Cargo theft is an unfortunate by-product of the holiday season that often gets overlooked during the hustle and bustle of rushed shipments and tight delivery schedules. That is until a trailer disappears, or pallets go missing off the company’s loading dock. With employees taking extra vacation days around Christmas and New Year’s, freight is often unattended or stored in places where prolonged absences provide a greater opportunity for theft.

And what you can do about mitigating LTL costs ... 

LTL rates have remained high since the freight recession hit in Q4 of 2018, and to some, this is hard to understand. Conventional wisdom says that when market pricing for truckload shipments rises, so does Less-than-truckload (LTL) pricing.  Conversely, when truckload pricing dips, so should LTL, but we are beginning to see a shift in the industry that is far from normal.

Offering Customers Something More ... 

“The recent freight recession has affected the freight industry in a number of ways, making it critical for companies to maintain more direct communications, streamline processes and gain greater visibility in order to remain successful. Largely driven by excess capacity in the market, freight recessions signal a time for brokers to step up their offerings and deliver a true competitive advantage to the market to separate themselves from the competition.” - Freightwaves webinar: The Battle of the Broker: How the Freight Recession Has Impacted the Broker Market

Differentiation

There are over 20,000 freight brokers in the United States. Differentiation can be difficult when every 3PL likes to claim excellent pricing, communication, customer service, and the ability to track shipments. If you are a freight broker and don’t provide those key benefits for all your services, chances are you won’t be for long.   

Being a "Broker of Choice"

Choptank Transport recently conducted a carrier survey from which 300 for-hire truckers in the supply chain responded. The survey delved into how carriers perceive the value that 3PLs offer, including their thoughts on pricing, service, courteousness, and clear communication.

Is the Freight Market Recession Improving?

Tracking packages is nothing new. Companies like FedEx and UPS have been doing it for decades. In 1994, UPS first offered customers access to a new bar-coded tracking technology. It was a huge success and enabled the company to grow exponentially.

Commercial freight carriers, on the other hand, have been slow to adopt instant tracking with the burden (and complication) of too many moving parts involved in the supply chain. With so many hands in every freight transaction, it is a miracle the process works as well as it does today.

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) performs several roadside inspections throughout the year that focus on different aspects of driver and vehicle safety. Most shippers are well aware of the widely publicized annual International Road Check in June. It is a mid-summer event that historically creates a noticeable squeeze on capacity, created by scores of carriers taking vacations or simply staying off the roads to avoid being stopped, fined, or put out of service.

According to Wikipedia.org, hurricane season starts in the Atlantic the first of June, but it seems official now with the threat of Dorian hitting the Florida coast sometime in the next 72 hours. The National Weather Service says it is currently a category three but is predicting it will reach category four status by the time it reaches the coast. Like a nail-biting horserace, no one is sure what to expect at the finish line until the final moment of impact.

The U.S. DOT announced today a series of newly proposed changes to the 2013 hours-of-service final ruling. These changes will give drivers more flexibility and are a result of feedback from industry organizations and individuals who have been affected by the 2017 electronic logging device (ELD) mandate.

Photo courtesy of Getty Images

It all started in a small underground bunker in Antarctica, with a French scientist, his two colleagues, and a glass of whiskey. After a long day of drilling through ice, a few ice chips from a core sample were precisely what his glass of amber-colored liquid needed. While staring at his drink, the ice emitted several bubbles that floated to the surface. It dawned on the scientist that the air (specifically the CO²) trapped in the bubbles if analyzed, might be able to tell a story.