Truck Freight and Shipping: The Complete FAQ Guide

If you have any problem on the truck freight to ship your goods from point A to point B in your country, then you need to check this FAQ guide.

Find the questions you are struggling and check the answer. If you cannot find the answer you want, do contact us, our expert will help you out.

Where can the truck freight shipping be used?

Truck freight shipping can be used if you need to organize the transportation of large volumes of goods by land.

Note: it is necessary to take into account the geographical location of the delivery point.

In some cases, the logistics conditions do not allow the use of this transportation type.

What are the average truck shipping rates per mile?

Freight rates are typically paid by the mile.

Depending on many conditions, they can range from $1.50 to $4.00 or more per mile.

Experienced freight carriers say the best price on the market is $2-3 per mile.

What is the average truck freight shipping time?

The transit time within the country is usually 4-6 days.
In the case of small countries or US states, it can be 1-2 days.

The international transit time is calculated individually, there are no average figures here.

A carrier engaged in FTL most often can guarantee the arrival of cargo on time.

In the case of LTL, these figures are approximate because of unforeseen circumstances.

How can I find the right truckload partner?

The best truckload company has to provide its clients with three key features:

Easy enough, but the vast majority of truck freight companies can’t fulfill such points.

However, Tj chinafreight keeps a lot of trustful trucking partners under the belt in full accordance with all above-mentioned rules.

• What is a truck freight/shipping?

What is a truck freight/shipping?

In general, freight shipping is the transportation of different cargo from point A to point B.

Usually, it is made for a commercial gain.

Freight shipping is not limited to one type of transport.

Cargo can be delivered by sea, air, or land means.

Hence, truck freight shipping is determined by a type of transport.

In this case, it is trucking transport.

This method of land transportation is considered as very efficient.

What is the difference between shipping and freight?

In some cases, “Freight” may be a synonym of “cargo”.

Also, the term “Freight” means the process of large cargo transit from point A to point B.

For this, various types of transport can be used: air, sea transport, and trucks.

Shipping is a common, general term, that is used when we speak of bulk goods transportation.

Shipping is carried out both for commercial and non-commercial purposes.

In some context, this term means the transport of cargo in a small amount.

Depending on the conditions faced by the carrier, air, sea and ground transport (including trucks) can be used for shipping.

The difference between shipping and freight can be stated in four key points:

How does LTL freight work? Is it somehow connected with truck freight or shipping?

The LTL abbreviation stands for “less than load” or “less than truckload”.

It is used in cases when the amount of freight is not enough to fill the truck.

It works like this: a client contacts a logistics company with a request to transport a certain amount of cargo.

The company estimates the size and weight of the cargo to form a package.

This package is loaded into the truck with several more packages from other customers.

Then the company makes an optimal route to deliver the goods on time.

This method of transportation is convenient primarily for small and medium-sized businesses.

The price of LTL truck freight shipping is formed depending on:

There is a connected term “LCL” (Less than Container Load) which is also widely used in the trading world.

You can read more about this via this link.

What is the difference between LTL and FTL freight? What is considered a truckload?

FTL stands for “full truckload”.

FTL differs from LTL with the fact that your cargo occupies the entire truck space, not just some part of it.

Also, LTL and FTL have other significant distinction points:

Cost. If you have a small amount of cargo, it is beneficial to use LTL freight shipping. The freight carrier shares the cost of transit between all customers that book a truck for transportation.

Weight. LTL shipping method is suitable if the total weight of the cargo is less than 15,000 pounds. If the weight is bigger, FTL method fits better.

Speed. The FTL method does not require stops, while for LTL shipping additional unloading and loading routes may be needed.

Bulk goods are typically shipped by FTL.

It is quite hard to unequivocally figure out what to consider a full truckload.

The norms of one carrier may differ from the norms of another.

However, three generally accepted indicators are the next:

• <li44,000 lbs of products;

<li2,500 cubic ft of products;

What are the freight shipping classes and an NMFC number?

The National Motor Freight Traffic Association (NMFTA) created a classification system for every type of freight.

This system divides freight into 18 classes with their tariffs.

Such classes are defined with a number between 50 and 500 (as you can see in the picture below).

Freight class is figured out with the help of four key factors:

Besides freight classes, there is a unique number to each product (NMFC code).

As an example, fasteners, clips, and holders have an NMFC number of 179180.

You can use this number to match a product with a freight class and calculate shipment charges correctly.

Please, become familiar with a helpful NMFTA guide for NMFC codes visiting this page.

What kind of terms are used in the case of truck freight shipping?

There are a lot of terms in logistics, but you don’t have to know all of them.

It is enough to study those that relate to the truck freight shipping.

Inbound freight is a cargo moving from a supplier to a warehouse.

Outbound freight defines shipments that leave the warehouse.

Flatbed hauling refers to extremely heavy or unusual shaped loads. 

BOL stands for the bill of lading.

This is a document that reflects all aspects of transit.

It is also the agreement between the shipper and the carrier.

PRO number is used by the carrier to mark a shipment.

It allows a shipper to track a movement of cargo.

Bulk freight typically refers to a cargo that is transported without packaging.

Most often these are various kinds of raw materials.

Blind shipment refers to a situation when a shipper and receiver remain anonymous to each other.

It may also mean that the origin of the goods or the destination point remains masked.

Cartage describes a cargo that ships within the same area.

Intermodal transportation is when more than one mode of transportation will carry cargo to the delivery point.

Who are the largest trucking companies in China/worldwide?

Worldwide:

China:

<liWANGFOONG.

