What are the responsibilities and job description for the Operations Supervisor - Ocean position at Forward Air Corporation?
Job Description
The Operations Supervisor – Ocean Freight is responsible for leading daily ocean import and export operations to ensure compliant, efficient, and cost‑effective international freight movement. They supervise a team of ocean freight forwarding professionals while serving as a subject matter expert across FCL and LCL shipments, carrier coordination, documentation, and import/export customs processes. They partner closely with internal teams, steamship lines, customs brokers, drayage providers, and overseas offices to maintain high service levels. They play a key role in managing operational performance, meeting customer SLAs, and resolving complex shipment issues. This hands-on leader brings strong background in international ocean freight operations, and a continuous improvement mindset.
Responsibilities
The Operations Supervisor – Ocean Freight is responsible for leading daily ocean import and export operations to ensure compliant, efficient, and cost‑effective international freight movement. They supervise a team of ocean freight forwarding professionals while serving as a subject matter expert across FCL and LCL shipments, carrier coordination, documentation, and import/export customs processes. They partner closely with internal teams, steamship lines, customs brokers, drayage providers, and overseas offices to maintain high service levels. They play a key role in managing operational performance, meeting customer SLAs, and resolving complex shipment issues. This hands-on leader brings strong background in international ocean freight operations, and a continuous improvement mindset.
Responsibilities
- Supervise day‑to‑day ocean import and export operations, ensuring compliance with international trade regulations and company SOPs.
- Lead, coach, and develop a team of ocean freight coordinators, fostering accuracy, accountability, and service excellence.
- Oversee end‑to‑end ocean shipment execution, including booking, documentation, customs coordination, and final delivery.
- Ensure compliance with FMC, customs, carrier, and port authority requirements for international ocean freight movements.
- Manage both FCL and LCL shipments, including coordination with steamship lines, NVOCCs, CFS facilities, and drayage providers.
- Monitor operational KPIs such as transit times, dwell time, demurrage and detention exposure, service levels, and cost control.
- Serve as the primary escalation point for customer issues, port delays, rollovers, and documentation discrepancies.
- Review and approve ocean freight documentation, including B/Ls, commercial invoices, packing lists, ISF filings, and export documentation.
- Coordinate closely with overseas agents, carriers, customs brokers, and inland transportation partners.
- Support pricing, routing, and capacity decisions in partnership with sales, procurement, and network teams.
- Identify process inefficiencies and implement continuous improvement initiatives to enhance operational performance.
- Ensure accurate and timely system updates within freight forwarding and transportation management platforms.
- Maintain strong customer relationships through proactive communication and issue resolution.
- Support staffing, scheduling, and workload planning to meet volume fluctuations and service commitments.
- All other duties as assigned to meet evolving business needs.
- Education: High School Diploma or GED equivalent required; Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree in Logistics, Supply Chain, Business, or a related field preferred.
- Certification/Licensure: FMC, CCS, FIATA, or other industry‑recognized logistics certifications preferred.
- Experience: 5 years of experience in international ocean freight import and export operations.
- Prior supervisory or team lead experience within a freight forwarding, NVOCC, or logistics environment.
- Strong working knowledge of international trade compliance, Incoterms, and ocean freight documentation.
- Experience working with freight forwarding systems and transportation management platforms required; CargoWise experience highly preferred.
- Experience managing FCL/LCL shipments, port operations, and demurrage/detention mitigation.
- Strong analytical, organizational, and time‑management skills in a high‑volume, deadline‑driven environment.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to coordinate across global teams and customers.
- Demonstrated discretion and confidentiality in handling and protecting sensitive information.
- Technical: Proficient with common office technologies, including Windows PCs, Microsoft O365 (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) and web conferencing (Teams, Zoom, Webex, etc.).
- Environment: Comfort commuting to/from and working in a 100% on-site setting (listed in this posting), with travel for related meetings/events.