Freight Shipping Transit Time

In freight shipping, transit time refers to how long it will take for a shipment to be delivered from the point of pickup to its final destination.

Depending on the the distance between the two points and the shipping method used, the amount of time can vary greatly. Therefor it’s a good idea to get an estimate from a preferred logistics company before booking a shipment.

Less-than-truckloa (LTL) shipping is an excellent option for shippers whose loads are less than a full truckload but too big for parcel post. But how long will it take for your shipment to arrive?

Shipping times you can expect by transit mode

• Full Truckload (TL or FTL) — With the exception of expedited shipments, full truckload is normally the fastest and most cost-effective way to ship by road. Without having to transfer the freight, the truck travels directly to the load’s destination.
• Less-than-truckload (LTL) — A common alternative and cost-effective method of moving smaller shipments. Because different shipments are aggregated into a single load, the freight must periodically stop for loading and unloading. This leads to increased freight transit times and can take slightly longer than FTL. To help determine what mode may work best for you, try this LTL transit time calculator to estimate shipping time for your freight.
• Intermodal Shipping, or rail shipments — As infrastructure improves, freight transit time by rail becomes more reliable. When averaged out, shipping times by rail is comparable to over-the-road shipping, plus it’s less prone to problems common to road-based delivery.

Delivery options for time-sensitive shipments

When standard transit time isn’t fast enough, or your freight needs to be delivered on a specific day or at a specific time, time-critical solutions can provide your best options. Keep in mind that faster freight delivery is usually associated with higher fees:

• Expedited Ground – the fastest ground shipping. With this option the freight never stops moving and is delivered as quickly as possible.
• Time Definite Service – ensures your freight is delivered by a certain day or time.
• Domestic Air – this solution offers the fastest shipping and includes multiple options to expedite your freight: next flight out, second day, deferred and charter. Most of these options are faster than ground, making air the ideal choice for critical shipments that need to reach their destination quickly.

LTL Shipping Times

Because of the nature of LTL shipping, times can vary widely depending on the carrier, the number of stops required and preferred routes. Here’s a more in-depth look at the major factors:

• Required Route: Logistically, shipments to less populated areas may take longer. With fewer trucks in remote areas, your shipment may have to wait for a full truckload before it continues on its route. As a rough example, freight being shipped from the coast to remote midwest points may take between 7 and 10 business days.
• Total Distance: When shipping freight over ground, the overall distance is the largest factor affecting shipping times. Drivers and trucks are limited in the number of miles they can travel each day. Speed limits, traffic laws and personal time behind the wheel all have bearing on the time a shipment will take. as well as regulations governing the time an individual driver can be behind the wheel each day. Typically, intrastate moves take 1-2 business days to arrive, regional shipments may take 2-4 business days, and cross-country shipments may take 4-6 business days.
• Operator Availability: As we’ve seen in the last few years, the number of operators has been less than what the industry could make use of. Due a shortage of qualified drivers and the recent conditions imposed by the pandemic, shipping times have risen sharply.
• Number of transfers: While full truckload (FTL) shipments generally take the shortest possible distance from point A to point B, LTL shipments may make several stops and transfers along the way. Your shipment is likely to first head to a regional terminal, where it will be taken off the first truck and sorted onto another truck headed towards its final destination. Depending on the carrier’s routes, this may happen more than once. Sometimes, shipments are even transferred between carriers, especially on cross-country trips. The more stops and transfers your load makes, the longer it will take to get to its destination.
• Weather and unexpected delays: Bad weather, poor road conditions, traffic and mechanical breakdowns can all cause unexpected delays in ground freight shipments. These delays can be difficult to make up, because drivers are still subject to the same traffic laws and regulations—chances are, they were already going as fast as possible for their route.

How to Reduce LTL Shipping Times

Because of the factors that influence freight shipping, LTL is usually best for shipments that don’t depend on hard delivery timelines. Still, there are ways to speed up your shipments and reduce your LTL shipping times:

• Choose the right carrier to begin with. As with any service-based business, different carriers can quote dramatically different delivery estimates. Quotes will depend on how much coverage they have for the given area, plus how many transfers will need to be made to get your shipment to its destination. You may find it’s possible to get a better quote from a regional carrier if you’re shipping intrastate or regionally. And they may provide better coverage for the same route. Of course, when freight shipping times are critical, it’s always best practice to shop around.
• Consider partnering with a 3PL company. Third-party logistics companies can be the perfect choice if you have ore complex LTL shipping needs. For example, a fully capable 3PL company will employ the latest software to help determine optimal delivery times and control costs. By using contacts throughout their preferred carriers network, they effectively coordinate shipments that can require transfers from one regional carrier to another.
• Ask about freight delivery guarantees. For an extra fee, some carriers will offer guaranteed or expedited delivery. If your freight delivery times are crucial, it might be worth it to find a carrier who offers this service.
• Help mitigate damage with proper packaging. Carefully organize and pack your shipment for transit before it gets on a truck, and make sure your shipments properly fit loadable and stackable pallets. Doing so will help ensure your products have a smooth journey to their destination.

Understanding LTL shipping times will help you make the right choice for your ground shipment. A little research can help you reduce LTL shipping times and get your load where it needs to go on time.

Sea Freight Transit Times

When it comes to shipping by sea, there’s a wide range in shipping times due to the sheer number of ways to ship, plus the endless combinations of destinations.

