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If there is one thing we have learned over the last two decades and, more specifically, the last few years, it is that even small changes on one end of the supply chain can significantly impact other participants upstream or downstream. There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic spotlighted vulnerable parts of the U.S. supply chain network. Two years from the onset of the pandemic, the national and global supply ecosystem is still struggling to recover from the pandemic’s crippling impact.

Third-party logistics providers (3PL) in the food and consumer product goods (CPG) industries are no strangers to adapting processes due to changes in supply and demand. Colonial Cartage, for one, began more than 65 years ago as a local DSD carrier helping our warehousing clients (quite literally) get their products to retail shelves.

Our less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier services evolved due to changes in the scale of retail store operations, the efficiencies gained by consolidating multi-vendor store deliveries, and more sophisticated inventory management technology.

This blog looks at some of this history. It also explains how Colonial’s LTL freight consolidation and cross-docking services can help food and CPG brands reduce transport costs, shorten their delivery cycle, and minimize handling in transit. All of which are improvements for businesses operating in this post-pandemic environment.

Lean Retail Practices & COVID-19: The Perfect Storm

In the early 2000s, U.S. retailers began shifting their stock and inventory management processes to accommodate more variety and rotating brands. Bulk ordering from their suppliers proved costly from a speed-to-market, carrying cost, product quality, and storage cost perspective. New lean retail practices – ordering less stock but more frequently – put the pressure back onto processors and manufacturers. More frequent shelf replenishment opened shelf space for line extensions and new brands, offering consumers more choice. All of this required more agility by the food processors and CPG manufacturers.

Due to the “just-in-time” nature of lean retail practices, brands now had to move faster and more frequently to replenish stock orders but often with smaller orders. Transportation and logistics costs increased, as did the handling costs of moving items and materials in and out of storage locations in smaller quantities.

And Then Along Came COVID-19…

When the pandemic hit, the nature of lean retailing left many retail vendors and retailers vulnerable and exposed to pandemic inefficiencies. Lean retailing works on the assumption of an “always-on” responsive and proactive supply chain. That did not hold up in a COVID-19 reality.

For retailers needing replenishment, the COVID pandemic effectively eliminated flexibility in the supply chain. Container shortages, port closures, limited transportation capacity, labor shortages, and other supply chain challenges reduced inbound raw material and component inventories, making it difficult for many manufacturers to produce and deliver products based on retailer demand.

Suddenly lean retail practices meant empty shelves, leaving retailers scrambling to access stock from other sources. The lean nature of retail stock replenishment left vendors with inventory deficits and low supply. 2021’s panic buying by retail stores put even more pressure on retailers to replenish the goods they needed; this has created the ongoing deficit between demand and supply that continues to be exacerbated by pandemic-influenced circumstances as much as two years later.

How Can LTL Freight Consolidation and Cross-Docking Help?

Numerous manufacturers and food processors have turned to their 3PL partners to help ease the pressure created by lean retail practices and the global supply chain crisis. Freight consolidation and cross-docking are examples of creative solutions offered that deliver numerous benefits for CPG companies.

Freight consolidation, which combines multiple LTL orders to the same destination into a single trailer or truckload, is more cost-effective than shipping straight LTL. Additionally, in today’s environment, LTL services are over-subscribed, leaving many orders on the origin shipping docks to be picked up “whenever we get capacity to pick it up.”

A common challenge faced by LTL carriers is not having sufficient volume to make a route or load profitable, leading to shipping delays and longer delivery lead times. Colonial Cartage, however, never traps freight. If we have an order, our trucks depart as scheduled for the destination.

Cross-docking, which uses a staging area for transferring goods from one truck to another, removes the need for unnecessary storage dwell times and product handling. It helps shorten the delivery cycle, lowers expenses, and increases efficiency and reliability. While it requires coordination among multiple parties, cross-docking is a practical way to reduce operational costs and streamline order fulfillment.

Why Choose Colonial Cartage?

At Colonial Cartage, we believe today’s supply chain must be able to manage shorter lead times, maintain product quality, and offer reliable, on-time services. When shipping food and CPG products, our number one priority is ensuring their timely delivery in perfect condition. We are also steadfast in our ability to meet retailers’ compliance metrics.

