Inland Logistics

Position Overview
: As the Manager, you will act as the bridge function between Area Sales and Operations with the aim to increase profitable Inland volume and optimize Inland product portfolio. You will help develop the Area Inland strategy and define Area-level Inland ambition for the next budget year (volumes, profitability, Inland share, etc.) based on the Regional Inland target in alignment with Sales, Operations, and Trade Management

Key Responsibilities:

• Drive the identification and development of relevant Inland products for the Area (incl. premium services) together with Operations and Sales.
• Gather feedback on the market (from other Area Inland functions) including potential transport solutions for different modes and include product needs in the final product offering
• Identify Inland value propositions and support Sales with tangible product information
• Act as main PoC for the Account Managers on product-related Inland questions
• Provide priorities and commercial ambitions to Procurement and support them in defining the SLAs for transport providers
• Drive the identification and development of relevant Inland products and define the Inland network strategy by conducting required analysis on underserved/overserved locations, equipment levels etc.
• Own the capacity demand forecasting reports and engage in active management of capacity availability and utilization.
• Outline option space for sourcing of fixed capacities from simple contacting to M&A potential.
• Analyze fixed capacity requirements based on operations and commercial data
• Identify potential vendors in market and support procurement on negotiations with existing and new partners to continuously improve and extend the vendor base
• Plan and manage strategic vendor relationships

Qualifications:

• At least 5 years' experience in shipping/container steering
• Strategic thinker who is customer centric
• Experience in sales and operations of trucking industry will be an advantage.
• Experience working in Nigeria, Cameroon, Congo and Angola will be an advantage
• Worked in a trucking or forwarding industry with hands on experience in product development for trucking corridors
• Assertive negotiator
• Attention to detail.
• Team player with a proactive attitude
• Ability to work under pressure, goal and deadline driven.
• Very good written English skills (French is an added advantage)
• Good understanding of Microsoft applications.
• Thorough knowledge of port-based applications (Navis, ICUMS etc.) and documentation procedures.
• Ability to work on several systems simultaneously and interpret the data
• Successfully completed commercial training or comparable studies in Business, Commerce, Sales, Engineering, Logistics or similar
• Several years of professional experience in shipping, forwarding or logistics, preferably in sales or operations
• Excellent understanding of Inland transport, as well as ocean shipping markets
• Deep understanding of Inland transport performance measurement
• Well-developed analytical thinking and creative problem-solving skills with high level of initiative, ability to work in a team and assertiveness.
• Strong communicator with experience in management level communications