In today's business environment, where the COVID-19 pandemic has made reliance on e-commerce fulfillment more important than ever, it's important that you look at all the areas where you can gain an edge over your competition. One area where you can find opportunities to do this is to save money on shipping. This post will explain what freight shipping is and offer some tips to help ensure you're getting the best shipping rate for your products.

What is trucking?
Freight transport is defined as the process of transporting commodities, goods and cargo by land, sea or air. Freight itself can be defined as goods transported by truck dispatch services, train, ship or plane.

Any shipment that exceeds the criteria below is considered freight and must be shipped as such.

• Packages over £150
• Packages exceeding 165 inches in length and width combined
• Packages longer than 108 inches
• What are the different types of freight shipments?
• There are three main types of freight shipments: full truckload (FTL), less than truckload (LTL), and
• part truckload (PTL). There is also intermodal freight and express shipping.

Full Trucking: Full trucking involves moving bulk or pallet loads that are large enough to justify the use of an entire semi-trailer, usually more than 15,000 pounds. Full truckloads can be more cost-effective and reduce the chance of cargo damage with less handling than LTL cargo. Flatbed carriers transport cargo that is loaded into a semi-trailer. Semi-trailers are typically 26 to 53 feet long and require a significant amount of cargo to make such transportation economical. If want to hire best truck dispatch services in USA, you should know about services providing companies.

Less Than a Truck: LTL freight is the transportation of relatively small loads. Alternatives to LTL carriers are parcel carriers or full truckload carriers. Parcel carriers typically handle small packages and cargo that can be broken down into units of less than 150 pounds.
Partial Freight Shipment: A partial freight shipment is between 6 and 12 pallets with a total weight of over 5,000 pounds.

Intermodal: Intermodal transportation usually refers to transportation with a combination of rail and freight. However, it may involve different modes of transport, including rail, truck or ship, to make the shipping process more efficient. Including rail in your freight transportation can reduce fuel consumption, lower costs and offer a reliable method of transportation. The cheap freight shipping in USA is not easy to get.

Expedited: Expedited freight refers to time-critical shipments where the cargo must be delivered quickly. Expedited shipping is most often transported by truck or air.

How to get the best shipping rate
Consolidate transportation
If you regularly ship to and from the same location, you may want to consider consolidating shipments into larger, less frequent shipments. This can be achieved by stacking similar products on one pallet. For example, there are great advantages to stacking and packing 50 boxes of similar size onto one pallet instead of shipping them individually. You'll save money on shipping costs and save time by only having to track one shipment instead of all of them separately.

Choose the best carrier for your route
There are many different types of freight carriers to choose from, including using a smaller regional carrier or one of the larger national carriers. You must take into account that individual carriers have different prices depending on where or from where you are shipping. Each national carrier has its own hubs and routes (known as lanes) and costs can vary widely depending on the location of their hubs and the routes between them. Some carriers are excellent national freight carriers and are a great choice for long cross-country crossings. Smaller regional carriers might be better suited for shorter regional shipments. They can be cheaper if your products only travel a short distance within the region they serve.

Know your cargo classification
Freight classification is a standardized method designed by the National Freight Classification (NMFC) to provide consumers and carriers with a uniform pricing structure for freight transportation. It measures the transportability of an item by density, conformability, responsibility and ease of handling. Class numbers are between 50 and 500. There are 18 cargo classes, with class 50 being the lowest and class 500 being the highest. The higher the class, the higher the rate for every hundred pounds you send.

Minimize empty space on the pallet
Lowering the shipping class and minimizing oversize fees on your shipment are two simple ways to save money. To keep the load class as low as possible, make sure the pallet is packed as densely as possible with no empty space. The more that can fit on a pallet, the less chance there is of a shift in the freight class. It is important to avoid exceeding 60 inches in height whenever possible. That's the limit that oversize fees will kick in and you could be left with a surprise additional charge for your freight shipment.

Cooperation with an external logistics provider (3PL)
Choosing the best option for your shipment can be complicated. An established third-party logistics provider (3PL) specializes in overseeing some or all of your supply chain and logistics operations. A 3PL will handle picking, packing, inventory management, order management and processing, reporting, shipping and distribution, as well as reverse logistics.

Other common tasks that companies outsource to 3PL providers include: domestic shipping, international shipping, customs clearance, and freight forwarding. Most 3PLs have access to TMS software that can not only find the best prices, but also compare the pros and cons of different carriers.