subject: What You Need To Know About Expedited Freight Services [print this page] When you have urgent freight shipments that need direct delivery to their destination, you need expedited freight services and a logistics provider in which you have the utmost confidence. After all, you want a logistics partner you can trust to match your loads to the best suitable carrier and equipment to meet your time critical shipping needs. You cant afford mistakes or delays.
There are four basic categories of expedited freight:
Expedited LTL or Less-than-Truckload Like standard LTL service, expedited LTL shipments typically weigh between 100 and 10,000 lbs. With expedited LTL, your cargo is delivered direct to its final destination without being routed through one or more break-bulk facilities. This results in faster delivery times and minimizes risk of damage. Options for Expedited LTL can include local, regional and nationwide service with delivery deadlines varying from next day, 2nd day, 3rd day and 3- to 5-day delivery. Availability of next day, 2nd day or even 3rd day service may be limited based on the distance to your delivery destination in regards to regional and nationwide service.
Expedited TL or Truckload TL shipments typically weigh approximately 10,000 lbs. This category can include everything from palletized goods to cargo containers, bulk liquid management and temperature controlled transport. Options for Expedited TL include 48-foot or 53-foot vans, flatbeds, refrigerated, teams, air ride and chassis for container transportation.
Air Charter or Jet Service For extremely time sensitive shipments, air may be your best and/or only option. An experienced operations agent should work with you to match the appropriate air freight option to your cargo, whether you are shipping one small package or multiple cargo containers. Options for Air Charter include Expedited Air Freight, including both domestic and international service, Aircraft Charter, including both domestic and international service, Emergency Air Charter and Cargo Aircraft.
Just-in-Time (JIT) Delivery If you have already implemented a Just-in-Time Inventory Strategy or you are about to do so, you need a logistics partner that can develop a customized solution for you expedited freight objectives to reliably move raw materials, components and/or finished goods through your supply chain as they are needed, based on your production schedule requirements. The goal of Just-in-Time is to significantly reduce your inventory carrying costs while avoiding delays. Selecting the right logistics provider is key to keeping materials moving through your supply chain at the optimal pace. Just-in-Time services typically include Priority On-Time Delivery, Door-to-Door Service and Time Definite Delivery.
