Estimated reading time 4 minutes 23 seconds

Hauling a big rig burns more fuel than you think. That’s in addition to the initial expense of filling the tank.

The more you spend on fuel, the more it costs to transport goods, the more it cuts into profits, the more your customers are charged, and the less happy they are.

Besides, it’s always a good idea to keep costs at a minimum and reduce waste.

Although you can’t avoid fueling your trucks, there are ways to reduce costs.

Ten tips for getting more gas mileage for your trucks:

Faster isn’t better

Sitting for hours on the road can seem endless. However, speeding doesn’t decrease your trip time much. It may seem to increase your performance on logistics, but it doesn’t. The difference between every ten mph decreases as your speed increases. Going from 80 to 90 mph will only save you five minutes, and going from 40 to 50 mph will save you nineteen minutes.

Not only doesn’t it save you time, but speeding also burns more gas. You don’t get to your destination quicker and burn extra fuel. Save on gas and slow down.

Lay off the brakes

Instead, use brakes appropriately. Aggressive driving burns excess fuel when you step on the gas and immediately break on congested roads. Every time you give more gas, you burn more fuel.

A practical alternative to breaking and stopping would be to avoid a safe distance from the vehicle ahead of you. This will allow you ample time to slow down should you need to.Idling for a few minutes burns more fuel than turning on the engine. Not only does idling waste fuel, but it also adds to the wear and tear of the vehicle’s engine.

Keep your LTL freight truck in shape

For optimal performance, LTL shippers and trucks need to be in top shape. Any misalignment, clogged filters, or defective sensors will cost wasted fuel. Additionally, it is important to remember your oil change and preferably synthetic oil. Pushing off an oil change isn’t a wise business decision, even for another run.

One way to keep your vehicle in perfect condition is by implementing ongoing maintenance on all your trucks.

Estimated reading time 2 minutes and 3 seconds

We live in a world of instant gratification. Everything happens in a minute, and people have lost all their patience. When ordering something online, we expect our packages to arrive within a few days. Online retailers that can’t keep up with those demands fall behind their competitors.

How do businesses keep up with efficient shipping quotas?

The more online shopping takes center stage in the retail industry, the higher the demand for distribution warehouse services is—warehouse and distribution centers aid in bringing customers their products as quickly as possible. By 2025, distribution centers will make up a whopping one billion square feet of industrial space.

Estimated reading time 2 minutes and 3 seconds

Steering your Freightliner CASCADIA along the interstate, eyes intently concentrating past the windshield, there’s much for you to focus on. You’re conscious of the routes ahead, impending traffic, and weather reports. Your main concern is arriving at your destination safely and punctually. Through all this execution, you inevitably splash into a mud puddle. Brown blobs are currently on your drayage trucking exterior, reflecting its interior, where Coca-Cola cans, paper bags, and broken wires inhabit your cab. You dislike expanding your already heavy workload, so don’t hurry to clean it.

Why is it important to keep your trucks clean?

A dirty truck used for logistics trucking, LTL freight, or any other reason leads to discredits, dangers, and drawbacks for you and your company.

Estimated reading time 5 minutes and 42 seconds

In terms of global trade, the shipping industry is one of the most critical industries. It has a vast network of ships transporting goods from one place to another. One challenge is the need for more skilled workers. Another is improving efficiency and reducing costs.

The shipping industry is looking at new technologies like AI to address these challenges. This is why they use artificial intelligence (AI) to improve efficiency, reduce costs and increase employee productivity.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a broad term for machines that mimic human intelligence. More specifically, it refers to computer systems capable of performing tasks normally requiring human intelligence when applied correctly by humans (e.g., visual perception, speech recognition).

We live in a world of instant gratification. Everything happens in a minute, and people have lost all their patience. When ordering something online, we expect our packages to arrive within a few days. Online retailers that can’t keep up with those demands fall behind their competitors.

How do businesses keep up with efficient shipping quotas?

The more online shopping takes center stage in the retail industry, the higher the demand for distribution services is—distribution centers aid in bringing customers their products as quickly as possible. By 2025, distribution centers will make up a whopping one billion square feet of industrial space.

