When importing containers from Asia and other overseas markets, many companies limit their container weights to meet U.S. road weight limits. This is often a mistake as shipping overweight containers can offer you very significant ocean cost savings. In this article, we will examine the benefits of overweight container shipping – and how a 3PL located near your chosen port can help you realize them.
In our last blog post, we examined some of the characteristics you should look for in a refrigerated truck carrier – specifically one that specializes in candy and snack products. In this article, we’ll drill down a step further and discuss what you need to look for in refrigerated LTL carriers, particularly those that operate on the West Coast. While most of these characteristics are the same across the country, there are a few West-Coast-specific items to keep an eye on.
Conventional wisdom tells you not to put all your eggs in one basket. In the logistics industry, however, this isn’t always good advice. By leaning on one third-party logistics provider (3PL) for each leg of the distribution cycle, you may find greater efficiency and improved operational success than you would sourcing à la carte.
In this article, we’ll examine the benefits of an integrated logistics services approach.
For companies of a certain size, there’s an age-old debate over how to best handle transportation services. Is it best to go-it-alone and handle your own transportation through a private fleet? Or, it is better to partner with a third-party logistics (3PL) provider that offers dedicated transportation services? We’ll take a fresh look at these two options in this article while adding a new wrinkle: the option of partnering with dedicated providers that can also offer on-demand transportation.
Carriers are having a rough go of it as of late. The truck driver shortage has left them scrambling to find new drivers to fill seats vacated by those retiring, leaving the industry, or switching jobs. There just aren’t enough new drivers to fill the void.
In most parts of the country, carriers can augment their company driver force with independent truck drivers (“owner-operators”) to fill in service gaps. When it comes to logistics in California, however, this has become difficult due to regulations and landmark court decisions that alter the way drivers are classified in the state. In this article, we’ll examine some of these and explain why the ramifications ultimately affect shippers just as much as carriers.
California may be the Golden State, but its green initiatives are the most far-reaching in the U.S. The state has a host of agencies and regulations whose aim is to substantially reduce greenhouse gases and other emissions. At the heart of these efforts is the California Truck and Bus Regulation, which seeks to reduce emissions from heavy trucks and buses.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: we’re in the midst of a truck driver shortage.
While we may feel that we’ve reached the saturation point in hearing – and reading – about this shortage, the related headlines aren’t going away any time soon. That’s because the shortage isn’t going away any time soon. In fact, we can only expect to hear more about it as the impact to the trucking industry and the nation’s economy continues to worsen.
With logistics in California, one of the major areas where this impact is being felt is container drayage. The shortage of drayage drivers has recently returned to the headlines as there aren’t enough drivers to handle rising volumes in advance of tariffs and an interest rate hike. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at this shortage and what you, as an importer, can do to keep your drayage freight moving to and from the ports.
Air freight shipping. In the eCommerce world, it’s a major component of everyday business. For freight shippers outside of eCommerce, however, it’s far less common than truck, rail, and ocean transport.
There are many transportation services to choose from when deciding which one is the right fit for your business. A company with robust assets – a fleet of actual trucks providing service – paired with a strong network of carrier partners (brokerage) is able to provide a comprehensive, cost-effective transportation solution that may well be the best fit for your needs.
In society today, there is a large focus on weight. For many, the temptation of a pink box in the office can be cringing if you are trying to watch the pounds. Luckily in the logistics world it can be a good thing to be heavy – when it comes to containers. Although overweight containers are not allowed to travel across town, they have a home in the overweight corridor. A distribution plan that includes heavy containers and the overweight corridor can equal great savings.
