Moving freight from one place to another takes some coordination, and often a large business has too much freight to try and find freight carriers for each load as needed. Working with a transportation brokerage can simplify the process and take the pressure off the shoulders of the shipper.

Brokerages and Shipping

A transportation brokerage works with companies on both sides of the shipping industry to coordinate freight movements with trucks available. The brokerage will receive a call for some freight that needs to go out and then find a freight carrier that can take the load where it needs to be. 

Sometimes the fight carrier is a large business, and other times the carrier may be an owner/operator running one truck and trailer across the country. The size of the freight carrier is often not important if they have an empty trailer or a room for the product that needs shipping.

Transportation brokerages work with many carriers, so they always have resources to move the freight that their clients need. For freight carriers, working with the broker means they have more opportunities for work and often more choices in the kinds of cargo and areas of the country they will take the freight to.

Less Than Load Shipping

Smaller companies that are shipping freight may find themselves in a situation where they frequently have shipments that are not large enough to fill an entire trailer. Transportation brokerages work with these LTL (less than load) shipments all the time. The broker will find a truck moving freight form the area but does not have a full load on the truck. 

The transportation brokerage will coordinate with the trucking company to have them pick up the additional freight if it is going near the destination needed. The trick is to find the right truck, with the space required, that is going to the correct area in the appropriate time frame.

This is extremely hard to coordinate for a small company that does not have the resources that a transportation brokerage has.

Logistics and Storage 

Larger brokerages sometimes offer logistics services for companies and handle the storage of the freight in a logistics center until the freight is ready to go out or the customer needs it. The coordination that comes into play with large operations like these is critical, so finding a transportation brokerage that can handle your shipping or logistics entirely is essential. 

If you are considering hiring a transportation brokerage to handle your freight needs, make sure that they have the resources to keep the freight moving and your customers getting the cargo they want or need on time.

For more information, contact a local transportation brokerage.