At its best, the carrier-shipper relationship is a close collaboration, with both parties working to build shared priorities around getting freight delivered on time and in one piece. But this ideal is not always realized, and carriers and shippers often remain at odds with one another. How can carriers strategically approach relationship-building with their customers? What does true collaboration look like in LTL?

LTL continues to grapple with how sustainability concerns are poised to reshape the industry in the coming years. Promising innovations from within the industry and stringent regulations imposed by state and federal agencies all but guarantee seismic shifts on the near horizon. The question on everyone’s lips: will these changes transform the industry for the better – or do they have the potential to destroy it?

Justin Springer, Director of Business Development, SMC³ and Joe Tillman, Manager Education Programs, SMC³ Analyst Insight: In an environment with increasing supply chain complexity, fluctuating capacity, and consistent technological advancement, shippers that stand out as a “shipper of choice” for carriers are most effectively able to drive lower costs and more productive provider relationships.  To stand out from […]

The less than truckload (LTL) industry is no stranger to freight embargoes. They have become more common in recent years as the COVID-19 pandemic upended the supply chain world and led to temporary LTL service outages due to surging demand and constrained carrier capacity. Freight embargoes are imposed by carriers in a range of forms — timeframe, geographic region, or specific freight characteristics, just to name a few.

New technology and the introduction of innovative supply chain solutions into established supply chain processes is one way to combat transportation issues. It seems as though the uptick in technology adoption, and a broader adoption of transportation management systems among even the smallest transportation companies, is a sign of how companies are now confronting a challenging supply chain arena.   

What does it take to forge a productive, mutually beneficial relationship between shippers and carriers in today’s competitive LTL environment? As attendees at SMC3’s recent LTL webinar on the topic learned, it boils down to four things: partners sharing data, analytics, crucial insight, and getting to the “we.” In the third LTL online learning session, […]