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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 Carrier 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 Refrigerated LTL carriers. To learn more about how Colonial Cartage, contact us today.

As with so most industries, the transportation and logistics industries are undergoing enormous changes. Between more frequent and increasingly smaller orders, rapidly changing technologies, and receivers’ demands for shorter lead times and delivery windows, shippers and carriers alike frequently find themselves scrambling to adapt. Amid these changes, few have been affected more than the less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier — trucking companies serving the transportation needs of smaller shippers or those whose orders do not require a full trailer. Let us take a look at 6 challenges LTL carriers currently face in today’s market.

1. LTL carriers fight higher costs.

Simply put, the cost of fuel, tolls, and wages for one truck making multiple stops is higher and less efficient than sending the entire load to one destination. In addition to higher costs, LTL carriers rarely either weigh out or cube out the trailer. Frequently, there is additional unused capacity in the trailer despite the best efforts of the LTL carrier.

2. LTL carriers also face fluctuating and unpredictable costs.

Due to a greater number of variables impacting less than truckload orders, LTL carriers have a difficult time predicting from week to week and month to month what their capacity needs will be, putting additional pressure on their overhead expenses. Yet the marketplace expects pricing to be consistent in order for LTL customers to know the transportation costs to build into their pricing.

3. Delivery windows are shrinking.

Due to increased shipping volumes and static receiving capacity at most of their receivers’ dock, LTL carriers face the increased challenge of having to wait for an open door at their destinations. When this occurs at any point in a multiple delivery load, drivers have difficulty meeting the remaining delivery appointments. This increases the risk of non-compliance in an environment where carriers are expected to meet tighter and tighter delivery windows.

4. LTL carriers face higher risks of damaged goods.

Logistically speaking, the more stops a carrier makes and the longer products sit in the trailer; the more likely product will be damaged due to shifting and/or crushing. Likewise, when an order passes through multiple LTL terminals on its way to its destination, the pallets face additional handling. Every time an order is handled it increases the risk of damage.

5. Longer transit times can cause backups both at the shipping and receiving points.

When LTL carriers cannot meet today’s delivery demands, it can result in higher inventories raw materials, work-in-process, and finished goods at the manufacturer’s plant or the distribution center. This will eventually impact the shipper’s or receiver’s bottom line, making LTL carriers a less attractive shipping option.

6. The above challenges result in faster rate hikes for LTL carriers.

Shipper pressure to maintain pricing, the rising costs of recruiting and retaining drivers, and the tightening windows of delivery appointments are putting pressure on the least efficient carriers to raise prices or get out of certain lanes or the LTL business solutions altogether.

While these challenges are significant, they are not insurmountable. Shippers need to look for carriers with available capacity (drivers and equipment) who have a history in the lanes or region they need handled. Overcoming this requires looking for alternatives and/or new transportation models in order to compete. Many shippers are discovering third-party logistics (3PL) companies which may offer a number of options to address these challenges. To learn more about Colonial Cartage, contact us today.

Motor Carriers are facing an increasingly daunting challenge these days — namely, the challenge of employing enough truck drivers to transport their clients’ products. The shortage of available drivers has been an ongoing problem, but in recent years, the shortages have reached record highs nationwide. How can these companies improve their driver retention rates so they can produce better results? How can they attract more drivers and keep them happy in their jobs? Before we can answer these questions, we must understand why the shortages are happening in the first place.

The Challenges of Truck Driver Retention

Driving a truck for a living is a challenging job in and of itself, requiring long hours and frequently long periods away from home. Like anyone else, drivers are willing to face these conditions if they have sufficient incentive to do so. The driver shortage is forcing the industry to face the root causes of the shortage and create incentives to not just maintain the driver pool but to grow it. The following issues are common among truck drivers today:

• Despite the new regulations on hours of service and electronic logs, drivers are often pressured or feel the pressure to bend the rules to make tight deadlines to transport and deliver products. This creates an unsafe work environment.
• Inadequate pay and benefits. The median pay of truck drivers nationwide is just under $43,000 per year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• Delays in loading and unloading even when the drivers are on time for their appointments creates a “no win” situation for drivers.
• The lifestyle is not as attractive to millennials and generation Z individuals as it was to their parents. Depending on the carrier and length of haul, driver do not have enough time home or time home with family.

Ways to Improve Driver Retention Rates

Understanding the problem more clearly, what are some solutions? Today, more carriers make a point of treating their drivers right, personally and professionally. Here are a few things Colonial Cartage is doing to keep good drivers and to attract new drivers :

1. Fair compensation and benefits. Drivers work hard. They should be paid fairly and provided a highly competitive benefits package. Colonial offers a highly attractive package for drivers that includes excellent pay, generous healthcare benefits for both the employee and his family, company-paid life insurance, paid vacation, retirement savings plans and more.
2. Reasonable expectations. Drivers should not be pressured into unsafe driving to meet deadlines. Colonial maintains a reasonable driving schedule that allows drivers to make appointments and still have time home.
3. Respect. Everyone wants to be respected. and treated respectfully. At Colonial, we recognize that without drivers, we do not have a business.

Learn more about driving careers with Colonial Cartage.

Autonomous vehicles are getting a lot of buzz in the logistics industry lately. Since Uber ran its first test of a self-driving beer truck on a Colorado highway just two years ago, new articles about self-driving cars and trucks are released every day. Autonomous trucks will supposedly transform logistics and make transportation safer by eliminating driver fatigue and error. But how realistic are these expectations? Are autonomous trucks really in our future? Ask the experts, and they will tell you it is only a matter of time. However, do not expect self-driving trucks to start filling the highways anytime soon. Autonomous technology has a lot of hurdles before it goes mainstream — and one of the biggest hurdles is liability.

More Questions than Answers

Why is liability such a factor in the evolution of self-driving technology? Simply put, manufacturers and end users alike have legitimate concerns that malfunctioning (or worse, hacked) equipment could cause product damage, property damage, injury, and death — and neither want to assume that liability, particularly the manufacturer. While the technology itself is moving forward rapidly, market release is not close because there are still too many unanswered questions. For instance:

• How well will automated trucks navigate through inclement weather conditions (i.e., rain, hail, sleet, snow, wind)? Most publicized testing done today has been in near perfect driving conditions.
• How will automated trucks be able to predict and anticipate the actions of other drivers?
• What happens if the technology gets hacked? How secure are the navigational and communications systems against cyberattacks?
• What happens if a part fails (e.g., a blown tire or dropped axle), causing a crisis condition?
• And perhaps, most importantly, who will be financially responsible when something goes wrong?

Until these and other questions are answered, liability will remain the largest hurdle before automated vehicles become a reality on our roadways.

Warehouse Automation Will Come First

While still on the horizon for most LTL Carriers, warehouse automation has found its place in the logistics industry before autonomous vehicles. The reason, partially, is reduced liability, but it’s more about the ability to control the technology and apply “fixes” while still operating. As with so many other emerging technologies, the emergence of autonomous trucks is a matter of “when,” not “if.” However, until the concerning issues of safety, adaptability, and liability are addressed, they may still be a decade or more down the road. To learn more about Colonial Cartage, please contact us today.