You spend a huge amount of money on your business’s logistics, yet your goods don’t get delivered to the location on time. Does this situation sound familiar to you? If yes, then it is time to reconsider your freight forwarding.
As you must already know, the mode of freight transportation you use for your business is the single most important factor in ensuring that your goods reach their destination at the stipulated time. If you are a small business, we understand that choosing the right freight transportation matters a lot for the reputation of your business. So, how do you choose the ideal freight shipping for a small business? Let us find it out!
Different Types of Freight Transportation
There are several types of freight transportation, including air, water, road, rail, and multimodal. All the modes come with their very own advantages and disadvantages. Depending on the goal of your business, you need to choose the ideal model for yourself.
1. Road Transportation
Road transportation is a convenient solution for almost every business. Every place around the world has proper road connectivity. This means that this mode of freight transportation makes door-to-door delivery very easy for every geographic location.
Road transportation mainly involves using vehicles such as trucks. However, this might lead to issues if you are a small business. For instance, you may not need a full truckload because the volume of goods is less.
So, what do you do in this case? Don’t worry because there is shared truckload freight shipping for your help. Multiple shippers’ freight is loaded into a single truck through a shared truckload. This reduces the cost of shipping. Also, it helps in building a sustainable supply chain. Moreover, as multiple shippers’ freight is transported through one vehicle, energy consumption is reduced as well.
2. Rail Transportation
Rail transportation is generally used for longer distances. For businesses that have large amounts of goods to transport, choosing rail transportation will reduce your worries.
Rail transport is environmentally friendly and cost-effective. It is quite efficient if a large amount of freight needs to be transported over longer distances. But there is a slight catch with rail transportation. It is not as flexible as road transportation. This means that you need a good network of rail lines and terminals to deliver the goods to your destination.
3. Air Transportation
Air transportation is the fastest but also the costliest mode of freight shipping. However, it is the most reliable option if you have an urgent shipment. Also, if you are a business dealing with perishable goods, air freight transportation is the ideal option.
However, air freight transportation has stringent rules and regulations. If you are dealing with a dangerous good, you may be unable to use air freight.
4. Water Transportation
Water freight transportation is a great choice for transporting goods between countries and continents. It can transport large amounts of finished goods, raw materials, and even unfinished goods to their final destination.
Goods in water freight transportation are sent through containers, bulk carriers, and trusty tankers. This ensures their safety during the long and treacherous waterway journey.
How To Choose the Right Freight Transportation?
1. Nature of Your Goods
When you are determining the nature of your goods, ask yourself the following questions:
Are they perishable or fragile? Air transportation is the answer.
Do they need a high level of security? Rail/air transportation is the answer.
Is it a short distance? If so, road freight transportation is the solution. In this mode, you can also choose less than a truckload for efficient freight consolidation and low-cost shipping.
2. Your Budget
As a small business owner, we understand that you may be short on money. Of course, your budget will influence the mode of freight transportation you choose. So, we suggest you opt for road freight transportation. Options such as shared truckload and less than truckload are great if you have a small quantity of goods and a short distance of transportation.
Conclusion
The right mode of freight transportation has a huge impact on supply chain management. When you have an efficient supply chain, you set your business up for success.
Every mode of freight transportation has advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, it is important to carefully consider your options and choose the most suitable one.