What are distribution centers?

Distribution centers offer various services to enable companies to fulfill all their logistic needs. Distribution centers are where products and goods are stored for a short period and shipped further to businesses or consumers. Products are brought into the distribution center and can be repackaged, stored, or cross-docked.

There are so many moving parts and a lot happening at any given moment at a distribution center. It’s a highly logistical aspect of the supply chain.

Items that are unloaded and repackaged must either be placed in their designated storage areas or sent out for shipping. Sometimes, items come in from one side of the distribution center and are unloaded and sent out through the other side. This is called cross-docking since it passes from one loading dock to the other. Cross-docking has to be timed to perfection. You’ll often have a truck pull in and unload goods headed in multiple directions or lots of goods coming in from numerous trucks and locations headed out for delivery in the same area.

According to the needs of a business, they may choose to run their distribution centers or use a 3PL (third-party logistics) company. Large companies such as food chains, department stores, and the like will often run their distribution centers to restock their retail locations efficiently.

How to decide where to build distribution centers?

Distribution center locations are strategically placed. They will most often be located near several port cities for easy translating. Companies may build a distribution center near several popular port cities and airports and centrally located in many populated areas. This is how companies can ship goods efficiently.

One popular area where you can find distribution centers being built and popping up all over the place is Pennsylvania. It is located near New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Boston ports. It is also near major U.S. cities, including Washington, D.C. This is great for businesses in need of accessing distribution centers. However, since they are monstrously large to keep up with the storage and shipping demands, they are being constructed on what was once lovely open green land.

The demand for distribution space is so high that most are fully leased before being built. The more we move online, the greater the need is.

Are distribution centers the same as warehouses?

Distribution centers, unlike warehouses, are not intended for long-term storage. The primary function of a warehouse is to store products and ship products to manufacturers and wholesalers. While distribution centers keep products, utilizing a distribution center is to get products moving and out to consumers and mainly cater to retailers or direct to consumers. Think of a distribution center as a warehouse; only better.

The first stop at a distribution center is when you receive the products. They are primarily brought in from other warehouses and have to either be repacked and stored or shipped further. Before doing that, all products are inspected to ensure they are all accounted for and in proper condition.

Running a distribution center is a highly complex operation. Technology makes it easier to track what’s coming in and out at all times of the day and night. But more important than relying on technology is the ability to count on a logistics company that is experienced in handling the load, come what may.

Accurate Transport has been in the logistics business for over two decades. In addition to our expertise and experience, we’re constantly expanding our locations and service areas. If you’re in the market for a reliable logistics service provider, call us to see how we can help you grow your business.

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes and 44 seconds

There are few services that you can honestly say with certainty reduce your cost of doing business.

Most services are a necessary business expense but aren’t monetarily effective.

Not only do you save when using a drayage service provider, but it also reduces the time it takes your products to reach the hands of your customers.

Drayage trucking companies are efficient.

Regarding trade and moving goods, the best option considers time and efficiency.

One way to decrease time and increase efficiency is using intermodal transportation, which uses multiple transportation options.
Intermodal transport moves goods over the sea, railway, roads, air, and more. You need to utilize drayage services to get from one mode of transportation to another.

Drayage trucking companies act as the missing link in your shipping chain.

Without drayage services, you’d never be able to utilize intermodal shipping services properly. It would take weeks and months to unload and empty containers from the port and reload the products into trucks for shipping.

Drayage freight is the service that enables the containers to be placed on chassis connected to the trucks. It takes us a day or two to move your containers out of the ports making room for new ones to enter.

Not only do drayage companies unload full containers, but they also return the empty containers to the port helping the supply chain moves along quickly with almost no interruptions.

Drayage trucking companies are cost-effective.

Hiring a drayage company may seem like an added expense when it is quite the opposite. Using drayage transportation means that you get to save money in the long run.

Expenses you avoid with drayage include air freight, container rentals, and port storage. 

Renting containers is expensive. 

