A freight broker’s role is to connect shippers with carriers. A broker doesn’t take possession of goods but instead facilitates communication between a shipper, who has goods to move, and a carrier, who has the capacity to transport goods.
What Does A Freight Broker Do
A freight broker takes on the responsibility of ensuring delivery on time and damage-free by matching shipments with drivers, and managing the entire shipment process. Freight brokers cultivate vast networks of carriers, allowing them to quickly and reliably access capacity. A strong freight broker partner will significantly free up a shipper’s time by overseeing the many details of cargo transportation.
Reasons To Work With A Broker
- The Supply Chain Is Complex
- Vetting Carriers Is Time-Consuming
- Ability To Optimize Routes
- Brokers Leverage Existing Partnerships To Scale Up Or Down
- Hands-On Management Frees Up Your Time
The Supply Chain Is Complex
The shipment of goods is a complex and complicated process. In addition to finding a reliable carrier, each type of shipment has its own compliance and regulatory requirements. Once freight has left the shipper, there are any number of factors and events which could cause delay or damage. The entire shipping process needs to be actively managed.
Vetting Carriers Is Time-Consuming
Shippers need to know that carriers have the necessary credentials and paperwork requirements for their particular load. It’s also important to know the safety and reliability record of a carrier. Because of the volume of shipments a broker deals with, they have experience working with a vast number of carriers. This experience is invaluable in being able to assess the safety and professionalism of a driver.
Ability To Optimize Routes
A lot of brokers have proprietary technologies that allow them to optimize routes and lanes. They can use their knowledge to bundle routes and find capacity. Their relationships allow them to tap into the network much faster. This allows a broker to quickly identify time and cost savings while ensuring delivery.
Brokers Leverage Existing Partnerships To Quickly Scale Up Or Down
Building and maintaining a fleet of truckers consumes a lot of time and money. And once established, the ongoing maintenance, training, and compliance requirements are costly for shippers. Add on to this seasonal demand fluctuations and it becomes difficult for a shipper, or even traditional trucking company to swiftly scale. Because the broker’s assets are the relationships they hold, brokers have greater access capacity at short notice.
Hands-On Management Frees Up Your Time
Brokers’ in-depth knowledge of the certifications, credentials, insurance papers, and experience levels required for different modes and equipment types saves you time in finding reliable carriers. Once a shipment is in progress, constant communication ensures visibility. All this results in improved delivery times, immediate response to issues, and more time for you.
What To Look For In A Broker
Customer Service Mindset
Having a broker oversee your freight movement requires a high amount of trust. Rapport, communication, and an ability to put your mind at ease are key for a good shipper-broker partnership. Exceptional customer service is about putting yourself in the shoes of the customer, and your brokerage should be available to provide regular updates throughout the shipping journey to ensure your customers’ satisfaction.
Deep Industry Knowledge
Brokers use their extensive industry knowledge to save their clients time and money. Your broker should have current knowledge of the applicable laws, standards, and practices relating to your specific type of freight. Additionally, brokers will have a strong understanding of what causes rates to fluctuate, such as capacity, inflation, gas prices, and seasonal factors.
Agility
All things going well, your shipment should arrive on time, damage-free, and with no unexpected events along the way. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. Unforeseen and unavoidable events can impact the safe delivery of your goods. Your broker should have systems in place to be able to rapidly respond, resolve and redirect your freight. All while keeping lines of communication open.
Detail-Oriented
Successful supply chain management means keeping track of many moving parts. Having a keen understanding of loading and off-loading requirements, driver hours and driving conditions is crucial. Having the support of a brokerage taking care of the many small details saves you and your team precious time.
Strong Relationship Skills
Brokers are simply people who know the importance of relationships. From shippers to carriers, loading dock crew to permitting authorities, brokers constantly strive to maintain goodwill with their partners. Having built long-standing relationships over time, a broker is able to swiftly find solutions to the inevitable unexpected events.
Not every shipper or shipment will need the expertise of a brokerage. However, for those who want to free up their team’s time and resources, a brokerage may be the optimal solution.
To learn more about how the Loop Logistics team can help manage your shipments, contact us here.
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