How Freight Moves
Knowing how LTL freight moves across the network can help you make more informed decisions, and plan your shipments better.
Before Pickup
When you book your shipment with FreightSimple, our systems electronically communicate with the carrier to inform them of the request to pick up the freight, the pickup date, any relevant instructions, reference numbers, and special services required. FreightSimple then receives a confirmation that the pickup has been booked and assigned to the carrier's terminal that is nearest the pickup location.
FreightSimple will also send the customs documents and bill of lading to the carrier so they may begin working with the broker on pre-clearance. More on that later.
On pickup day, the dispatch team at the terminal plans a route for the pickup drivers based on that day's pickup locations and dock hours, taking into account any special services required.
Both pickups and deliveries are performed with the carrier's city trucks (or possibly partnering with a local cartage company). These trucks are much smaller than the trucks that will go cross-country and are better suited to navigating city streets and a variety of pickup and drop off locations.
Typically most of the carrier's city trucks will be dedicated to pickups in the morning, and deliveries in the afternoon. Because of this, there's a higher chance of pickups running smoothly when dock hours include the morning. Carriers still run pickups in the afternoon, but typically their focus has shifted to delivery by then.
A driver will continue to pick up shipments until either their route is completed, or their truck is full. This is another good reason to make sure your dock hours start as early as possible and are as wide as possible. Its is also a reminder to ensure your freight dimensions are correct, as this is what the carrier has made room in their truck for.
The pickup terminal
After the driver has completed their route, they will return to the pickup terminal. At the terminal, the shipments are unloaded from the pickup trucks, sorted, and moved across the dock onto trailers that are being loaded for each of the outbound lanes that evening.
Terminals are busy places where things happen quickly. Typically forklifts move freight around the terminal. Poorly packaged freight can be easily damaged here. One common source of damage is a forklift piercing a non-palletized box or roll that was not adequately protected. Freight that is not well-packaged requires special attention from the terminal team, but that sometimes means it has to wait longer to be processed.
The earlier in the day that a piece of freight arrives at the terminal, the more likely it is to make it onto the cross country truck that same day. If the truck is full by the time it arrives, then it won't get loaded until the next day.
In transit
When moving LTL, it's a common misconception that one truck picks up the freight and then simply drives across the continent and drops it off. This is never the case.
LTL works much closer to how an airline works. Airlines have scheduled flights throughout their networks of airports, and if you want to get across the continent you may have to get a series of scheduled connections. LTL freight carriers have scheduled lanes between their terminals, and a piece of freight moving cross-country may need to connect through various terminals along the way.
Part of the LTL journey may be on rail. Depending on the service level, a carrier might opt to use rail for part of the trip. You can learn more about the transportation modes here.
At the border
The border between the United States and Canada is highly regulated. While there are such things as bonded warehouses on the other side of the border, by far the fastest way to move freight across a border is to have it pre-cleared. The carriers FreightSimple works with all have teams dedicated to making sure your freight is pre-cleared so that it does not get held up at the border.
A carrier will only be allowed to run a certain number of trucks across a border crossing in a particular day. Those trucks will run at a set time. If a fully loaded 56 foot truck tries to cross the border with just a single piece that has not cleared customs, the entire truck will be turned around. Because of this, a carrier will not load your freight to cross a border until it has cleared customs.
If your freight is booked in the afternoon, and picked up by a terminal near a border, that gives the carrier and the broker possibly just a couple of hours to get customs clearance confirmed, otherwise the freight won't make it onto the trailer bound for the border, and will be delayed by a day. Even booking the pickup the afternoon before gives a much wider time for customs to clear, and reduces clearance delays.
The delivery terminal
Your freight will make its way across the continent to its delivery terminal. Typically, incoming cross-country trucks arrive to a terminal early in the morning. Priority and expedited freight may be sent out for delivery in the morning, but most of the freight will be sorted onto delivery trucks in the morning and then dispatched for delivery in the afternoon or even the next day.
Delivery
When the driver arrives at your location, they will ask you to sign a Proof of Delivery. This is an acknowledgement that you received the freight, and it was in good condition. Any damage incurred must be noted at this time to support a claim. You can learn more about Proof of Delivery here.
The vast majority of shipments with FreightSimple happen on time, and damage free. With a little preparation, yours will too. If you have any questions, please contact our support team by opening a live chat or emailing support@freightsimple.com