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What does a Transportation Manager do?

Harriette Halepis
Harriette Halepis

The tasks required of a transportation manager are often vast. They are responsible for the execution, direction, and coordination of all transportation matters within a company or organization. As a result, these managers are often in charge of other transport staff members in addition to taking charge of every transportation item.

Companies rely upon transportation managers to save money, effectively ship and receive items, and make sure that all operations are running smoothly. Large industrial companies would come to a complete halt without proper transportation techniques. These employees must have excellent bargaining skills, communication skills, and extensive knowledge of the transportation industry.

Transportation managers oversee the receiving and shipment of goods for a company.
Transportation managers oversee the receiving and shipment of goods for a company.

The role includes directing all transportation activities, developing transportation relationships, monitoring transport costs, working with brokers and agencies to facilitate smooth transportation actions, training employees, and many other tasks. In various ways, the job includes anything and everything that is related to transportation including basic mileage calculation skills.

Transportation managers may be responsible for effectively shipping and receiving supplies and inventory.
Transportation managers may be responsible for effectively shipping and receiving supplies and inventory.

The educational background of a transportation manager can vary depending upon job requirements. Often, those working within the transportation industry have obtained an undergraduate degree in the field of logistics. While it is possible to obtain a position without formal schooling, those managers who do not have a degree in logistics tend to have many years of industry experience.

Transportation manager positions are rarely granted to those without industry knowledge. Managers within the industry must always be on the lookout for the best transportation rates, since a typical workday within this profession includes negotiating and bargaining transportation prices. In order to accomplish this task, knowledge of standard rates and routes is necessary, though this kind of information cannot be gained without experience.

Clerical skills, time management skills, critical listening skills, and writing skills are a large part of any transport manager position. In addition, managers must be able to rely upon intuition in order to make crucial judgment calls. Since transport managers often have to speak with carriers from other countries and backgrounds, it is also important that candidates excel in the field of speech recognition.

Further, transport managers must speak clearly and concisely, so that rates can be negotiated with ease. In every manner, the job is a demanding one. This type of managerial position is best suited for candidates that have stellar interpersonal skills and enjoy working with all kinds of people.

Discussion Comments

anon964968

I am doing Transport management at UniZulu, but I do not understand it.

anon356646

I am a transport manager with a fleet of over 20 vehicles. My main challenges are the slowness of some drivers, incompetence and frustrating moments which are humanly avoidable.

chivebasil
The hardest part of being a transportation manager is managing the people. Unfortunately, logistics jobs do not attract the highest caliber of employee and you often have to deal with employee mistakes.

The hiring and firing process is almost constant. I interview at least a few new people a week and lately I have had to let a number go. The actual things that you are transporting are easy to deal with because they can't swear at you or fly into a rage.

nextcorrea

This article makes this job sound pretty intense. What is the average transportation manager salary? What parts of the country and what companies pay the highest?

backdraft

I work for a medical courier service and my official title is transportation logistics manager. Basically I manage a large team of couriers.

Every day I have to make sure that they are picking up specimens at the required times and handling them in the appropriate ways. Once they are collected at out office it is my job to ship them off to all corners of the country.

When things run smoothly it is a great job that I enjoy doing. When there is a mistake, especially when a sample gets lost, it can be miserable.

anon167030

please i am an aspiring transportation manager and i would like if you can help me know how to check fuel according to mileage/distance.

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    • Transportation managers oversee the receiving and shipment of goods for a company.
      By: erikdegraaf
      Transportation managers oversee the receiving and shipment of goods for a company.
    • Transportation managers may be responsible for effectively shipping and receiving supplies and inventory.
      By: Photographee.eu
      Transportation managers may be responsible for effectively shipping and receiving supplies and inventory.