If you've read the first three articles in this series, you understand what's driving the freight cost surge, who tends to absorb the pain, and why it may not resolve quickly. This article is about what you can actually do about it.
None of these require a major capital investment or a lengthy implementation. They're decisions and disciplines that are within reach right now.
1. Audit your freight contracts this week.
Pull out every active freight agreement and read the fuel surcharge clauses carefully. What triggers a surcharge? How is it calculated? Is there a cap? Many businesses signed agreements in a stable fuel environment and haven't revisited the language since. If your contract gives operators broad discretion to apply surcharges, you need to know that — and whether there's any room to negotiate a cap or a more structured escalation mechanism.
2. Consolidate delivery runs where you can.
Fewer, fuller loads cost less per unit than frequent smaller drops. Review your outbound delivery schedule and look for opportunities to consolidate runs — even if it means extending lead times slightly. Talk to your key customers about slightly adjusted delivery windows in exchange for predictable volumes. Most understand the environment right now.
3. Review your minimum order quantities.
Small, frequent orders amplify freight cost per unit. If some of your customers or channels are ordering in quantities that made sense at last year's freight rates but don't at today's, it's time to have that conversation. Adjusting MOQs upward — or introducing a freight contribution for orders below a threshold — is a reasonable commercial discussion in this environment.
4. Know your cost-per-unit with freight included — in real time.
This is where a lot of food manufacturers are flying blind. If your batch costing model treats freight as a fixed overhead rather than a variable input that shifts with diesel prices, your margin visibility is lagged and unreliable. When freight is moving as fast as it is right now, you need to know which of your product lines are still profitable and which are being quietly eroded. Tools like Batchbase are designed precisely for this — to give you a clear picture of what each product actually costs to make and deliver as input costs change. That visibility is what lets you make confident commercial decisions rather than reactive ones.
5. Talk to your retail and distribution partners early.
Waiting until you're under serious margin pressure before raising freight costs with your buyers is the worst-case scenario. Having the conversation proactively — with data, calmly, framed around industry-wide conditions rather than just your own situation — tends to land significantly better. Reference the AFGC's public commentary on cost pressures facing Australian food manufacturers. You are not the only one facing this, and that context matters in the conversation.
6. Explore 3PL consolidation options.
If you're using multiple freight providers across different lanes or product types, there may be consolidation opportunities worth exploring. Third-party logistics providers who run consolidated cold chain or ambient routes can sometimes offer better effective rates than managing multiple direct relationships — particularly for medium-sized manufacturers who don't have the volume to command best rates independently.
7. Separate your cold chain costs and manage them explicitly.
Cold chain freight is materially more expensive than ambient — typically 20–30% more for frozen versus chilled, even before current fuel surcharges. If you're not already tracking your cold chain freight spend as a separate cost category, start now. It allows you to see clearly where the exposure is concentrated, and makes it easier to identify which products, customers, or routes are carrying a disproportionate share of the cost.
This is the fourth article in a four-part series on managing freight cost pressures in Australian food manufacturing.