The flatbed shipping industry can be a challenge to navigate. For one thing, it’s highly competitive and requires you to keep up with market trends and technology. Another challenge is that flatbed trucks are often used for multiple purposes and different freight types, making for more complex logistics when dealing with shipments in this category. When it comes to improving your flatbed shipping performance, there are three main areas where you should focus: tracking costs, working with a broker that specializes in flatbed freight, and communicating with drivers and customers. Let’s look at each one of these areas in detail:

Track Your Trucking Costs

The first step to improving your flatbed shipping performance is to track your trucking costs. If you’re not tracking and analyzing these expenses, you don’t know where your money is going, how much it costs to move a load, what your competitors are charging—or even the best price for your product.

In our experience, there are two main reasons why companies don’t track their trucking expenses: 

  1. They don’t want to deal with complicated spreadsheets or software systems
  2. They don’t want anyone else in the company to know how much they spend on freight transportation. 

While we understand these concerns, neither one should be a reason not to do this important activity!

Work with a Freight Broker Specializing in Flatbed Freight

When shipping your freight, the best choice for you is to work with a brokerage specializing in flatbed freight. Flatbed Freight brokers have access to carriers specializing in this type of shipping and can tell you which carrier is best for your needs. They can also negotiate rates and terms with them on your behalf.

Communicate with the Shipper/Receiver and Dispatch

You must communicate with other parties to improve your flatbed shipping performance.

  • Communicate with the shipper or receiver. Let them know about any changes in the schedule or route on a timely basis, so they can make adjustments as needed. Costs can increase when trucks have to wait additional hours for the shipper or receiver to be ready to load and offload.
  • Communication between you and the carrier is important. Dispatch will provide key information on the whereabouts of their truck and ETA’s, so you can pass on the information to your customer.

3 Best Practices to Improve Your Flatbed Shipping Performance

You may be wondering what exactly flatbed shipping is. Put simply, it’s a type of freight transport that utilizes a platform or flatbed to haul items. The term “freight” refers to goods being shipped between locations, whereas “transport” refers to how they’re transported there.

For example, you’re a manufacturer of building products, and you need to ship your product to numerous construction sites across the Country. You use a reputable logistics company like our team at Lot Logistics which will utilize our network of flatbed carriers nationwide to get your goods to their destination safely and efficiently.