As a temperature-controlled and ambient LTL service provider, Colonial Cartage offers comprehensive and reliable LTL freight consolidation services. We have one of the nation’s largest, most extensive refrigerated LTL freight consolidation programs with weekly deliveries to retailers across 26 states throughout the Southeast, Southwest, Midwest, Upper Midwest, and the Great Plains.

We have also cultivated the skills and technology necessary to implement speedy, seamless cross-docking and have the experience to manage cross-docking transfers in their drop sequence.

Food and CPG companies with experience in high-velocity shipping ready to experience faster and more reliable transportation services can trust Colonial Cartage to handle their business. For cost-effective and dependable LTL and cross-docking solutions to meet all your shipping needs across Colonial’s service area, look no further than Colonial Cartage. Contact us today to find out how we can help you.

Less-than-truckload (LTL) shipping is an indispensable tool for businesses of any size, thanks primarily to its convenience and cost-efficiency. LTL can utilize a pooled distribution model. Multiple shipments for the same destination are combined and routed through a hub or routed and sequenced by drop order on a single trailer. Instead of hiring an entire trailer, a shipper only needs to pay for the portion of the truck they use.

This guide provides an overview of LTL shipping, the factors determining shipping costs, and examples of industries that benefit from this transportation model.

Less-than-truckload vs. truckload

LTL shipping refers to shipments that do not require an entire trailer and can be as little as 150 lbs. or up to 15,000 lbs. The shipment’s weight and dimensions (cube) will determine freight class, which will impact rates. The higher the density, the lower the per hundredweight rate.

At the opposite end of the spectrum is full truckload (FTL) or truckload (TL). TL shipments range from 16+ pallets to a maximum of 44 to 48 pallets (depending on the height of the pallets and length of the trailer) or a total weight of 44,000 lbs.

The Cost of LTL

Many factors determine less-than-truckload pricing; the most important being:

1. Location & distance: Most LTL carriers serve a specific region, usually around major metropolitan areas. If your freight needs to travel outside their coverage zone, it could be passed to another carrier at an increased cost.
2. Dimensions & weight: Base LTL rates are calculated according to freight class (determined by the density of your cargo) along with its value, need for special handling, and how it fits in the trailer with other freight. Lower classes have higher density and less fragile cargo and, therefore, get charged less per weight and vice versa.
3. Expedited or Guaranteed: By default, LTL shipments come with a delivery window that can be fluid and based on the carrier’s capacity and current lane volume. There are two additional services available at extra fees if you need to move your freight quickly: expedited shipment (which arrives faster than a standard shipment) or a guaranteed shipment (with a guaranteed delivery date and time). These rates can approximate the cost of a TL order.
4. Special handling needs: LTL offers optional services not available from FTL carriers, such as liftgates for locations without a forklift and residential pickups or deliveries.

Industries That Rely On LTL Shipping

While many industries benefit from utilizing LTL as part of their supply chain system, there are a couple of specific markets that have been the main driving forces behind the explosive growth of LTL shipping in recent years:

eCommerce

LTL plays a significant role in moving freight securely and cost-effectively from suppliers to distribution hubs of major online retailers. Streamlined shipping processes automate most eCommerce tasks: from getting quotes, scheduling a pickup, and live tracking, all the way to automated delivery notification and online invoicing. LTL offers the flexibility, timeliness, and advanced technology required by eCommerce, plus it can also deliver heavy and bulky orders much more efficiently than small package carriers.

Food-grade products, consumer package goods (CPG), pharmaceuticals

The nature of fast-moving products with a high turnover rate, such as CPG, food-grade products, and medications, makes them an ideal match with LTL’s distribution reach and delivery capabilities. Partnering with an LTL carrier with scale, capacity, and a service area to handle time and temperature-sensitive cargo can enhance efficiencies further.

Freight Consolidation

As effective as LTL shipping is, there are additional ways to improve its model, especially in today’s competitive landscape, with rising costs and tighter delivery windows. One of the biggest challenges of LTL is that carriers must build enough volume in their trailers to make the loads profitable, leading to longer waiting times and delayed deliveries during low-volume periods or on less frequently used routes.

The solution, in most cases, is freight consolidation through a 3PL provider. Freight consolidation alleviates these issues by combining multiple LTL shipments into a single full truckload or multiple-stop truckloads. The shipper of each LTL shipment benefits from lower cost by sharing an entire vehicle while reducing the risk of damaged products from less cargo handling. Most importantly, customers enjoy increased reliability and on-time deliveries.

LTL Services Through Colonial Cartage

Colonial Cartage is a full-service, asset-based carrier providing one-stop food-grade dry and refrigerated LTL and TL distribution services. Our service area covers 26 states. We have a fleet of over 260 refrigerated, food-grade trucks and trailers and 70+ years of providing dependable warehousing and transportation services to local and national enterprises. We have the experience, expertise, network, and scalable capacity to help you grow your business.

Contact Colonial Cartage today to learn more about our LTL services.

FAQs

What are consumer packaged goods?

Consumer packaged goods (CPG) are fast-moving products used daily by average consumers that require routine replacement or replenishment. CPG examples include fresh produce, packaged food, beverages, cosmetics, toiletries, paper and storage supplies, and other consumables.

What is reefer shipping?

The use of refrigerated trailers to transport temperature-controlled freight, including fresh and frozen foods, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and more, is referred to as reefer shipping.

What is the difference between LTL and TL?

Less-than-truckload (LTL) shipping is for shipments that do not require an entire trailer and a payload as small as 150 lbs. or up to 15,000 lbs. Truckload shipments are usually more than 16 pallets and up to a maximum of 44 to 48 pallets (depending on the height of the pallets and length of the trailer). Their total weight is 44,000 lbs.

What is freight consolidation?

Freight consolidation combines multiple LTL shipments into a single full truckload (FTL), which is more cost-efficient than pedal-run LTL deliveries, which have frequent delivery stops. Even with numerous stops, by combining several LTL shipments into a single full truckload going on the same route, the shipper of each LTL shipment benefits from lower cost, faster transit time, and reduced risk of damaged products.

What is cross-docking?

Cross-docking is the transfer of products from a truck or rail car to one or more outbound vehicles across a staging area within a short amount of time — eliminating the additional handling and storage required in a standard warehousing process. This strategy helps reduce costs and increase efficiencies.

What does a freight broker do?

A freight broker is an intermediary between a shipper and a transportation provider (over-the-road, rail, or ocean). According to the terms brokered, the broker arranges agreements and cost terms between the two parties to ensure the freight is picked up and delivered successfully.

What is a 3PL?

Third-party logistics (3PL) is the one-stop solution for outsourcing all or part of your warehousing, transportation, and fulfillment services to a professional supply chain provider.

What is breakbulk service?

Breakbulk service is a distribution model where outbound orders are picked directly from inbound cargo received in bulk at the loading dock. This service allows the shipper to bypass one aspect of the fulfillment process, making their inbound shipment to the breakbulk facility more cost-effective.

What is Colonial Cartage’s service area?

We operate in 26 states throughout the Southeast, Southwest, Midwest, Upper Midwest, and the Great Plains.

What kind of plant support do you offer?

We can assist with inbound transportation of raw materials to plants and outbound transportation of finished products from plants back to our other 3PL or private warehouses.

How extensive is your fleet?

We have more than 70 Peterbilt, Kenworth, and International power units, as well as more than 200 refrigerated trailers — all of which are company-owned, food-grade, and state-of-the-art safety equipment. In addition to our trucks and trailers, three mobile service vehicles can be dispatched both on-campus and throughout our service area.

Where is your headquarters?

Colonial Cartage headquarters’ is located at 3000 Cobb International Blvd in Kennesaw, Georgia.

How do you track shipments?

All of our trucks are tracked and logged with ELDs by KT and Brickhouse Security.

When handling time-sensitive consumer goods, both manufacturers and retailers rely on Colonial Cartage to deliver efficient, dependable service on time and within budget.

Consumer packaged goods (CPG) are items used daily by average consumers, requiring routine replacement or replenishment. Examples include packaged food, beverages, cosmetics, toiletries, and other consumables. CPG covers a wide swath of essential products that play an unassuming yet vital role in our daily lives and are stocked in every grocery store, pharmacy, big-box chain, or local convenience store.

Due to their high volume, competitive landscape, and sometimes short shelf life, speed and cost are critical to cover an extensive distribution network and meet an ever-tightening delivery window. Consumer taste has also evolved to demand more variety, greater sustainability, and a more effortless shopping experience.

