Transportation Planner-2

About the role

The Transportation Planner – Import/Export is a salaried, exempt role responsible for planning, coordinating, monitoring, and improving international transportation activity across Blue Diamond Growers’ global supply chain. The role supports import/export execution, shipment planning, lane-level forecasting, freight forwarder performance, container optimization, cost analysis, and logistics compliance across ocean, drayage, port, rail, truck, air, and related transportation channels. This position uses independent judgment, analytical problem solving, cross-functional coordination, and proactive decision-making to reduce transportation cost, improve speed to market, strengthen shipment visibility, and support reliable service to North American and international distribution centers, warehouses, customers, and business partners. The role reports to the Sr Manager, Global Logistics and is an individual contributor with no direct reports.

Responsibilities

• Plan, coordinate, and monitor import and export shipments using SAP TM, carrier portals, freight forwarder systems, and internal business intelligence tools.
• Request, schedule, track, and manage shipments across international and domestic transportation modes, including ocean, port, drayage, rail, truck, air, cargo, and intermodal movements.
• Translate shipment demand, lane-level forecasts, customer needs, and inventory deployment requirements into transportation plans that support business priorities.
• Manage shipment milestones and proactively identify delays, service risks, documentation gaps, and exceptions; partner cross-functionally to resolve issues and maintain shipment continuity.
• Monitor freight forwarder and transportation provider execution against service levels, transit expectations, documentation requirements, and KPIs; analyze deviations and drive corrective actions.
• Support business reviews with freight forwarders, carriers, 3PLs, and internal stakeholders by preparing data, insights, and recommended actions; escalate service, capacity, cost, and compliance risks.
• Analyze freight costs, lane performance, accessorial charges, spot quotes, shipment thresholds, and container utilization; support freight cost calculations, accruals, invoice research, and variance analysis.
• Drive container optimization through shipment consolidation, cube/weight utilization, load planning assumptions, and shipment timing.
• Monitor transportation market developments including capacity shifts, port congestion, rate changes, labor disruptions, weather, geopolitical risk, and regulatory changes.
• Support import/export logistics compliance by maintaining accurate transportation documentation, shipment milestones, provider updates, records, exception logs, rate documentation, and compliance information.
• Leverage SAP, Excel, business intelligence tools, carrier portals, and freight forwarder data to create shipment visibility, reporting, dashboards, summaries, and actionable recommendations.
• Analyze lane performance, forecast alignment, shipment deviations, cost trends, service levels, container utilization, and provider performance; recommend continuous improvements that increase speed to market, reduce cost, improve accuracy, and strengthen accountability.
• Use discretion and independent judgment to prioritize shipments, resolve exceptions, recommend carrier or routing actions, and escalate risks based on business impact; serve as a subject matter resource for import/export transportation planning, shipment visibility, and freight forwarder execution.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Logistics, Business, International Business, Operations, or a related field; equivalent directly related experience may be considered.
• Minimum of 3 years of experience with an importer, exporter, freight forwarder, transportation provider, 3PL, or supply chain organization in a similar transportation planning or import/export logistics role.
• Working knowledge of international transportation, freight forwarding, ocean freight, shipment documentation, carrier coordination, and import/export shipment milestones.
• Experience using SAP TM, SAP, ERP, TMS, freight forwarder portals, carrier systems, or similar transportation/logistics tools.
• Advanced Excel skills and ability to analyze data, identify trends, and translate findings into clear recommendations and action plans.
• Strong organizational skills, attention to detail, interpersonal and communication skills, and ability to manage multiple shipments, priorities, exceptions, records, and stakeholder needs in a fast-paced environment.

Preferred Skills and Experiences

• Experience in food, agriculture, consumer packaged goods, manufacturing, or a regulated supply chain environment.
• Market knowledge focused on ocean freight, port operations, drayage, international carrier networks, and global transportation market dynamics.
• Experience with business intelligence tools, dashboards, Power BI, QlikView, or other reporting tools.
• Experience supporting freight cost analysis, spot quote reviews, invoice research, accruals, or transportation budget tracking.
• Knowledge of customs brokerage, export documentation, trade compliance support, or international shipping requirements.

Supervisory Responsibilities

Individual contributor; no direct reports.

Physical Demands

Primarily office-based role with regular use of computer systems, data tools, and communication platforms. May require occasional travel to Blue Diamond facilities, warehouses, ports, logistics providers, or business partner locations.

Work Environment

Office environment; work arrangement per business needs. May include time at Blue Diamond facilities, warehouses, ports, logistics providers, or business partner locations. May require occasional availability outside normal business hours to support urgent shipment issues, international time zones, port or carrier disruptions, or customer-impacting escalations.

Pay

Targeted base salary range: $61,200.00 – $79,400.00