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First Call Freight Blog
The supply chain industry is an ever changing landscape. First Call Logistics offers perspective on the logistics industry from a shipper, carrier view point.
Carrier Performance Metrics
What Metrics You Should Track to Improve Carrier Performance An effective way to measure your transportation operations performance (as well as the performance of your carriers) is by tracking the right metrics or KPIs (key performance indicators). Transport costs have a direct impact on your business’ bottom line, so monitoring performance is essential from [...]
Importance of Limiting Driver Wait Times
Driver wait time or detention time is defined as the time a driver waits beyond what he or she anticipates needing to load/unload the freight. In the transportation industry, a rule of thumb typically included in contracts is that anything over two hours of waiting is detention time. It is a massive issue in the [...]
Seasonality of Freight
The supply and demand (market conditions) are two essential factors that affect the transportation industry. They determine the rates and the capacity, and every year, we see typical seasonal shifts in market conditions. If this is your first year in the transportation industry, you need to understand and acknowledge this as soon as possible. [...]
Truckload vs LTL
Truckload and LTL (Less-Than-Truckload) freight shipping are two different shipping services. They can be used together while many shippers tend to use one or the other exclusively. The first step to knowing if you’re doing everything you can to ensure efficient shipping of your inland cargo, you should understand the impact mode can make [...]
The Beginning of a New 3PL Partnership
If you run a product-based business, you need to transport goods to your customers. Now, managing logistics and supply chain can be complicated and involves additional work and pressures. If you run a small or midsized company, then deciding for a third-party logistics provider to take care of transportation, warehousing, and distribution can greatly [...]
Preparing for Roadcheck 2019
CVSA’s (Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance) International Roadcheck is an opportunity to educate the general public and industry as well as to raise awareness on the importance of vehicle safety. During the most extensive targeted enforcement program in the world, about 17 buses and trucks are inspected (on average) every minute in the United States, [...]