CPG companies have responded with more SKUs, shorter lifecycles, and improved customer service levels. All this places an even greater emphasis on maximizing supply chain efficiency to drive growth while keeping costs in check.

What are the benefits of LTL?

Under these pressing demands, CPG manufacturers have turned to LTL shipping, often working in conjunction with 3PL services, to address their most significant needs, such as:

1. Timely delivery

To create more variety on limited shelf capacity and keep shelves stocked, retail stores are reducing their on-hand inventory with a more frequent delivery schedule that offers shorter lead times and narrower delivery windows. Suppliers unable to comply with the stricter guidelines face steep fees or penalties or even loss of distribution. An experienced LTL carrier with a large fleet, broad shipping network, and relationships with the receivers can make the deliveries on time to stay compliant.

2. Reliable capacity

Due to rising freight costs, an acute driver shortage, and fluctuating volume demands, CPG shippers face the (increasingly complex) task of securing reliable shipping capacity. An asset-based carrier can dependably meet the capacity demand if they have the necessary experience and resources. Streamlined operations anchored in expertise and technology are a must.

3. Cost reduction

As shipping rates and service fees continue to climb, CPG suppliers in a low-margin, capital-intensive industry must balance the need for innovation and higher customer satisfaction with maintaining a viable business model. Operational efficiency across the supply chain needs to be constantly and relentlessly optimized. The best optimization methods include utilizing modern 3PL services such as cross-docking, freight consolidation, and co-packaging.

Dependable and cost-effective LTL and 3PL solutions to meet all shipping needs for consumer packaged goods

In partnership with sister company Atlanta Bonded Warehouse, Colonial Cartage provides LTL solutions and 3PL services that empower CPG companies, both large and small, to succeed in today’s competitive market.

We have over 70 years of experience providing dependable warehousing and transportation services to national and local CPG companies. With a service area covering 26 states and a fleet of over 260 refrigerated, food-grade trucks and trailers, you can count on Colonial Cartage to help your business reach its full growth potential.

Our award-winning services include:

• Freight consolidation: Working in collaboration with Atlanta Bonded Warehouse, Colonial Cartage’s LTL freight consolidation program is one of the largest in the country, with weekly deliveries to retailers, wholesalers, and distributors in 26 states. Benefits include lower cost, faster transit time, and reduced risk of damaged products.
• Cross-docking: We have invested in our cross-docking process, technology, and infrastructure over several decades to eliminate unnecessary freight handling and storage. The results are shorter transit times, fewer damaged products, and lower cost.
• Warehousing: With 6.4 million square feet of space across 15 facilities offering both shared and dedicated warehousing in five states, we have the experience and the scope of operations to grow with your business.
• Co-packaging: Looking for packaging, re-packaging, and labeling services for your products for faster turnaround and scalability with no capital investment? We provide multiple co-packaging services, including eCommerce fulfillment, co-packaging (secondary), re-packaging, and reconfiguration to help you free up resources and focus on growing your business.

Contact Colonial Cartage today to learn more about LTL solutions for consumer packaged goods companies.

Companies of all sizes face an ongoing challenge to get their less-than-truckload freight orders to the market. Given the rising costs of all forms of transport, as well as fluctuating demands and shrinking delivery windows, contracting LTL carriers for your supply chain can be an expensive, time-consuming pursuit that drains resources. Many of these challenges can be addressed by partnering with a third-party logistics (3PL) company that specializes in cost-effective LTL freight management solutions. If you are considering working with an LTL or 3PL company to meet your supply chain’s shipping needs, here are a few questions to ask yourself:

1. Is your LTL shipping provider backed by full-service 3PL services?

If you can warehouse and transport your product using the same 3PL in the same facility or campus, you can save time and resources vs. using multiple providers in the same market. Those costs can be reduced further if the 3PL offers freight consolidation programs with other shippers going to the same destination. Using the same provider can also eliminate multiple handlings, simplify and streamline communications, and reduce your internal resources.

At Colonial Cartage, we work closely with Atlanta Bonded Warehouse to provide a range of critical logistics services, including refrigerated LTL freight consolidation, cross-docking, LTL plant support, and warehousing services.

