What is Line Haul?
Line haul logistics refers to the movement of freight or goods across different modes of transport by land, air, waterway, between distant cities, ports or even warehouses. While the routes are fixed, the goods transported can vary in volume and weight, from small documents to heavy pallets. Line haul services require defined departure and arrival times.
Goods with similar destinations are consolidated in long-distance trailers and sent to one or multiple distribution facilities for further categorization and sorting. At the sorting facility, the goods go through one more round of consolidation before being dispatched for the final destination. This line haul network is the term that includes drivers, dock executives, trucks, depots, hubs, distribution and sorting facilities.
What is a line haul carrier?
Carriers play an important role in line haul logistics. Line haul operations are complex and involve multiple moving parts, including the transfer of freight from one city to another, one mode to another, and one depot to another. Therefore, it is important to select line haul carriers that have knowledge and expertise in managing both LTL and FTL loads, are experienced in handling time-sensitive goods, ensure 100% SLA adherence, and are highly aware of geography-specific regulations and compliance.
Last Mile Trends Shippers Need To Know
Key Areas that a Line Haul Carrier Impacts
- Movement of freight between cities
- Delivery duration
- Movement of goods/packages to and from depots
- Movement of goods/packages to and from sorting facilities
- Transportation costs
Importance of Line Haul Carrier Tracking
A key component of ensuring robust line haul services is deploying digital tools to enhance line haul carrier tracking. Such carrier tracking tools empower enterprises, carriers and 3PLs to gain real-time visibility of line haul trucking operations.
MercuryGate Line Haul (Multimodal):
- Multimodal Integration for Expanded Saving Opportunities: Many transportation management system (TMS) solutions pigeonhole freight into very specific mode restrictions. This can cause your organization to miss major savings opportunities that could have been gained with greater breadth. That’s why MercuryGate rating functionality applies across freight with any method of transportation – land, sea, or air. And it extends to any part of the world or multiple geographies at the same time. This functionality can manage the full scope of inbound, outbound, inter-company, backhauls, and returns. Not every TMS can do this. In fact, some of the largest systems actually need to partner with other technologies on modes, while MercuryGate does it all natively.
- Accurately Factor for Real-World Constraints: Through decades of expertise in managing the nuances and multimodal complexities of logistics, MercuryGate developed the industry-leading advanced planning technology to consider real-world constraints, risks, and conditions. Elements that can affect desired outcomes are part of the planning equation. This sets our clients up for success while setting us apart from the competition.
- Multimodal (Forecast, Planning): Multimodal moves are heavily varied and dynamic, and consolidation isn’t always the right answer. The MercuryGate optimizer’s functionality provides for multimodal optimization, as well as simple consolidation, ensuring true end-to-end cost efficiency and savings.
