How will the U.S. election impact Shippers and Carriers?

3 weeks ago

The U.S Federal Reserve cut interest rates in September by a half point for the first time in four years and is expected to lower interest rates at their meetings on Nov. 6-7. This interest rate cut comes as inflation is down to 2.4% in the United States. These levels of inflation and interest rates […]

10 Freight Bid Tips

3 months ago

The Labor Day weekend signals kids going back to school, the start of the NFL season, and the preparation of budgets for the coming year. For manufacturers and distributors, this process incorporates the construction of the annual freight transportation budget. For many shippers, this involves the execution of an annual freight bid. To help companies […]

Create a Robust Routing Guide at the Completion of a Freight Bid

4 months ago

After the final round of freight bids have been submitted and analyzed, it is time to prepare a routing guide. This important document contains the preferred carriers by mode, by lane, and their approved rates. The contents of a routing guide can be entered into a shipper’s TMS system to guide the carrier selection process. […]

Analyzing the Results of a Freight Bid – Part 2 – The Carrier Meeting

4 months ago

After analyzing the completed carrier questionnaires, and the bid rates, it is time to eliminate those carriers that don’t meet expectations in terms of service, coverage, rates, and other key variables. It is also the time to identify a short list of potential bid award winners to discuss their proposals in more detail. This blog […]

Analyzing the Results of a Freight Bid – Part 1

4 months ago

There comes a time during each freight bid when the full package (the shipping characteristics documents, fuel surcharge formulas, accessorial charge template, pricing instructions, carrier questionnaire, key milestone dates and data entry tools) is sent to a designated list of asset-based carriers and non-asset-based transportation providers. At this stage, it is valuable to arrange a […]

A Carrier Questionnaire is a Key Component of a Quality Freight Bid

5 months ago

A freight bid is not just a tool to negotiate competitive shipping rates; it is an opportunity to identify and assemble a group of supply chain partners, valued business partners, to strengthen a shipper’s business. These business partners interact with a shipper’s customers every day. Carriers with reliable service facilitate customer retention and revenue growth. […]

What Data Do Shippers Need to Prepare to Conduct a Freight Bid?

5 months ago

Securing competitive rates from carriers is a fundamental component of each freight bid. To construct accurate bids, carriers require good quality shipping data. Inaccurate or superficial data can invalidate the entire bid process. Poor quality data also reflects badly on the credibility of the manufacturer or distributor. What Data Does a Shipper Need to Prepare? […]

How Frequently Should a Company Conduct a Freight Bid?

5 months ago

This is one of the most frequently asked questions we receive from our shipper clients. Here is our perspective. The Forces that Shape our Views on this Subject For 20 years, during my early years in the transportation industry, I led asset-based carriers and non-asset-based freight broker organizations. My colleagues and I were on the […]

Are We Coming to the End of this Freight Recession?

1 year ago

These are crazy times. Wildfires in Canada produced dark skies over eastern Canada and the northeastern United States and some of the worst pollution on record. We are only in mid-July and the peak fire season hasn’t begun. Record high temperatures are being experienced in the southern United States on a daily basis. Severe rain, […]

Why are Large LTL Trucking Companies such Attractive M & A Targets in 2021?

3 years ago

In the first seven months of this year, we have witnessed two of the largest acquisitions in the LTL trucking sector in many years. In January we observed the acquisition of UPS’s LTL division by TFII, the large Canada-based transportation conglomerate. Last week the nation’s largest TL carrier, Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE: KNX,) acquired AAA Cooper […]