Freight transportation and shipping is how different cargo, goods, and commodities are moved across the world. This can be by land, sea, or air, although a good deal of transport in the United States involves moving cargo via truck and trailer, as well as via railroad cars.
How Does Freight Transportation Work?
Freight transportation has five general steps. First, the freight transportation company gathers information about the product to be shipped, such as the dimensions, weight, and type of product. Next, a logistics team will determine the best method to get your products to their final destination.
After that, it is important to find adequate packing materials for shipping your products. Just before shipping, the shipping company ensures that all products are properly labeled. Lastly, a bill of lading is drawn up, which covers any final details and the terms of your shipping arrangement.
What Are the Different Types of Freight?
There are several different types of freight transport, each with their own benefits
- Truckload Shipping: This is probably one of the most common forms of freight shipping. Companies can pick from full truckload shipping (where they use an entire truck to for a shipment of goods) or less-than-truckload shipping (in which multiple shipment companies with smaller loads of freight share a transport truck in order to both split the costs).
- Intermodal: This describes when multiple forms of transport – such as land, air and sea – are used to get a freight shipment to its destination.
- Air Freight: While fast and good at carrying smaller shipments, air freight can be inefficient and expensive.
Ocean Freight: This type of freight covers roughly 90% of the international market’s transport needs and is considered to be one of the most cost-effective transport solutions.
What Qualifies as Freight?
In general, any shipment that weighs over 150 pounds is considered freight, and will need to be shipped using a freight transport service like East Coast Transport. However, if your shipment is under that 150lbs mark, you should be fine to ship it through traditional mail carriers.
What Are the Different Modes of Freight Transportation?
Although we often see trucks and trains delivering products across the world, we don’t always notice the other methods of freight transportation around us. Here is a shortlist of the different methods of freight transportation:
- Ground Freight: This is one of the primary and most common methods of delivering freight and is commonly broken down further into road transport (trucking) and rail transport. This delivery type is versatile, as many different beds can be used, and can accommodate short- and long-range deliveries. Rail transportation is especially efficient at moving large amounts of goods or extremely heavy goods. Ground freight is generally very cost-effective and offers shipping companies a great deal of flexibility.
- Ocean: Large cargo container-bearing vessels can transport huge amounts of freight internationally and are generally very efficient.
- Air: Cargo planes can be used to transport cargo quickly between different areas, regardless of distance. However, this is again considered pricier than other options and generally cannot accommodate large shipments.
Ship and Track Your Freight Safely with East Coast Transport, LLC!
At East Coast Transport, we take pride in ensuring the best customer experience for all of our clients, and in providing them with no-nonsense solutions to their shipping needs. With our state-of-the-art equipment and our unparalleled customer service, we are sure that we can meet whatever needs you may have.
Contact us to get started!