With the increased confidence in the shipping industry, the market has evolved with clients seeking for tailored services, and as such, it is crucial to adopt a strategy that meets the clients’ needs while at the same time minimizing on the cost of its implementation. The best way to do it is by making use of intermodal transportation since the use of more than one coordinated carriers to deliver freight to the consignee saves on both time in handling the freights and the costs incurred. Intermodal-surface containers like trains reduce the amount of money that would have been spent on proper handling in moving a shipment across trains or ships since minimal effort is required to carry cargoes around. Containers fit comfortably into any mode and can be switched quickly. This again saves on the amount of fuel that would have been consumed in the process. In addition to trains having the capacity of transporting a couple of containers at once as opposed to a truck only doing one cargo at a time, they use less fuel. A train is capable of moving a ton of freight 450 miles on just one gallon of fuel (Larson, 2015).
Shipment consolidation is also another strategy, especially when handling vast quantities of freight. Combining a couple of LTL shipments traveling to the same location into one full container shipment not only saves on the cost that would have been incurred in transporting individual freights, but it also keeps on storage and helps decongest the warehouse by minimizing on the time that would have been taken in the room awaiting shipment. It is easier to go for full-truckload rates because while it is a little high compared to less-than-truckload rates, it covers a more substantial number of LTL rates. The use of these techniques helps to decongest the warehouse creating room for storage of individual consignments while at the same time cutting on the cost of storage. This increases storage density while decreasing the cost of freight transportation through better truck utilization, maximizing on the company's profitability (Mesa-Arango & Ukkusuri, 2013).
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References
Larson, A. (2015). Top 3 reasons to use intermodal transportation . Retrieved from http://info.plslogistics.com/blog/top-3-reasons-to-use-intermodal-transportation
Mesa-Arango, R., & Ukkusuri, S. (2013). Benefits of In-Vehicle Consolidation in Less than Truckload Freight Transportation Operations. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences , 80 , 576-590. doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.05.031
