How to organize your freight transport before shipping

How to organize your freight transport before shipping

Doing business with an external freight transportation company lets you invest more time, effort and personal resources in your core business. This means you don’t have to invest in a fleet of trucks, hire and pay delivery people and manage their itineraries.

However, you still have a small role to play in organizing the shipment to make sure it runs smoothly. Even though it is limited to the organization that comes before the shipment is sent, find out why your role is still essential.

Prepare the goods and their packaging to ensure good transport conditions

Your product has to be properly prepared and packaged, regardless of the means of transport used for delivery. Choose your packaging solution according to the shape and fragility of your merchandise.

In addition to being lightweight, which helps reduce transportation costs, cardboard boxes are available in a wide variety of sizes. They are perfectly suited for road transport and air travel: all you have to do is close them tightly to minimize the risk of loss.

For more fragile goods, which need to be handled with care, we recommend using crates, which are generally stronger and more reliable than cardboard. A host of packaging solutions are available to maximize the protection of your products against shocks, temperature and humidity: it is up to you to choose which one will best suit your needs.

If you don’t have enough goods to deliver to fill a truck, choose an LTL transportation solution, which involves sharing a truck with other companies that also don’t have enough goods to deliver for a full truck. This option lets you share delivery costs with other companies, resulting in significant savings.

Freight identification: a crucial step in transport organization

Most shipping errors are caused by poor package identification. Make sure that you identify your goods properly and legibly so that your packages will reach their destination.

Both the sender and recipient’s contact details must be recorded in the transport documents, as well as a full description of what the packages contain, their number, weight and volume.

If your goods need to be handled in any specific way, add clear handling instructions to avoid accidents. This also applies to hazardous materials, which must be clearly identified and accompanied by a safety data sheet and shipping declaration.

Finally, you will need to complete and sign a bill of lading to ensure that procedures are followed and that stakeholders are compensated in the event of a problem.

Contact us for more advice on how to organize your freight transport

At Transport Econo Nord, we are experts in road freight transport: we know all the steps necessary for quick and safe delivery of packages. Contact us for more information on the subject, it will be our pleasure to answer your questions.