Your Guide to Freight Management

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by Stephen Gould
December 13, 2021
By Stephen Gould
December 13, 2021

Stephen Gould optimizes transportation by coordinating shipments and ensuring that goods arrive on time and on budget.

Freight management is the process of organizing inbound and outbound cargo for transport to ensure that the right products are delivered at the right time to the right places. This is a complex process of coordinating multiple parties — carriers, distributors, vendors and shippers — to prepare, ship, store, and receive freight.

A lot can happen while cargo is en route to its destination. Freight management actively monitors freight at every stage of transit, stepping in to resolve issues where needed, all with the goal of ensuring freight arrives at its destination on time and in one piece.

Freight management generally refers to full truckload shipments (FTL), less than truckload shipments (LTL), and small parcel shipments (SPS). This comprehensive guide only focuses on standard-sized freight management.

What Does Good Freight Management Include?

Freight management is an umbrella term that encompasses a number of processes that go into moving freight through a supply chain. Freight management logistics begins the moment the product has left the warehouse until it arrives at the customer’s front door.

A fully optimized freight management system includes the following:

  • Shipping Route Optimization

    Ensuring the fastest route(s) for transport

  • Rate Negotiation

    Finding the right cost with the right carriers and services

  • Accounting and Auditing

    Tracking and improving the numbers used by freight forwarders

  • Managing Claims

    Handling and organizing scenarios of lost and damaged cargo

  • Collecting Data

    Tracking routes and processes to find insights to more effective operations

  • Warehousing Distribution

    Handling organization of packages in warehouses throughout transportation

  • Vendor and Carrier Management

    Maintaining relationships with transport and supply chain partners

  • Integrations

    Working with organization departments, transportation management systems, and enterprise resource planning systems to centralize and streamline

What Does Freight Management Look Like in Action?

Here’s an example of a solid freight management system in action. If a company wishes to ship 15 packages of goods from California to Toronto, the freight management service might perform the following tasks:

  • Ship inventory and label packages

  • Determine the type of shipment

  • Map most efficient route

  • Find the right shipping carriers for that route

  • Negotiate shipping cost and rates

  • Work with necessary warehouse partners along the route

  • Resolve necessary customer service issues

Each one of these touchpoints requires an exceptional amount of experience, resources, energy, and time. One missing piece or a single cut corner could spell disaster for an entire shipment. This is why freight management services are so important. Freight management systems ensure that every piece of the puzzle fits together.

How to Optimize Your Company’s Freight Management

Effective freight management requires managing multiple processes, partners and technologies simultaneously. Handling freight management in-house requires a significant investment of time and resources. Most businesses outsource their freight management to a third party transportation and logistics company in order to improve operational efficiency, reduce costs, and create the best delivery experience for their customers.

Stephen Gould’s vast network of logistics, warehousing, and transportation partners makes it possible to optimize your distribution process. Our unique model creates freight management services tailored to your business’s needs. We orchestrate all vendors and partners and handle all the details from end to end, ensuring that goods arrive on time and on budget.

Discover what makes our freight management different from competitors. Our services include the following:

  • Freight accounting

  • Freight claim management

  • Load scheduling

  • Route optimization

  • Rate negotiation

Ready to learn more about the freight management process? Contact us today to see how we can help you create a freight management system that streamlines your shipping and reduces costs.