2. Does your LTL carrier handle freight shipping across multiple states?

If you are a small company shipping your product nationwide, you will want to engage as few 3PL partners as possible. At the same time, you need dependable LTL shipments in every region of the United States. Look for an LTL company that cover broader service areas than just their domiciled region. For example, if you are considering a provider in the Southeast, can they also provide LTL services to the Southwest? If you are considering a 3PL in the Midwest, can they also cover the Northeast? The wider the coverage area, the fewer 3PL’s you will need. The more their service areas overlap, the more flexibility you will have.

Colonial Cartage offers one of the largest refrigerated LTL freight consolidation pool programs in the United States — covering 26 states across the Southeast, Southwest, Midwest, Upper Midwest, and Great Plains states.

3. Does your LTL shipping partner maintain regularly scheduled routes to retailers and distributors?

Today, “close” is not close enough. If your 3PL does not have a dependable schedule of regular LTL shipments delivered directly to your customers, you could be facing additional compliance fees and fines as well as other buyer penalties, up to and including dropping SKU’s. Confirm your shipper’s delivery compliance record and volumes to your critical customers so you can be confident that your products will arrive as promised.

4. Will your orders be “trapped” if a full truckload is not met?

Be aware that some LTL freight shippers will try to build more profitable loads by “trapping” freight until a near capacity truckload is achieved — this practice may save them money, but it causes order delays and headaches for you and your customers. At Colonial Cartage, we put our customers ahead of our own company’s potential cost-savings, which is why if we receive an order, it ships according to our weekly schedule — regardless of whether it is a full truckload or not.

5. Is your 3PL transportation partner driven by smart LTL solutions technology?

Working with an LTL service provider means more than just coordinating transportation — that shipper becomes an integral part of your team. They need to be committed to helping you keep your promises. That’s why your 3PL partner must be well-equipped to anticipate and avoid problems before they arise to make sure your deliveries and order requirements are met. At Colonial Cartage, we accomplish this through the use of a comprehensive transportation management system (TMS) by Tailored Logistics Solutions that delivers state-of-the-art routing, shipment visibility, and invoicing for our customers. We are also fully staffed to provide rapid response to customer EDI and data translation/interface requests.

Contact us today to learn more and receive a rate quote for Colonial Cartage’s less-than-truckload (LTL) transportation solutions or Atlanta Bonded Warehouse’s integrated 3PL supply chain solutions.

Between an evolving retail landscape, rising transportation costs, higher shipping volumes, and ever-tightening delivery windows, LTL shippers are fighting to remain competitive and provide satisfactory service to their customers. Manufacturers and processors find themselves faced with higher costs and less predictable delivery timetables as LTL services struggle to compete for shrinking delivery windows for LTL freight. These challenges can be mitigated by moving from the straight LTL model to freight consolidation services provided by asset-based third-party logistics (3PL) companies.

By creating regional (and, in a few occasions, national) consolidation centers 3PL’s are able to offer a more reliable service. Let’s look at a few reasons to consider moving from LTL to a consolidation services model.

Greater Dependability

LTL carriers are frequently relying on having the critical mass on their docks to make their trucks profitable. Some carriers will trap freight until they can build economically viable loads. The longer they hold the freight, the greater the chance of missing the customer’s delivery window. If a particular lane or destination does not have the order volume to make the truck profitable, LTL carriers will add drops, again stretching out delivery Consolidation centers provide a single shipping origin from which the products of different shippers heading to the same destination can be inventoried and distributed more easily.

Reduced Risk of Damage or Errors

The consolidation model reduces the number of times a pallet will be handled. This helps protect inventory and reduces the incidents of loss or damage.

Improved Tracking Capabilities

When a 3PL company oversees the responsibility of shipping pooled distribution from origin to destination, it is much easier to track and trace orders from departure to delivery. Technology gives shippers a window to their orders in real-time. Companies can check the status of their orders and get more timely information with greater accuracy and frequency.

Lower, more predictable costs

Consolidation is, by definition, more cost-effective and more dependable than LTL transportation. With less risk, the average savings in transportation costs can be 25-35 percent less than straight LTL.

In summary, moving to a consolidation services model for less-than-truckload shipping helps solve many of the challenges faced today by companies who work directly with LTL carriers. To learn more about how Colonial Cartage, contact us today.