The need to decrease freight costs has never been higher. Shippers are forced to compete in a global market, and consumers expect record-breaking affordable product pricing. The rise of Amazon and significant e-commerce shopping options have left many shippers out in the proverbial cold.
Small and midsized businesses (SMBs) may struggle with managing freight spend proactively, and some may lack the transport and freight forwarding resources available to big-box retailers and major companies. Poor planning and execution of the shipping strategy will dramatically increase freight costs, so more companies with low-volume shipments have turned less than container (LCL) or less than truckload (LTL) to reduce freight spend.
Unfortunately, failure to understand proper protocols for combining and separating shipments, also known as freight consolidation and freight deconsolidation, could unnecessarily increase freight spend. As a result, shippers need to understand a few things about the cargo and freight consolidation and deconsolidation process and how to stay in control of its costs.