In today’s logistics climate, simply securing capacity for your freight is an outright challenge. Even when you can get your products onto a truck, ship, train, or plane, it might seem like the price to do so is only going up by the day. That’s why being able to get the truth behind how transloading costs are calculated can help you make the best decision when looking to move your freight.
Transloading costs can be explained by aspects such as the distance traveled, the number of times the freight must be transloaded, and the quantity and type of your commodity. The current availability of shipping resources can cause these costs to fluctuate. A 3PL provider with reliable access to shipping resources can help stabilize transloading costs.
Wading through transloading costs is not something you have to do alone. Third-party logistics companies should offer full transparency on everything that makes up a price quote and be able to explain any charges in relation to it.
Our informative guide below provides you with helpful information regarding transload costs so that you can make an informed decision.
What Factors Affect Transloading Costs?
When you receive a price quote on transloading for your freight, the cost to you is carefully calculated to account for a number of things. These factors include the logistics company’s overhead, the actual dollar amount linked with the movement of freight and, of course, a profit for the logistics company.
Of those three different buckets of what drives the costs of transloading services up or down, the first two have the biggest influence. As a general rule of thumb, every mile a load travels and every time freight needs to be touched by workers, costs will be increased. Really, any work or effort that is required to make sure the freight can undergo its journey will increase the overall costs.
Here’s a more detailed look at what goes into transloading costs:
- Distance traveled
- Fuel prices
- Additional services that are required — such as cross docking or order fulfillment
- Warehouse storage
- How many times transloading takes place during a shipment
- Supply and demand for both transportation and shipping containers
- The type and amount of the commodity
The last factor, commodity type, has to do with the characteristics of the freight. This includes whether it’s an easily breakable item that needs extra precautions or something that’s less prone to damage. Whether or not the goods are considered hazardous materials will also come into play when calculating the costs.
Another aspect of transloading that might not directly impact costs is the efficiency in which transloading is carried out. The entire purpose behind deploying transloading is because it’s the most favorable way to do so in a given scenario and should see cost savings for you. If it’s not done very well and intelligently, it can actually be less efficient than other ways and cost more money or take longer. In turn, this will also cost more in the long run.
To keep both the time and money that is supposed to be saved in this endeavor, make sure to partner with a logistics company that is going to transload smarter, not make things harder for you.
Want to know more about related costs? Check out our article on cross docking rates.
Preparing Properly For The Transloading Process
Even though your goods might not be in your hands during any part of their shipment, you still have some ways to prepare ahead of time to make sure the transloading process goes smoothly. Theoretically, if the process goes well, you shouldn’t incur additional costs on the back end.
Buying freight insurance for a transload is not a law, but it’s simply smart business, and here’s why: transloading is a very hands-on process, for better or worse. What this means is the potential for damage is greater. This can result in a depreciated asset or a total loss altogether.
Plus, if you have shipping containers with thousands of dollars worth of freight, not every single instance of possible loss is covered with the logistics company’s provided insurance. So for an added outlay, you can cover the commodities’ value up to 100 percent.
If your freight is coming from overseas, making sure all of your customs paperwork is filed and ready will make things run much simpler. This will ensure that your freight doesn’t experience a significant delay at the port of entry. Avoiding customs clearance delays is a critical step in ensuring your supply chain is operating at peak efficiency.
Currently, it’s harder than ever to book any freight last-minute — regardless of the type of transport. If it’s even available, you will be paying higher transportation costs to have freight shipped quicker.
To combat this, try to plan ahead as far in advance as possible. This means ordering as soon as you know you’ll need that freight. This gets you secured while also giving the logistics company plenty of lead time to get the spots you need.
Getting The Most Out of Transloading With R+L Global Logistics
Sometimes there’s just no way around higher transloading costs, especially in the current environment. However, R+L Global Logistics will work with you to find solutions to move your freight in a cost-effective way to fit a variety of budgets.
R+L Global Logistics prides itself on being able to handle anything a customer can throw at us in terms of transloading, and do it with high quality. We know the types of transport needed, the locations the goods need to travel to and the right way to tie it all together to get your load to its final destination.
In addition to transloading, R+L Global Logistics offers many other services tied to the distribution of your products. Those include:
Going with a company that will be transparent about transloading costs builds trust and gives you the opportunity to make the best decision for your business. Give R+L Global Logistics the chance to prove it’s the optimal choice by calling (352) 282-4588 today for a free quote.
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