you don't work in a certain area but have clients who need to ship goods there, you can use the Directory to find a DFA member who does work there or the SeaRates platform to book a specific rate.
In addition, DFA members can receive more leads via the All Shipping Leads page. On this page, there are requests from customers who couldn't find a good freight rate. If you have found a qualified lead and are able to provide the customer with a quote for his transportation, simply click the "Quote" button.
You'll then be redirected to the Individual Quote page, where you can provide your best rate, which will only be visible to that specific customer. This functionality is provided for transportation by air, land, and sea.
Membership Tiers
Digital Freight Alliance is the first global supply chain association created by DP World, a leading enabler of logistics and trade. With both a free and premium membership, it's the start of your journey. Choose one and enjoy all the benefits of the Digital Freight Alliance.
If you are a member of the DFA and missed this meeting, please contact your account manager to get a copy of the presentation. If you would like to join us, please contact us so that you don’t lose out on any opportunities for your freight forwarding business.