Overall, there are about 107,000 various UN Codes for Trade and Transport Locations (UN/LOCODE) spread across 249 listed countries and territories.

Therefor the time it takes to ship freight from port to port by sea will be greatly affected by the geographic distance between ports.

Let Brimich Help You Get the Best Freight Delivery Times

Brimich Logistics is a team of professionals always available to learn the specifics of your business, and help you choose the best shipping method for your freight. Contact Brimich today to get end-to-end visibility for every step of your freight’s journey along the way.

Dealing with a single carrier may be easier, but in many situations, overall total shipping costs can be better controlled by leveraging the individual expertise of multiple individual carriers.

In such cases, the logistics also become more complicated. Therefor, in order to achieve the full benefits of multimodal and intermodal freight transport systems, it’s up to you to understand exactly what they are, the terminologies, and how they work.

Multimodal Transportation

Multimodal transportation is a combination of at least two or more different modes, such as air, sea, rail, or road, to move your cargo from one point to another using one single bill of lading for the entire journey.

Since the movement can often be from country to country. but the contracted carrier issues a Combined Transport Bill of Lading or a Multimodal Bill of Lading.

Though it includes the various modes and carriers for transportation, it also means the carrier is fully liable for the entire carriage.

Put differently, multimodal shipping is where one company or one contract handles all legs of the journey. This means the same company is responsible for moving your shipment in all legs, in all modes.

This can be done in a couple of different ways: you could partner with a company that has all of these modes available to them, or set up a single contract for yourself to use an agent.

As a representative, the agent does all the negotiation on the back end for you while you only have one contract to keep track of. The agent could also take on the  responsibility of coordinating loading, unloading, and managing delays.

Example of multimodal transport

As an example, let’s look at a freight shipment moving from Hamburg to Shanghai using multimodal transportation. After the cargo is packed in the containers in Hamburg. the carrier sends their own designated trucking company to pick up the containers and bring them to the Hamburg Port.

After its journey by sea to Shanghai, it’s then brought to its final destination by a trucking company working under the carrier. During the entire process, the carrier takes full responsibility from the point of pick-up to the final destination with one contract serving the entire stretch.

Advantages

The multimodal  transportation method holds several advantages, the first being less cost for you the shipper. Companies that handle multimodal shipping have systems in place to handle delays in one leg of the shipment with respect to the other legs without you needing to be involved.

Therefor, the insulated multimodal system provides a convenient one-stop-shop service where every single aspect is handled by one provider, giving you that ease and peace of mind.

Advantages of multimodal transport:

• Shipment tracking efficiency – continuous monitoring with one transport carrier delivering from door to door
• access to remote parts of the world with responsibility and liability assumed by one transport carrier
• efficiency in delivery time and management
• minimal logistics coordination at the expenses of a shipper

A good example for multimodal transport is Rail-Truck or overland solutions. Carriers like UPS and DHL  are offering such services, for example along China’s Belt-and-Road initiative for goods to move from Asia to Europe.

An additional example is Sea-Air, which is less expensive than air freight alone, but quicker than shipping only.

Relying on one contract minimizes coordination and communication costs for you as a shipper. As mentioned, with Multimodal it’s easy to track your cargo’s progress because you only use one tracking interface instead of several.

Intermodal Transportation

In simple terms, intermodal transportation is defined as the movement of cargo from the point of origin to its destination by several modes of transport where each of these modes have different carriers responsible, each with its own independent contract.

In short, each leg of the shipment is handled by a separate transport carrier. Therefor, the shipper has to deal with several contracts, one with each transport carrier that handles their specific leg of the shipment.

Getting the best routing is not the same as getting the best total shipping cost. Though in some cases, using multiple transport carriers is sometimes better in achieving the best total door-to-door shipping cost. The downside is that it requires more logistics coordination and hands-on involvement.

Example of intermodal transport

As an example, let’s say you need to move a large amount of freight to another site, and both sites are land locked and on different continents.

This could mean that in order to move your cargo, you’ll need to contact a trucking company to transport your shipment by road to a rail yard. Once the shipment is delivered to the rail yard, it then moves by train to a shipping port.

The freight is then loaded onto a cargo ship and moved overseas to another port. From there it’s unloaded and moved to another rail carrier.

To complete the journey, the shipment is trucked from the rail yard to your final destination location.

As a result of using intermodal shipping, each leg of that shipment is handled by a separate company. This means you have to have several contracts, one with each carrier to handle their specific leg of the shipment.

Advantages

The advantages that come with using intermodal transportation. One of which the ability to negotiate terms separately with each company.

The downside is it comes at the cost of more overhead for you. You’ll need to keep track of several contracts with different companies. And you may be responsible for managing delays, as one company may be blind to the delays another company might be having.

Advantages of Intermodal transportation:

• Shippers can negotiate lower rates for each transport leg
• benefit from flexibility and specialized handing of goods at different ports
• reduce their carbon footprint by choosing environmentally friendly carriers
• more access to equipment, control capacities, and select transit schedules

Is Multimodal or Intermodal Transport Better for You?

Both Intermodal and Multimodal freight transport systems have their own advantages and disadvantages with one element setting the two transport modes apart: with Multimodal you sign only one contract, and with Intermodal, more than one.

The two modes of transport optimize delivery times and reduce shipping costs. However, many businesses tend to favour multimodal transportation when balancing cost and convenience.