Our industry’s cyclical pattern of tension and slack has become familiar to many of us. Freight volumes (demand) and active supply (trucks, drivers, trains, and containers) seek balance, but often fall somewhere across the balance spectrum. Currently, we are early in a shift from high tension to low. As such, there are several new trends to keep an eye on as we move into the second half of 2019. You can read the most up-to-date blog post here.

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It’s been nearly a year since the electronic logging device (ELDs) mandate went into effect. Some had predicted that the industry would see mass carrier bankruptcies or a flurry of acquisitions of smaller carriers by larger ones, but that hasn’t been the case. Instead, thanks to the strongest truckload shipping market since deregulation in 1980, the ELD mandate’s effect on the market is playing out in other ways.

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Wanting to know how your supply chain compares to others in your industry (or the market at large) is natural. After all, knowing where you stand can influence your goals, planning, and strategies in the future.

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Many would argue that the role of transportation services within business has been changing over the past few years. I agree. But I also ask: is transportation what has really changed? Or is transportation only becoming increasingly important because of everything else that has changed?

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It’s been my privilege to work with MIT graduate students as they research service and pricing in the truckload market. Now, it’s time to see how your truckload strategy compares to the practices Leaders use to get the best performance and pricing.

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If your freight gets rejected by carriers, this probably means extra work and additional costs because you have to make alterations and go deeper into your route guide to get your freight shipped. Does this sound at all familiar? It probably does, since the average tender rejection rate is around 20%.

To understand a question that plagues many shippers, “why was my tender rejected?” C.H. Robinson challenged Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Center for Transportation and Logistics (MIT-CTL) student, Yoo Joon Kim, to determine just how influential distance and volatility are on carrier rejection rates on high volume lanes.
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In any endeavor, there are varying levels of success. This is true for supply chains, too. And the right technology, specifically a transportation management system (TMS) is the connective thread that makes the highest level of supply chain success possible. » Read More

When you’re picking carriers to move your freight, there may seem like an overwhelming number of options. In fact, there’s an estimated 206,600 for-hire full truckload carriers in the United States. Yet despite all the options, securing the equipment you need can be challenging—especially during a tight market.

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Making the Most of Truckload, LTL, and Intermodal Strategies in 2018 | Transportfolio

Supply chains are not limited by a specific mode or service. Freight migrates from one service to the next in the broad freight economy, seeking where it is served best. Accordingly, we now need to watch trends in a multitude of services to best understand what is affecting each service and be open to change if necessary.
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