Ocean Freight Manager

Your Responsibilities:
As the Ocean Freight Manager at GES, your wil oversee and optimize all ocean freight operations, procurement, pricing strategies, client servicing, and team management to ensure seamless delivery of services. This role integrates strategic planning, operational excellence, and strong customer relatinships to drive profitability and growth in ocean freight logistics.

You will act as the pivotal point for aligning ocean freight operations with business objectives, collabarting with various parties including ocean carriers, NVOCCs, customs brokerage agents, transporters, warehouse operators, and customers. Your responsibilities will include ensuring compliance with industry standards, maintaining vendor relationships, managing client satisfaction, and fostering team development.

Success in this role will be measured through operational efficiency, business growth, customer retention, profitability, and alignment with organizational goals.

Scope 1: Strategic Ocean Freight Management
- Build and maintain long-term relationships with shipping lines, vendors, and agents including negotiating and securing competitive rates while ensuring service quality
- Develop and execute strategies to optimize ocean freight operations and pricing models for profitability
- Monitor and analyze market trends by maintaining a comprehensive pricing history and create structured pricing solutions by participating and managing negotiations and strategy formulation to align with business targets

Scope 2: Client Servicing and Sales Growth
- Build strong, long-term relationships with clients to foster loyalty and upsell opportunities and solicit client feedback for continuous service improvement
- Identify and pursue new business opportunities through lead generation, referrals, and networking and to continuously updates sales pipelines to meet business targets
- Coordinate with the Branch Manager on sales strategies to achieve revenue targets and increase service offerings and market share
- Coordinate with the Finance Department for new client registration, monitor and upkeep the Account Receivables within the agreed term and ensure prompt payments by clients

Scope 3: Operations Management
- Managing the day-to-day ocean freight operations, including but not limited to securing bookings with carriers, managing shipping documentation, and coordinating shipments tracking updates with various parties based on the incoterm
- Provide proactive and solution-driven support to clients, addressing shipment issues effectively and develop and enforce SOPs to ensure consistency in service delivery.
- Prepare and submit periodic reports, including shipment performance, financial metrics and compliance updates whilst at the same time ensure all licenses and certifications required for operations are current and adhere to regulatory standards

Scope 4: Team Management
- Manage and develop the ocean freight team through recruitment, training, mentorship, and performance evaluations to ensure sufficient resources to meet operational and strategic objectives
- Foster a positive work environment that promotes collaboration and high performance culture within the team and other departments and support the implementation of any internal policies and good practices set by the management

The successful applicant to be considered for this position must meet the following:

- BA in Logistics, Supply chain, Business Management, or any related field
- Minimum 10 years of experience working in the freight forwarding industry within the Sales and Operations functions.
- Demonstrable strategic thinking abilities, solid analytical, problem solving and communication skills
- Excellent command of English; any other language is a plus