Less than Truckload Freight: Smaller Freight, Bigger Savings

Cargo shipping can either be truckload or less than truckload. As opposed to truckload shipping, less than truckload is the transportation of small freight or cargo. Alternatives to this type of shipping are also available. These are parcel carriers that handle small packages that can be broken down into smaller units less than 150 pounds, and semi-trailers with the size of 7.92 by 16.15 meters that only require smaller freights.

Less than truckload freight or shipment is the type that can accommodate between 151 to 20,000 pounds. Unlike truckload shipping that has the same type of cargo in each carrier or trailer, less than truckload freight allows heterogeneous cargo. Freight will be collected from different shippers and are later on consolidated into enclosed trailers for line hauling. Later on, the freight will be sent to the delivering to the hub terminal where further sorting of the freight is done before delivery.

Usually, drivers are responsible for pickup and delivery. They have assigned routes everyday depending on the demand of shippers. Commonly, their day starts with delivery first before making pickups once the trailer is emptied. So it is most likely that deliveries occur in the morning while pickups take place in the afternoon.

When freight is picked up from a shipper, it will be loaded in the driver's trailer and will be sent back to the main terminal to be unloaded, weighed, inspected, sorted, and other protocols before they are loaded to an outbound trailer. Also, it has to be made sure that the cargo has a complete set of papers for delivery to occur with no hassle. However, it isn't guaranteed that the freight will only be handled once in transit because there are times that several transfers are made before its final delivery is achieved.

This makes transit times longer in less than truckload freight because transits depend upon the makeup of the network of terminals that are being operated by a carrier company. Despite the case, less than truckload freight is still opted by many because of its cheaper cost compared to hiring an entire trailer for a specific shipment. In addition, most carrier companies of this type offer other services that truckload carrier companies do not.

These include lift gate and residential service during pickup and delivery, inside delivery, notification before delivery, and freeze protection among others. Such optional services also come at a fee which is billed depending also on the weight of the shipper's cargo.

At times, it becomes possible to integrate a truckload with a less than truckload shipment. For example, a shipper has enough cargo to fill an entire trailer for various states such as Michigan, Virginia, Illinois, New York, and Maine.

What the shipper can do is to have a truckload carrier to be transported to a break-bulk facility, let's say in New York. This will actually give more savings to the shipper since the freight will then have to travel fewer miles in the less than truckload carrier's network plus the cargo won't have to be unloaded and loaded several times causing loss and other incidents to be avoided.