Freight is a term employed to describe the transportation of trade goods and is generally a commercial process. Items are largely set up into various shipment classes before they are shipped.
This is dependent on various factors:
- The type of item being channelled, i.e. a kettle should obviously fit into the listing 'household goods'.
- How large the item is, both in terms of item size and quantity.
- How long the item for sending will be in transit.
- Shipments are often branded as household goods, express, parcel, and freight Despatches.
Furniture, artwork, or like Shipments are generally sorted as household goods.
Very small business or personal items like envelopes are regarded as overnight express or express letter items. These shipments are not usually over a few pounds, and just about always move in the carriers own packaging. Service degrees are variable, depending on the shippers choice. Express goods virtually always travel some distance by air. An envelope can go coast to coast through the night or it may take numerous days, depending on the service selections and prices chosen.
Bigger things like small boxes are counted as parcel or ground despatches. These loads are rarely over 100 pounds, with no single piece of the cargo weighing more than approximately 70 pounds. Shipments are usually packaged, sometimes in the shippers packaging and every now and again in carrier-provided packaging. Service grades are again variable; but nearly all ground cargos will move about 500-700 miles per day, going seacoast to sea-coast in close to four days depending on origin. Parcel payloads rarely move by air, and generally move thru road and rail. Parcels make up the absolute majority of business-to-consumer (B2C) loadings.
Aside from HHG, express, and parcel loads, movements are referred to as freight shipments.
Less-than-truckload (LTL) freight:
The first category of freight consignment is less than truckload (LTL). LTL carriers trailers are typically 28' long and complete utilization of a 28' pup is considered capacity. However, air freight shipments typically need to move at much faster speeds than 500 miles per day. Air shipments may be booked directly with the carriers or through brokers or online marketplace services. While shipments move faster than standard LTL, a
Truckload (TL) freight:
In the United States of America loadings greater than approximately 15,000 pounds are generally classed as truckload (TL) in that it is most economical to only use a truck rather than share it in an LTL environment.
A load is limited to the space available in the trailer -- nominally 48' or 53 long and about 100 inches wide and 106 inches high. Increasing shipment size has proven to be a significant opportunity for many companies - particularly large consumer product companies.
Ideas for increasing load size include: reducing truck equipment weights for example, by "light weighting" the equipment. This may involve extensive use of lighter- weight materials such as aluminum. When shipping freightage, it is exceedingly important to understand pricing, claims, and insurance.
More about freight service
How freight pricing works:
Some common accessorial charges are: Liftgate: this is a service that assists the driver in loading or unloading his truck when a loading dock or forklift is not available. The trailer is equipped with a hydraulic ramp that lowers to the ground. Liftgate service is almost always billed on residential pickups or deliveries and in commercial pickup and deliveries where loading docks or forklifts are not available. Only a small percentage of most trucking companies trailers are equipped with liftgates so movements requiring liftgates must be communicated to the carrier in advance.
Truckload (TL) carriers usually charge a rate per mile. The rate varies depending on the distance, geographic location of the delivery, items being shipped, equipment type required, and service times required. TL shipments usually receive a variety of surcharges very similar to those described for LTL shipments above. In the TL market, there are thousands more small carriers than in the LTL market; so the use of transportation intermediaries or brokers is extremely common.
Cargo insurance:
About 10% of all freight shipments will experience some significant loss or damage. It is a common misconception that a freight rate includes full coverage insurance, when in fact a base freight rate typically includes only a bare minimum of cargo insurance. A shipper should always ask their carrier or intermediary what the insurance coverage is for every specific shipment. LTL shipments will often be insured for less than 25 cents per pound, and TL shipments will often be insured for only slightly more than LTL shipments. Most TL carriers have maximum cargo insurance of $100,000 for the entire load; but for a 40,000 load, thats only about $2.50 per pound.
Freight packaging:
All shipments should be palletized and wrapped in plastic to protect from damage. Most shipments should be fully crated in order to ensure a damage-free delivery. A good rule is to ask the carrier or intermediary for the specific packaging requirements for each shipment then exceed those requirements. Also, since shipments may be reloaded several times, it is important that the packaging has all the shipper and consignee info clearly noted on at least two sides of the shipment. Filing claims with freight companies is a cumbersome and time consuming process, so shippers should take extra care in packaging to avoid freight claims.
Freight shipping summary:
Railcars can send any bulk cargo to numerous locations. Shippers usually first ensure that they are employing the correct type of carrier for their specific type of object: using an LTL carrier for an LTL article, for example. While parcel carriers will accept LTL shipments, and LTL carriers will accept TL consignments, shippers will often receive lower quality service at higher rates when carriers service loads that is "non-standard" for their particular company.
if the shipper has chosen the correct type of carrier, the shipper then shops a lot of carriers in order to locate the most beneficial service and price for their object. Shippers search out all-inclusive quotations that include all surcharges and accessorial costs.
when the shipper has chosen the mode and carrier and is organized to ship, they sometimes over-package their freight item and verify insurance coverage, to avert damage and claims.
Inexperienced shippers sometimes use the services of a freight go-between or consultant to help them find the most appropriate carrier, service, and price for their cargos.
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