Managing the Realities of the “New Normal” LTL Shipping Environment

Rising online purchases over the past few years have increased the need for LTL. Learn how shippers are rethinking LTL freight management.

What’s in the article:

• How shippers are using technology

• Rethinking LTL freight management

• A solution to LTL challenges

Transportation rates have been rising over the last couple of years due to factors like the driver shortage, lack of equipment, a capacity crunch, and rising fuel costs. With eCommerce order volumes and consumer demands high and continuing to rise, shippers have turned to LTL freight in lieu of truckload to meet these needs.

So, to learn more about these challenges and how companies are addressing rate increases, capacity restraints, and other issues, we sponsored a survey. Here’s what we learned.

LTL Rates Continue to Increase

Although LTL rates have been rising over the last couple of years, 81% of surveyed companies saw their LTL contract rates increase between 2021 and 2022. More than 67% of those surveyed experienced LTL cost increases of 5-14%.  And 66.7% of surveyed shippers anticipate further increases between now and 2023, with nearly half of respondents expecting rate increases of 5-9% next year. Many shippers believe these additional rate increases will be driven by issues like rising fuel costs, labor costs, capacity constraints, economic inflation, and driver shortage.

Shippers Are Leveraging Technology

Shippers continue to use technology to navigate the complexities of today’s overburdened global supply chain. Leveraging a transportation management system (TMS) enables shippers to manage their shipping and other related tasks. These activities include viewing current capacity and spot rates based on LTL shipment volume, sourcing quotes, and tracking shipments, as well as addressing and listing products.

Surveyed shippers indicated the most desired features in a 3PL’s TMS include: