CASE STUDIES
Discover how Only Imaging provides professional TTR solutions to global partners.
Defeating the Freight Market: Stabilizing Landed Costs for TTR
If you manage global procurement, you know that the factory price of a thermal transfer ribbon is only half the equation. The true metric that dictates your profitability is the Landed Cost—the final price per roll after freight, insurance, and import duties are calculated.
Over the past few years, the global ocean freight market has experienced unprecedented volatility. A container shipping rate can double in a matter of weeks due to geopolitical events or port congestions. For distributors importing high volumes of consumables, these freight spikes instantly erase profit margins.
At Only Imaging, we cannot control the global shipping lines, but we can control how your cargo is engineered to defeat these price surges.
The Crime of Shipping “Air”
When importing finished thermal ribbons, the biggest mistake a distributor can make is shipping “air.” Standard thermal ribbon rolls are cylindrical, and when packed into square boxes and loaded onto standard pallets, there is a significant amount of wasted cubic volume inside a shipping container.
If you are paying $6,000 for a 40HQ container, every cubic meter of wasted space is burning your money.
The Only Imaging Freight Optimization Strategy
We have a dedicated logistics engineering team that designs your order specifically to maximize container utilization.
1. Pallet-Less Slip Sheet Loading
For bulk orders to major distribution hubs, we offer slip-sheet loading instead of traditional wooden pallets. By eliminating the bulky wooden bases, we can increase the total volume of finished ribbons inside a standard 20ft or 40ft container by up to 15%. This mathematical optimization directly reduces your freight cost per roll, absorbing the impact of rising ocean rates.
2. Jumbo Roll Import Strategies
For our largest regional partners who have local slitting capabilities, we shift the freight strategy entirely. Instead of shipping finished rolls, we export Master Jumbo Rolls. The packing density of Jumbo Rolls is significantly higher. You import the raw material at a highly optimized freight rate and slit the ribbons locally to order, eliminating the “shipping air” problem entirely.
3. CIF vs. FOB Strategic Routing
We do not just default to FOB terms. Our logistics division holds high-volume contract rates with major global carriers. When spot market freight rates spike, we often utilize our internal carrier contracts to ship CIF (Cost, Insurance, and Freight) to your destination port, providing you with a locked-in, subsidized freight rate that you cannot secure locally.
Conclusion: Protect Your Margins Before They Sail
Do not let maritime volatility dictate your pricing strategy. By partnering with a manufacturer that optimizes logistics at a structural level, you secure a highly predictable Landed Cost.
ONLY IMAGING is a leading supplier of labels, printing equipment and associate consumables, including TTR products in various widths and lengths. Please take the opportunity to learn more about our range of high-quality thermal transfer ribbons and explore our other products for any further questions you may have click Here.
