Four Trends in Intermodal Transportation You Should Know About

Intermodal transportation is becoming an increasingly common solution for businesses looking for new freight transportation services.  When done properly, intermodal shipments can avoid many of the problems currently surrounding the trucking industry, while giving businesses a variety of options in how to get their goods from A to B.
This increased interest in multi-mode shipping is creating a number of new trends, ones which may affect your own decision to make use of intermodal transportation.  These are the trends you should be keeping an eye on.
Four Critical Trends in Intermodal Freight Transportation Services

1. Increased digital transport tracking

Traditionally, one of the big challenges in intermodal transport has been the issue of oversight.  Very often, the various modes of transport used incompatible computer systems that made day-to-day tracking difficult or impossible.  Now, standardized systems are being increasingly utilized that allow for intermodal oversight that’s as streamlined as standard ground-based options.

2. More interest in eco-friendly shipping

Whether it’s a genuine interest in protecting the planet, or a simple pragmatic desire to avoid paying fuel costs, either way, businesses are looking for more eco-friendly solutions for shipping.  Intermodal transportation providers are aware of this, and increasingly pushing for modes – such as rail and waterways – that minimize fuel usage.

3. More support from FMCGs

Fast Moving Consumer Goods have traditionally stuck to truck-based transportation, due to the frequently perishable nature of the products.  However, as companies in the FMCG sector have felt the pinch from truck shortages, they’ve been turning to intermodal solutions.  In turn, this is pushing the intermodal industry to adopt technology and procedures appropriate for FMCGs – and making intermodal transportation more attractive to a wider variety of businesses.

4. Increased use of brokerage services and 3PLs 

Those being hit most hard by the trucking shortage are companies that rely on small shipments and Less-Than-Load buys.  These are also the companies who can benefit most from a move to intermodal transportation – if they have the right resources to make use of it.  So, they turn to third-party logistics (3PL) services instead.  3PLs can streamline the process of setting up intermodal freight transportation services, while also providing increased transparency into the process from end to end.
To learn more about how your company can benefit from partnering with a 3PL for intermodal shipments, just contact Amstan for all the details.  You will get the same great service as American Standard has for decades.

Answering Your Questions About Truckload Shipping – Logistics in Ohio

If you’re doing business with transport companies in Ohio, truckload shipping will undoubtedly be part of the arrangement.  While intermodal shipping is gaining in popularity, the majority of cargo still goes out via trucks.  So, unsurprisingly, most of the questions we commonly hear at Amstan Logistics are about truckload shipping.
Here are the answers to some of the questions we most commonly get.

A Quick FAQ About Truckload Shipping

1 – What is truckload shipping?
Truckload shipping is exactly what it sounds like – shipments that take up most or all of a single 48′ or 53′ tractor-trailer, all going to the same destination.  In rare cases, a full truck could be reserved even when there is not cargo to match.  This is wasteful but sometimes makes sense for particularly time-sensitive deliveries.

2 – What’s the difference between truckload and Less than Truckload (LTL) shipments?
Less than truckload shipments are shipments which are too small to fill up a full trailer and are usually handled on an ad-hoc basis.  The LTL shipper fits them into other trailers with free space, as it becomes available.   This can be affordable for those who are making small shipments which aren’t particularly time-sensitive.

3 – How much weight can a truckload shipment accommodate?
This will vary somewhat depending on the carrier, the trucks, and the type of cargo being moved.  As a rule of thumb, it’s usually around 40,000 to 45,000 pounds.  It’s important to always discuss weight with your shippers, to ensure that they have the equipment and expertise to meet your needs
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4 – What are my choices in truckload shipping equipment?

There are three types of trucks/trailers most commonly seen in truckload shipping and handle nearly all the shipments being made.  These are:

• Flatbed:  Flatbed trailers are open-air and used in situations where the cargo isn’t particularly sensitive to the weather and needs to be loaded in from the top or side.  This can include lumber, steel beams, pipes, and similar objects.
• Dry Van:  This is the common shipping container type, without any climate control or special features.
• Refrigerated (or “Reefer”):  Refrigerated trucks are like dry vans, but with air conditioning, for transporting foods, medicines, electronics, and other heat-sensitive materials.

Partner with Amstan For Highly Optimized Logistics

Amstan stands out among logistics companies in Ohio thanks to our long history and experience.  We have been transporting American Standard products for decades.  For low-cost streamlined transportation services, contact us today.

Partner with A Third-Party Logistics Provider in Ohio To Improve Your Customer Service

The rise of the Internet and global trade has created huge new challenges for businesses.  One of the biggest of those challenges is the simple problem of how a company can stand out and distinguish itself when it has a literal world of competition.  Geographical considerations are now almost meaningless when it comes to making purchases.  Whatever a company offers, it’s guaranteed that there are hundreds -or thousands- of companies all around the world offering that same basic product or service.
For many businesses, the solution to this problem is to focus on customer service.  By providing superior service to customers and other partners, businesses can still stand out.  Being the easiest company to do business with is a major selling point!
Partnering with a third-party logistics provider in Ohio (3PL) that has customers across North America can be an excellent way to accomplish this.  In a world where speed and accuracy in shipments is increasingly desirable, you can easily show up your competition with better transportation services.  The 3PL will deliver major benefits to you, which you can pass onto your customers and partners.
How an Ohio based Third Party Logistics Provider Can Improve Your Customer Service and Customer Experience

1. Lowered shipping costs

3PLs act as brokers, making shipping buys in bulk on behalf of all their clients.  This allows them to leverage considerable economies of scale which their clients simply couldn’t demand on their own.  This reduces shipping costs, as well as making it more likely your shipments will be accepted by shippers running at capacity.  In turn, these are cost-savings you can pass on to your own customers and partners.

