Nailing down the best freight rates is critical, yet challenging. The volatility of the freight market and the intricate negotiation processes between shippers, brokers, and carriers create a complex freight pricing environment for shippers. But finding the right freight rate is paramount to maintaining efficient operations and a healthy bottom line. That’s why Farelanes has introduced a three-part guide to helping shippers find the best freight rates. After laying out the challenges in part one, this second part of the guide looks at exactly how shippers can use analytics — specifically, three types of analytics and modeling tools — to optimize freight pricing. With analytics, shippers can find “the” right freight shipping rates, instead of simply settling on “a” freight rate. Major Roadblocks Stand Between Shippers and the Best Freight Rate Freight shipping rates are full of complexities, with myriad factors creating fluctuations in supply, demand, and … [Read more...] about The Farelanes Guide #2: Leveraging Analytics to Find the Best Freight Rates
Farelanes Report
The Farelanes Guide #1: The Challenge of Finding the Best Freight Rates
Nailing down the best freight rates is so critical, yet so challenging. The volatility of the freight market, the lack of transparency in freight pricing, and the intricate negotiation processes between shippers, brokers, and carriers all add up to create a complex freight pricing environment for shippers. But finding the right truck freight rates is paramount to maintaining efficient operations and a healthy bottom line. That’s why Farelanes is introducing a three-part guide to helping shippers find the best freight rates. In this first part of the guide, we’ll take a look at the obstacles standing between shippers and the best freight shipping rates for their businesses. The Challenge of Finding the Right Freight Rate Freight shipping rates are full of complexities. The freight market can go up and down in the blink of an eye. Carrier capacity is unpredictable and can change dramatically due to a geopolitical event, a natural disaster, or even a sudden … [Read more...] about The Farelanes Guide #1: The Challenge of Finding the Best Freight Rates
Freight Pricing Made Simple: You Can’t Trust Your Pricing Without Trustworthy Data
The famed “Meet the Parents” movie involves a circle of trust, in which one of the main characters attempts to win over his father-in-law and make it inside the circle. But trust isn’t only a concept for Hollywood films. Real-life relationships – from personal to business – are built on trust and maintained by continuing that trust. For shippers, creating a relationship with their brokers and carriers requires data for freight pricing that all parties can trust. Good quality and trustworthy data are the cornerstone of effective decision-making in freight pricing. This kind of data enables shippers to navigate market complexities with confidence and precision. Accurate, timely, and reliable data empowers shippers to optimize pricing strategies and enhance competitiveness in the dynamic freight industry. Despite this critical need, shippers often struggle to access fair, clean, and reliable data. Market volatility, data inaccuracies, and opaque pricing methodologies present … [Read more...] about Freight Pricing Made Simple: You Can’t Trust Your Pricing Without Trustworthy Data
Freight Pricing at Your Fingertips: The Right Price Starts with the Right Solution
Fair, accurate, reliable freight pricing used to seem far out of reach and like a pipe dream for many shippers. That’s no longer the case today, with solutions available in the marketplace that put freight pricing at your fingertips. The key is finding the right solution, ultimately leading to the right freight price. For Today’s Shippers, Status-Quo Pricing Leaves a Lot to be Desired Shippers face myriad complexities and challenges in determining optimal freight rates. Market volatility, rapidly changing demand, and variable carrier capacity can cause freight rates to change in the blink of an eye. For example, fluctuating diesel prices can raise or lower freight trucking rates. On the capacity side, it’s cherry season in California, and shipping the fruit adds more than 20% of volume in the refrigerated trucking market — something shippers across several industries will need to take note of as they plan their freight shipments. Shippers not only have … [Read more...] about Freight Pricing at Your Fingertips: The Right Price Starts with the Right Solution
Finding the Best Freight Rates Shouldn’t Require a Crystal Ball: Three Strategies to Demystify the Truckload Rating Process
A new invention is out on the market: a supply chain crystal ball, which shippers can look into and see freight demand, capacity, and rates of the future … ah, if only! Seeking out the best freight rates is often easier said than done. Everything from market volatility to fluctuating demand to variable carrier capacity can make finding the best freight rate a daunting task. A crystal ball certainly seems like a solution to the problem. But psychic tools aren’t needed to make it easier to find the best freight shipping rates. There are plenty of ways to demystify the truckload rating process, with tools that navigate the ups, downs, and sideways of the trucking market. The Complexity of Truckload Rating Day to day, markets can fluctuate rapidly. One moment, freight capacity might be swiftly flowing and readily available. The next moment, a natural disaster hits, carriers redirect their capacity to relief efforts, and shippers are left with a market of tight supply and … [Read more...] about Finding the Best Freight Rates Shouldn’t Require a Crystal Ball: Three Strategies to Demystify the Truckload Rating Process
Real-Time Rating: Take the Guesswork out of Freight Pricing
If someone offered you the choice to make a decision either based on real-time, current data or based on information that’s two weeks old, it seems like a no brainer to pick the former. Yet in the world of freight pricing, shippers too often continue to use the latter. Many businesses use historical, static data that doesn’t account for rapid changes in the market, especially in an industry as dynamic as freight and logistics. Shippers that use traditional freight pricing are playing a guessing game and not optimizing their business for efficiency, accuracy, and profitability. The Problem with Traditional Freight Pricing Using traditional lane pricing methods comes with tons of limitations. Traditional freight pricing uses historical data rather than real-time insights, and manual processes instead of automation. The past doesn’t always reflect the present or the future, and using data from the past and manual methods can lead to inaccuracies and … [Read more...] about Real-Time Rating: Take the Guesswork out of Freight Pricing
How to Make Your Data Work Harder: Farelanes delivers REAL Pricing in Real-Time
Supply chain professionals, always on the hunt for the best freight rates, have enjoyed a shipper’s market for months — but the glory days won’t last forever. Trucking rates are slowly beginning to climb. In this recovering market, it’s more important than ever for shippers to find optimal shipping rates. However, finding the best rates can be challenging as shippers grapple with fluctuating demand, capacity constraints, and market dynamics. The solution? Let your data work for you, using real-time analytics to find the best freight rates. Survival of the Smartest Shippers Several indicators suggest the trucking market is on the road to recovery. ACT Research predicts shippers will bolster safety stock to combat disruptions surrounding the Red Sea and Suez Canal. Imports are rising, and demand for trucking to move those goods will likely follow. The Cass Freight Index shows rates rose slightly from February to March, and trucking … [Read more...] about How to Make Your Data Work Harder: Farelanes delivers REAL Pricing in Real-Time
Which Came First: The Bid or the Ask Price?
Much like the age-old “chicken and egg” debate, we may never know how the very first load appeared on a load board. Did the shipper post an asking price? Did a carrier post a bid to win a load? But one thing is certain: Shippers and carriers need to move quickly. If a load is posted with a price and avoids back-and-forth negotiation, carriers will swoop in to pick it up. In fact, loads posted with an asking price on load boards are typically booked five to 10 times faster than those without an asking price. Low-balling a price is risky, because it could risk delaying a shipment, as carriers pick up more competitively priced loads. While it may be tempting for shippers to gamble for the best price, it’s not always the best practice in a fast-moving industry. That’s why it’s pivotal to provide transparent pricing on loads, to ensure your goods get to their destination quickly, securely, and at the right price. Modern technology and real-time pricing information are key, so … [Read more...] about Which Came First: The Bid or the Ask Price?
