By Krystal Branch


The shipment of goods all over the world can only be done through road transport, water, air and railroads. The shipment over the land surface tends to be more dependent on trucks as the rail transport is usually considered to be more inconvenient in reference to railroad timetables that end up with time wastage. When it comes to road shipment industry, there are three options through which shipment can be done. These are parcel shipment, Full Truck Load (FTL) and Less Than Truck Load (LTL carrier).

Less-than Truck Load is used to refer to a weight classification for shipments larger than parcels but is smaller than Full Truck Load (FTL). The difference arises in the mode operations. In FTL shipment, a huge container/cargo is shipped to a specific customer while the LTL carrier ships goods from a number of customers on a single truck. Through this system, the shippers network with several warehousing location. Given that this is not a matter of point-to-point between shipper and the receiver, it tends to be more cost effective.

In order for this to work, there are several terminals that are set up in particular regional locations. These terminals are served by vans and vehicles that collect them from the sender and deliver them to the regional terminal point. Here, the goods are offloaded and then weighted after which the bill is prepared. The goods are then sorted and organized so that those destined to a similar location end up in a specific truck that ships them to the other terminal. They are then collected by vehicles at that terminal point and delivered to final destination.

The impact is that the good goes through several steps from the sender to the receiver and is likely to take more time as opposed to the method where a single truck is used from the sender to the receiver. The truck drivers also get familiar with their routes which is obviously and advantage to them.

After this, they are sorted with the ones destined for similar destination packed in the same outbound trucks. They are then shipped to the appropriate regional terminals from where the local vehicles then pick them up for delivery to the final receiver.

It is however important to plan very well ahead so that the delivery are timely to avoid any delay. Normally, the time of delivery can be estimated to take up to ten working days but depending on nature of goods and their destination, the delivery in the second day is still possible. LTL carriers are known to offer better rates per pound that parcel shipment services. They also accept larger goods that will not normally be shipped in parcel categories.

This means that the client should keenly study the shipment firm in terms of efficiency and the reliability. The industry players have been able to stabilize this market, even with staggering economic growth as most shippers opting to offer better customer service with good pricing strategies.

It is always better to stay ahead of the competition. With slowly growing economy and overcapacity in carrier market, it is important to carefully select a reliable shipment company to handle the shipping. In case, time is not an issue, it can be advantageous conduct shipping through the LTL carrier as this can be cost effective and efficient.




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