How much weight can a freight truck carry?

These figures differ for various truck types.

However, you can see the average numbers in the US Federal Regulation Laws.

They refer to a maximum truckload:

The same rules for China will be discussed later in this FAQ.

What is the maximum single axle weight for trucks?

The maximum single axle weight for trucks is calculated according to the Bridge Formula Weights.

It began to be used in the late 60s when the freight market began its constant growth.

More cargo means more load on the bridges which was a big problem back then.

To avoid accidents, the US government has developed a formula to calculate the maximum single axle load.

You can use the online calculator or try to figure out this number on your own.

The Bridge Formula Weights has the next constituents:

You can see the whole formula in the picture below.

How has shipping freight via container changed the trucking industry?

Widespread use of containers in the freight industry has led to several important changes:

Which freight is more fuel-efficient, barge giant ships or several trucks over roads?

It is a quite complicated question.

In the vast majority of cases, water transport is more fuel-efficient than road transport.

But, they are not always competing with each other.

You see, sometimes it is simply impossible to deliver goods by ship or truck.

And some cases require using both these modes.

As a general rule, ships are more fuel-efficient, but if there is a possibility of truck freight, it would be faster.

How to calculate truck freight rate?

Truck freight rates depend on a variety of factors, including:

<liweight;

As an example, take a look at how these rates are determined in the most common truck freight cases:

What is the difference between a simple freight truck and semi-truck?

The truck is a common term that describes the land motor vehicle.

The truck has at least two axles, engine system and a frame that is specially designed to move heavy loads.

Semi-truck describes a combination of a truck with a trailer.

Semi means a trailer that has an only back axle.

In front, it is supported by a truck.

This type of trucks is also called flatbed and they are widely used in many industries.

You can watch this Youtube video to see how flatbeds are profitable for the automobile industry.

What Incoterms 2010 can be used in the case of truck freight shipping?

Seven of 11 Incoterms 2010 can be used for any transportation mode:

Delivered Duty Paid).

Ex Works).

Can I use broker agent services for the truck freight?

Freight broker agent can help you to organize all kind of shipments, including truck freight.

Please, visit this page to find out more about Tj chinafreight trusted broker agents.

What business plan can I use to build the freight truck company?

A business plan can be an extremely efficient tool for the new-bee entrepreneur.

Such paper explains the stability and goals of your company.

Investors, financial companies and other potential partners may ask about this document before starting to work with you.

We’ve found a very useful guide which can help you to build a perfect truck freight business plan.

What are the truck freight futures and how to use them?

Futures contracts were introduced to help participants de-risk their exposure to volatility.

Such contracts use hedging instruments to stabilize and predict cash-flow streams.

Truck freight futures can help you:

What is the future of truck freight market?

Can it still be competitive in the modern environment?

There are lots of articles which predict the near end of the trucking industry.

Some of them speculate about new technologies in transport, others are dedicated to automatization of driving processes in general.

Right now, the truck freight market grows with huge pace worldwide.

With live or AI drivers, we don’t see how the automatization processes can disturb this growth.

New transportation technologies also do not have an adequate replacement for truck freight.

As far as humanity uses roads and ground transport means, this type of shipping will be quite popular.

Does the weight of the goods have to be accurate or can it be estimated?

When buying products, in the first stages you can use estimate numbers to calculate your future costs.

However, it is very necessary to know the exact weight when it comes to transportation and customs clearance.

The more certain you are, the lesser costs you’ll pay eventually.

Truck broker vs freight forwarder: what is the difference?

First of all, a freight broker never takes possession of items being shipped.

The forwarder, on the other hand, has more rights and obligations.

He takes possession of the items, arranges smaller shipments, and negotiates for the transportation of the consolidated shipment.

You can read more about these two specialties by checking this page.

What are the best practices for shipping truck freight?

There are three main practices which help Tj chinafreight to hold leading positions:

What is the temperature-controlled truck freight shipping? In which case do I need such services?

The above-mentioned type of freight shipping is needed for temperature-sensitive products.

Such goods vary from flowers, chocolate, fresh produce, too many other goods that need a specific temperature for perfect conditions.

Some freight service entities can provide you with temperature-controlled truck freight shipping and guide you through this complicated process.

What are the main truck freight shipping restrictions?

Truck freight restrictions may vary due to the type of goods, delivery contracts, different country laws and so on.

They are limiting height, weight, volume, and quantity of cargo, as well as arise additional rules for hazardous or fragile products.

In China, truck cargo is considered as overweight and oversized in the below-mentioned cases.

Dimensions of truck plus container:

Weight of truck plus container:

Weight of vehicle with the container:

The weight limit per tire is 3,000 kilograms in the vast majority of cases.

Is it possible for the shipping trucks to maximize the limited space they have to pack goods?

The better part of transportation cases has a problem not with volume, but with weight.

The truck can be half full but already too heavy so you can’t place anything else there to comply with laws.

The main technique to avoid such situation are smart stacking of pallets or floor loading the freight without pallets.

But remember that the letter case is generally to be avoided if possible: it takes forever to load and unload the trailer if you are not using pallets.

Can the truck shipping industry be overtaken by rideshare companies?

Although rideshare companies are gaining huge popularity nowadays, it is hard to imagine how they can overtake such a complicated business, as a truck freight shipping.

Just have a look at trucking services: the vast majority of goods move in special equipment driven by people with certain licenses.

We can see reasons why the ridesharing companies might take control of small parcel distribution.

But, the commercial shipments would never be entrusted to unprofessional unequipped rideshare drivers.