How Freight Brokers Can Improve Carrier Load Coordination
In addition to finding the right truck and load, freight brokers need to liaise with their carriers to ensure they’re managing pickup/delivery schedules, keeping them informed of the status of their load and dealing with any unexpected changes. Poor communication can cause issues with your shipments causing delays, confusion and extra costs.
Having good communication with your carriers and having them organised and in sync with the load will keep your operations running smoothly and allow you to build strong relationships with your network of carriers. Having a system in place will make it easier to manage many shipments.
Set clear expectations
Any shipment will have a number of key details needed for the pickup and delivery. As a freight broker you should ensure you’re communicating these clearly with your carrier. This could include:
- Instead of having a number of disjointed communications, using a standardised format will help you to keep your communication clear with your carrier. This should include key details like reference numbers, type of equipment required, contact details and delivery by date.
- Having clear expectations will help to avoid any confusion. It will help to get your carriers prepared and will make it easier to identify if there are any missing details.
- Keep communication during the shipment
- Whilst it’s important to stay in communication with your carriers during the shipment, sending too many updates can be a waste of time.
- Try to set up a communication strategy based on key dates. These could include:
- Load received, dispatched, picked up, left, on the way, delivered and proof of delivery sent.
This will give you a clear view of how the shipment is progressing and will ensure your customers are kept up to date. If the shipment is running late you’ll be able to let them know before it impacts the delivery.
Use technology to track shipments
Keeping track of multiple shipments using phone calls, emails and spreadsheets can be challenging. Using a shipment tracking system and transportation management software will allow you to keep all your key details in one place.
You’ll be able to see the status of your shipments, update expected delivery dates, keep track of carrier details and any exceptions. You’ll also be able to automate alerts to save time on regular check-ins.
Whilst using technology will help to improve your communication, it’s still important to have direct communication with your carrier if there is an unexpected issue with the shipment.
Plan pickup and delivery appointments
Not having a good relationship with your appointments can cause the shipment to fall outside of the delivery window, causing long wait times and unnecessary detention charges.
Before dispatching your shipment, ensure that the pickup location is ready, the carrier knows what’s required at the site and the appointment times are correct. This should also be done for the delivery locations.
If there are any changes to the appointment times ensure everyone is kept up to date quickly. Keeping track of any confirmations and rescheduling will help avoid any confusion between teams.
Build good relationships with your carriers
Having reliable carriers is a great benefit to your operations. By communicating with them respectfully, giving them accurate information and solving any issues professionally you’ll be more likely to build reliable relationships with them.
Paying on time, being open and honest with rates, having realistic expectations and responding quickly will all help to keep your carriers happy.
Regularly look at any feedback your carriers are giving. If they’re regularly complaining about incorrect load details or slow appointment confirmations this could highlight areas where you could improve your processes.
By solving these issues you’ll improve the experience for your carriers and build a more reliable network.
Track your coordination
By tracking how well you’re communicating and coordinating, it will be easier to improve. Key metrics to track could include on time pickups, on time deliveries, missed appointments, response time, tracking and documentation.
Having these metrics will help you to spot any trends. If certain routes are frequently late you can look into why this is happening. Is it due to scheduling, coordination with the site or carrier availability?
Create a more reliable freight coordination process
To be a successful freight broker it’s important that you have accurate information and timely updates. By improving your communication and using the right technology you can avoid confusion within your operations and manage shipments more efficiently. Incinque Business Solutions can help your business by providing logistics solutions and coordination of operations to create a more organised and reliable freight process.