Drayage companies, such as Accurate Transport, come into the ports to pick up your containers. 

We move them a short distance, less than a two-hour journey. We bring the container to the location of your choice, unload it, and return the container to the port. 

This process enables you to return the container reducing your rental time and, in turn, lowering your container rental costs.

Another way we save you money is by picking up your container from the port, avoiding costly port storage fees.

Additionally, a port drayage service company allows you to store your containers and products closer to your customers, which lowers your customer shipping costs and increases your profit margins. 

This is an added advantage because you can offer your customers quick shipping at no additional cost.

Drayage shipping is safe and high-quality.

Unlike many services where you can get up one morning and decide to provide said service, the drayage industry works very differently. You can’t just choose to provide drayage services. There is a process that even very experienced, reliable, and well-known trucking companies must go through to provide drayage services.

Moving overweight steel containers takes expertise. Proper licensing and insurance are needed to offer any drayage service. When you hire a drayage company, your cargo is handled by a properly licensed and insured service provider.

Another thing to remember is that it’s essential to use a drayage company that provides all trucking services, so your packages are managed with the expert care and professionalism you are accustomed to. 

Your products don’t change hands and are cared for from the start of the journey to last-mile delivery by the same service provider.

Drayage companies are convenient.

It’s nearly impossible to offer quick delivery services without many modes of transportation. It’s a fact that intermodal transportation is the most efficient and cost-effective mode of transportation.

 It’s also a fact that intermodal transportation is only possible because of drayage carriers. Without drayage trucking companies, intermodal transit wouldn’t be efficient or cost-effective.

Drayage services is the number one solution to all your transportation needs. It eliminates the time-consuming and often confusing process of coordinating between different transportation companies. Using a transportation company that provides drayage services is best.

With drayage services, the containers are conveniently secured to the chassis that will move them to your next destination. Drayage drivers are specialized in handling all your port drayage needs.

Drayage service companies aren’t an add-on service in your transportation journey. Drayage trucking companies are the reason why you can manage your shipments and deliveries in a quick, efficient, and cost-effective manner. Accurate Transport offers drayage services in addition to all other transportation services. Check out all our services. Email us at port@accuratetransport.net.

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes 25 seconds

Less than a truckload is when you need to ship products but need more to fill an entire truck.

You can wait to fill a whole truck for an undetermined amount of time, and at that point, who said your product will still sell?

Or you can pay for an entire trailer when you’re using only a small portion of the truck.

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes 25 seconds

What are drayage services?

Every industry you come across comes with its terms and jargon. These industry-specific words seem foreign and mysterious unless you’re in the industry. 

Let’s break it down.

In the most basic term, drayage services are when you move a container carrying goods a short distance. Often transporting goods from one mode of transportation to another or their final destination. 

Most often, drayage services transport your container from the port to the next leg of its journey.

Large cargo ships bring containers across the globe and into many different ports. The containers are stacked on top of each other and are removed from the vessel using gantry cranes.

They are moved to the port storage area, ready for pickup.

This is where drayage trucking companies pick up your containers and start the next part of transportation. The container drayage is picked up and handled per the customer’s request. This trip is usually a very short one.

Contrary to long hauls’ cross-country trips when transporting goods, the drayage trucking routes are relatively short. They are usually kept in a single location and transported within one to two hours.

The containers are moved to docking terminals for transloading, warehouses for storage, or trucking company-owned container yards for further storage.

While drayage transportation most often starts with port drayage, it doesn’t only move containers from the port. Drayage shipping includes moving containers from the port, railway stations, or intermodal terminals.

What does drayage include?

There are six types of drayage services:

Pier drayage:

Transporting shipping containers by truck from a yard or railway station to a shipping dock or pier.

Expedited drayage:

 Moving goods that are extremely time sensitive.

Intra-carrier drayage:

Moving freight to two locations that the same company owns.

Inter-carrier drayage:

Transporting freight between two carriers.

Shuttle drayage:

Moving an intermodal unit ( a loading unit used in intermodal transport ) to a parking lot temporarily due to overcrowding.

