Doing anything in volume results in savings. Volume purchasing, volume cooking, volume building, and volume shipping all have benefits. If you have enough product to use a full trailer, Full Truckload (FTL) shipping has a lot of benefits, including the efficiency of service and less expense.
The two best options for a client with more than a few parcels of shipments are Less Than a Truckload (LTL) and Full Truckload (FTL).
FTL shipping through shipment volume reduces your and the freight company’s overall transportation costs. With less handling, your risk of damage to your products is almost non-existent. While this option is attractive, it may not work for many businesses making the benefits even more attractive to those clients who have a large volume of shippable products.
10 benefits of Full Truckload (FTL) shipping:
If you ship large, overweight, sensitive, or bulk numbers of products, FTL shipping is the best choice for you.
- Messenger Freight provides peace of mind and simplicity of logistics with two choices for your heavy product shipments. Highway transport and rail transport bring our heavy shipment clients peace of mind and offer you operational benefits. Read our article ‘What are The Benefits of Shipping by Train?’
- Freight companies always provide their FTL clients with their best shipping rates. Comparatively, even though your shipping costs are more, the combined benefits of FTL shipping are measurable for most shipments.
- FTL is a complication-free shipping method. One shipment without numerous location stops makes for a complication-free and more efficient delivery, a good situation for you, our client.
- If details of a shipment save the freight company money, it saves you money. Fewer stops for the carrier means less gas spent and minor wear and tear on vehicle brake systems, suspension, and tires.
- Your delivery time is quicker or more efficient. The estimated arrival time (ETA) is less likely held up by numerous stops at other drop-offs common for LTL shipments.
- Your work time figuring exact weights and measurements is less. When you know your shipment meets or is above the required weight demands for FTLs, your time required for precise measurements and weights of the LTL system is lessened.
- It is the best shipping option for special or sensitive transport requirements. You can choose to use the whole truck for your shipment even if it does not meet the weight requirements.
- There is less possibility of accidental damage to your goods. We work tirelessly to ensure your product is handled with respect. However, when pallets or goods do not need to be handled and moved numerous times, making room for other clients’ freight, it lessens the likelihood of damage.
- There is less possibility of accidental loss of your goods. There is no off-loading onto other forms of transports, so there is no chance of product loss.
- The larger your shipments, the more control you have. It is easier for you to work with a 3PL transport company to organize your requirements, and flexibility by both parties works best in today’s shipping climate.
Please contact us below to help you quickly decide how best to ship your product; FTL, LTL, or by rail.
Are there negatives to Full Truckload (FTL) shipping?
There aren’t negatives to shipping FTL, only parameters that may mean different shipping methods will benefit you more. So much depends on what you are shipping: food, oddly shaped pieces, or pallets only.
- Typically, depending on the pallet size, you must ship more than 6- 10 pallets.
- The total weight (including the driver and vehicle) cannot be more than 40,000 kilograms or 88,000 lbs.
- Your shipment weight must be approximately at least 6,800 kg or 15,000 lbs to constitute FTL shipping.
When LTL shipping or rail shipping makes more sense:
The dimensions of the trailer and the engineering of the vehicle also dictate your weight and size restrictions. Oddly shaped pieces may be better shipped by rail depending on their destination, of course.
- If you do not have enough products to fill a truckload or are lightweight, they may not meet the weight requirements for a FTL shipment, and you should opt for LTL instead.
- Read more about LTL shipping in our article ‘Less than Truckload (LTL) Shipping: How do I Stack Thee?’
- Learn more about shipping by rail in our article ‘What are The Benefits of Shipping by Train?’