When running a business, products need to be available to the customer. Sometimes, this is done by directly shipping items to a customer. Often, shipping items to a store or warehouse makes it easier for customers to get the products. To accomplish this goal, businesses must find the most efficient method of shipping.
Methods of Shipping
There are many methods businesses can choose to ship their products around the country. However, they must find a method that is not too costly and can get their products where they need to be without delay. For many companies, full truckload shipping services offer the best option.
The various types of shipping available depend on where the products are going. For trips to other countries, cargo ships may be the most efficient method. However, for shipping within the country, the methods usually include trains, planes, and trucks. With the trucking option, businesses can choose whether to utilize full truckload or less-than-truckload shipping options.
What is Full Truckload Shipping?
Truck transportation of goods is a common method of transportation for all types of goods around the country. There are approximately 3.6 million professional truck drivers available to carry nearly 12 billion tons of freight every year.
Full truckload shipping is basically as it sounds. Businesses load a trailer with their products, and a large truck transports those products anywhere they need to be sent around the country. With full truckload shipping, the supplier gets the entire truck to themselves. In less-than-truckload shipping, a supplier purchases a small portion of the space on the truck to transport goods.
What Options are Available?
There are many types of trucks available to deliver almost any products or goods around the country. One common type of truck is a flatbed truck. A flatbed offers a flat and open trailer that allows the transport of oversized loads that are too large for enclosed trucks.
Another truck option is the refrigerator trailer. This trailer is used for transporting perishable items or other temperature-controlled materials. The trailer is enclosed and has a refrigeration unit that allows the trailer to be kept at the proper temperature throughout the trip.
Dry van trucks are the most common types of trucks on the road. These are enclosed trailers without temperature control. These trucks are often used for boxed, palletized, or loose cargo.
Another type of truck is the tanker. Tanker trucks use large, cylindrical tanks that carry various liquids and gases to their destination. Many of these types of trucks come in variations that can accommodate almost any item that needs to be transported.
Benefits
There are several benefits to using trucks to transport goods. One main benefit is that they are versatile to allow almost anything to be transported easily. Trucks are also less limited in their destinations. Using a train or plane to transport items means the destination is a train stop or airport. This often requires utilizing trucks to complete the transportation process. Trucks are also more cost effective in most situations.
Challenges
There are some challenges when choosing trucks for transportation. One major challenge is the increase in pricing due to recent spikes in fuel costs. For some companies, trucking may no longer be the most cost-effective method for shipping across the country.
Another challenge faced when shipping by full truckload freight is the capacity. With e-commerce on the rise, more businesses are utilizing the limited number of trucks on the roadways. This means that businesses have to be more careful in their planning to ensure trucks and space are available to get their products where they need to be.
Even with the challenges and cost increases, truck shipping seems to be the most efficient way for businesses to get their products moved. The versatility is unmatched by any other means of transportation.
