Truckload shipping is the shipping movement of volumes of standardized, usually the number of goods needed to fill an overall semi-trailer or another intermodal container. A truckload shipper is simply a trucking business, which in most cases contracts with a single buyer to provide an entire truckload to him for a shipment. This can be beneficial to the trucking companies since it helps them to obtain lower freight rates. It also helps them to avoid the extra expenses that are incurr when shipping the goods individually. Many times, truckload shipping makes more sense because the extra freight charges are less.
Disadvantages
But there are certain disadvantages of shipping by the truckload. One of these disadvantages is faster transit times. When a large volume of goods has to be shipped, the truckers often opt for full truckload shipping. Full truckload shipping is when all of the items being shipped are packed in one container. In this case, the time taken by the truckers in unloading and loading the goods is shorten.
On the other hand, many truckload freight shipping companies prefer smaller loads since they are less-than-truckload. Smaller loads mean less money being paid to the truckers and this results in shorter transit times. Also, small loads take lesser space. Because of these reasons, the companies prefer to go for small loads and pay less for their services.
In addition, there are also some key differences between these two modes of transportation. One of the key differences is found in terms of pricing. When it comes to pricing, there are two ways of pricing – direct and indirect. Direct pricing means that the company pays the freight charges straight away whereas indirect pricing is when the shipper pays for some percentage of the charges upfront and then the rest of the charges are pass on to the shipper.
Costs
This means that if you want to save on freight costs, you should consider truckload over shipping. A truckload is more cost-effective than shipping. Why? Because trucks can carry a larger number of loads and because there are fewer restrictions place on the trucks. Thus, truckloads are generally more cost-effective than shipments.
Another key difference is that truckload companies are not restrict from using their own trailers or vessels for transporting goods. You will find that the most commonly used truckload carriers are flatbed trailers and metal trailers. These are very cost-effective for short distances. The only drawback is that these trailers may not be as secure as you need them to be. Thus, you may have to put extra effort to ensure that the goods being shipp are secure.
Truckload Freight Service
When using a truckload freight service, there are a few important things that you must take into account. The most important is to make sure that you are going to get the services of a reputable company. To do this, you must search for well-established truckload freight brokers. You will also need to check whether the brokers will charge you a fee for the estimates that they give you.
There are some truckload carriers that use refrigerated trailers to transport perishable goods such as fruits and vegetables. If you are using the service of a brokerage firm for your shipment, ask them about the refrigeration methods that the carriers use. A refrigerated trailer can reduce the risk of spoilage considerably. Moreover, you will find that a larger refrigerated trailer can allow for better packaging arrangements. This will help you save on costs as well.
Trailers
Another important thing to note is that there are both enclosed and open trailers that are used for truckload shipping. Although the open carriers are more popular because of their ease of handling and low cost, the enclosed trailers are preferred mainly because of the increased security that they offer. In addition, they can be use for hazardous materials, whereas the open carriers cannot be use for them. Here are the 7 key differences between these two modes of shipping.
If your business involves a large volume of cargo shipping, then opting for a single shipper hub and distributing hubs will prove to be more cost-effective. This is because it allows for greater uniformity in charges and dispatch times. Meanwhile, if your shipper only handles smaller loads, opting for a single shipper hub and distributing hub will enable you to control your costs and improve profitability.
Conclusion
A truckload is ideally suit to short-distance transport of goods or raw materials. However, it is sometimes require to transport goods of considerable volumes such as bulk merchandise. Hence, it may be require to use multiple stops along the way to avoid economies of scale. The best solution is to contact your shipping consultant and discuss various options so that you can choose the best mode of transportation for your goods.