Door-to-door drayage:

When the products are delivered directly to the customer.

Why is drayage transportation important?

Drayage shipments are the missing link in the transportation chain. That short connection allows container cargo to move forward, bringing products and goods one step closer to the customers.

Not only do port drayage services enable you to move containers from one intermodal transport location to another, but it’s also why companies can offer customers expedited shipping.

When your container is loaded into the port, drayage services which load your container onto special chassis, is how you can move containers without physically unloading the cargo. Imagine how long it would take to constantly empty and reload containers whenever you want to switch modes of transportation.

From cargo ships to container ports. From the ports to a container yard or terminal to transload it.

Without drayage trucking companies, freight transportation would take weeks or months instead of days.

The more you move goods, the more sales you make and the more money you make.

Drayage transportation is a pivotal aspect of any supply chain journey.

The distance may be short, but it’s the most important aspect of the container’s journey from the beginning to the end.

Where did drayage services originate from?

Drayage refers to a cart that was low down and pulled by a horse. This was used to move goods around the ports. The horse couldn’t carry such a heavy load long distance.

Eventually, we moved on from horses to trucks. 

Over the years, our transportation has advanced. Nevertheless, the need to move cargo from ship to dock to warehouses, customers, and so on remains the same.

A lot has changed over the last decade, but the goals have always remained constant—efficiency, efficiency, and efficiency.

What’s the difference between intermodal shipping and drayage services?

Intermodal shipping and drayage trucking are closely connected but have two completely different services.

Intermodal shipping is when a container is moved using multiple modes of transportation. The container is driven using a truck, ocean, rail, and air. It doesn’t have to utilize every mode of transport, but if it utilizes more than one mode, it’s considered intermodal.

Drayage trucking is when you transport goods over a short distance. This short distance is often used to transport a container from one mode of transportation to another. Hence the confusion and relationship between intermodal shipping and drayage services.

Most intermodal transports include container drayage as well.

How long does drayage take?

Drayage carriers are the link between different modes of transport. The purpose of drayage is to move your container out of the port as swiftly as possible and bring it to its next destination. The actual drayage transportation takes about one to two hours. 

You only get a limited amount of time where you can keep your container at the port free of charge. After that time, you’re charged a hefty storage fee. Drayage service companies will pick up your container and return it to the port in as little time as possible.

Accurate Transport will handle all container transportation needs. For over twenty years, customers have relied on our expertise. Every service offered considers every last detail. Contact us to benefit from our asset-based drayage services.

Intra-carrier drayage:

Moving freight to two different locations that the same company owns.Inter-carrier drayage:

Transporting freight between two carriers.

Shuttle drayage:

Moving an intermodal unit ( a loading unit used in intermodal transport ) to a parking lot temporarily due to overcrowding.

Door-to-door drayage:

When the products are delivered directly to the customer.

Why is drayage transportation important?

Drayage shipments are the missing link in the transportation chain. That short connection allows container cargo to move forward, bringing products and goods one step closer to the customers.

Not only do port drayage services enable you to move containers from one intermodal transport location to another, but it’s also why companies can offer customers expedited shipping.

When your container is loaded into the port, drayage services which load your container onto special chassis, is how you can move containers without physically unloading the cargo. Imagine how long it would take to constantly empty and reload containers whenever you want to switch modes of transportation.

From cargo ships to container ports. From the ports to a container yard or terminal to transload it.

Without drayage trucking companies, freight transportation would take weeks or months instead of days.

The more you move goods, the more sales you make, and the more money you make.

Drayage transportation is a pivotal aspect of any supply chain journey.

 The distance may be short, but it’s the most important aspect of the container’s journey from the beginning to the end.

Where did drayage services originate from?

 Drayage refers to a cart that was low down and pulled by a horse. This was used to move goods around the ports. The horse couldn’t carry such a heavy load long distance.

Eventually, we moved on from horses to trucks. 

Over the years, our transportation has advanced. Nevertheless, the need to move cargo from ship to dock to warehouses, customers, and so on remains the same.