Your Guide to Shared Truckload Shipping

This blog post will introduce shared truckload shipping and how it can help you to meet and exceed consumer demands. We’ll also go over how the process works.

Keep reading for your guide to shared truckload shipping.

What Is a Shared Truckload?

Shared truckload shipping is a straightforward practice. It involves sharing truckload space for shipping goods.

The practice enables shippers and carriers to collaborate. This partnership helps to create optimal shipping outcomes.

It enables participants to leverage supply chain efficiency. Shared truckload shipping also enables them to practice corporate responsibility.

Today’s shipping landscape is highly unpredictable. Shared truckload shipping can help you to navigate an uncertain logistics landscape.

This practice removes constraints. It enables retailers and other stakeholders to move smaller shipments cost-effectively and operate more nimbly.

Types of Shipping Modes

Let’s review various shipping modes to better understand shared truckload shipping.

With shared truckload shipping, several shippers share trailer space. The truck will make multiple stops until it completely delivers its load.

The polar opposite of this method is full truckload shipping. This method involves one truck transporting goods for one client. The truck will travel directly from the client’s pickup location to the drop-off location.

Less-than-truckload shipping is another partial shipment alternative. With this method, a carrier will transport a client’s goods through distribution centers and terminals. The freight will eventually make its way to its destination via a hub-and spoke-distribution model.

It helps to understand the role that load size plays in shipping to figure out which method is right for your needs.

Shipping Mode Load Requirements

As a retailer, it’s vital to understand the correct load size for each mode of shipping transportation. The logistics industry assesses certain criteria to evaluate load sizes. These criteria include:

• Freight class
• Linear feet
• Pallet quantity
• Weight

This information helps shippers to categorize the load size. The criteria for each shipping mode are different.

With shared truckload shipping, there’s no weight requirement. Also, there’s no freight class with shared truckload shipping. This transportation model works well for shipments of one to 24 pallets.

Freight class only applies to less-than-truckload shipments. With this method, shippers group items with like characteristics to make transporting goods more efficient.

How Shared Truckload Shipping Works

You may wonder, “Exactly how does shared truckload shipping work?” Well, we have answers.

In general, shipments headed in the same direction on a similar route will share space on a truck. The freight will travel directly from the pickup location to the destination. It never passes through a transportation terminal or hub.

In this way, shared truckload shipping provides both shippers and carriers with considerable benefits. For example, it provides considerable cost savings.

Shared Truckload Benefits

With shared truckload shipping, carriers can deliver damage-free loads. Furthermore, it’s easier to move goods to their destinations on time. Shared truckload shipping offers a high quality of service and efficiency.

It enables clients to share the space and cost of hiring a full-size trailer to transport goods. Shared truckload shipping can save carriers 15% to 20% in costs. As a result, carriers can pass those savings on to you.

Good for You, Good for the Environment

Shared truckload shipping is also a green logistics alternative. It’s the most efficient transport mode among all shipping methods. Shared truckload shipping delivers a considerable positive environmental benefit for this reason.

The transportation industry is the top source of emissions in the United States. Collectively, logistics contributes nearly two billion tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere every year.

Freight shipping accounts for 23% of vehicles in the logistics industry. They contribute nearly 7% of the nation’s total carbon emissions.

Shared truckload shipping helps to reduce the amount of vehicles on the road. It enables both carriers and shippers to practice corporate responsibility.

Going Green Has Never Been Easier

By taking advantage of shared truckload shipping, you can optimize your use of trailer space. Again, shared truckload shipping doesn’t make use of hubs and terminals. As a result, this shipping practice requires less road time to transport your goods.

Shared truckload shipping reduces gas emissions by up to 40%. It removes the need for carbon-intensive, energy-consuming less-than-truckload shipping hubs.

By investing in shared truckload shipping, you also invest in the environment. It helps to decrease the industry’s carbon footprint.

Rethinking Your Logistics

Most likely, you spend a considerable amount of resources to make your products and transport them to end-users. Technology and other innovations have helped to make logistics operations more efficient.

However, as you most likely know, these complex supply chain systems can hit snags. In transportation, things don’t always go as planned.

Take the current pandemic, for instance. No one could have ever anticipated such a massive slowdown in business.

Even worse, the pandemic resulted in significant shipping inefficiencies. In turn, retailers have quickly had to change the way they do business.

At the same time, consumers want things faster. Shared truckload shipping can help you navigate a shipping environment where it can feel like you’re getting squeezed from both sides.

Shared Truckloads Offer More than Space Sharing

Shared truckload shipping is an innovative alternative. With shared truckload freight shipping, you’re empowered to decide how you move your freight.

By participating in shared truckload shipping, you can bypass weight and freight class requirements. This shipping model can accommodate loads of any size. These are transformative benefits for both carriers and shippers.