2. Greater transparency

A good 3PL will be able to track your shipments from end to end, with real-time updates on their status – even in complicated transportation situations.  Standardized data formats are provided on deliveries and you can easily make this information available to your own partners.

3. Easily leverage intermodal transportation

Intermodal transportation offers a wealth of new options in moving products from point A to B – if you have the infrastructure and oversight in place to take advantage of them.  A 3PL can easily manage intermodal transport on your behalf, allowing you to offer substantially more ways for your partners to receive their products.
Amstan Logistics
From our beginnings at delivering American Standard products customers across North America and managing flatbed trucking companies in Ohio, Amstan is now a leading 3PL solution throughout the US.  Contact us to learn more about the benefits we bring.

A Guide to Choosing between Intermodal Logistics Companies

Intermodal logistics companies can help your organization consolidate its costs when transporting goods across the country. They offer route tracking systems, budgeting services and other service options to help you run your organization and its freight transportation. Our team at Amstan Logistics is a noted leader in the intermodal transportation field and in our latest post, we’ll explain key considerations for choosing between intermodal logistics companies. You’ll agree Amstan Logistics is a solid choice.

Analyze Tracking Services

The accuracy of tracking times within intermodal services has improved significantly in recent years as companies automate the tracking process and ensure that all data is preserved. Make sure that the company offers tracking services that can prove the value of their work and the unique performance advantages of working with their team to manage your intermodal transportation.

Review Cost Benefits

The data shows the clear financial benefits of choosing intermodal transportation services versus over the road services. The latest studies show that intermodal services can save the average company 15% on the cost per truckload versus an equivalent over the road service. There are many other cost benefits associated with intermodal companies as well. For example, companies can now streamline the transportation of goods across country borders with customs services that limit long waits between countries.

Examine the options with Long Haul Services

Make sure the intermodal services provider has a multitude of long-haul services to offer as part of their competency. Intermodal transportation is far more effective for long-haul transportation needs than any other form. Ask the company directly about their long-haul services and find out how much you can save by working with their team. Oftentimes, because the cost of transporting freight across large distances is so high, intermodal companies can help their clients save thousands of dollars on the transportation of goods.

Consider Added Services

What other services does the company offer? Are they able to provide expertise in border freight management? Do they have experience in the warehousing of products along the intermodal transportation route? Are they able to provide special care for temperature controlled or refrigerated products?  Look at the company’s full selection of services before making a final decision on the firm and the options they have available.

Our team at Amstan Logistics is here to guide you in choosing one of the best third-party logistics companies. To learn more about our services and savings we provide, call us today.

The Economic Benefits of Partnering with Third-Party Logistics Companies

Freight costs are now causing many distribution and manufacturing companies to lose money over past years. This means that many businesses with shipping requirements are looking for outside guidance to minimize their costs going forward. Our team at Amstan Logistics has great experience transporting goods from A to B, and in our latest post, we’re highlighting the economic benefits of partnering with third-party logistics companies.

Competitive Carrier Rates

A third-party logistics provider helps your organization by evaluating carrier rates to find cost savvy options that reduce your costs in the years ahead. They work with carriers to establish pricing that benefits both your company and is acceptable to the carrier. They also have access to a large selection of carriers, allowing you to choose a service that best suits your business needs, both from the economic and strategic standpoints at delivering to your customers for the lowest cost.

Reduced Capital Commitment

A clear benefit of third-party logistics companies is that they require less of a capital commitment than employing logistics teams within your own firm. You can avoid purchasing the tracking technology and the management systems for your team. You can avoid hiring and training team members for your logistics needs. You save time and money to resolve client issues that may occur during the transportation process. You get commitment from your third-party logistics provider to ensure each of these areas is managed effectively, ensuring that your deliveries are completed on time with the most efficient use of your resources. The 3PL’s network gets deployed for your needs.

Savings on Routing

One of the most common expenditures for transportation companies is ensuring that freight gets routed effectively for every delivery. Working with a third-party logistics provider is the best way to save on freight costs because they have the technology in place to track freight across various routes in real time. They help drivers avoid heavy traffic and plan around days in which there is local road maintenance. This helps clients save thousands of dollars in fuel and truck maintenance costs.

To discover more about the cost-saving benefits of working with third-party logistics companies, turn to the trusted team here at Amstan Logistics directly. We have done this for all our clients and will certainly help you. Call our team now and we can show you how this works.

The Economic Benefits of Partnering with Third-Party Logistics Companies

Freight costs are now causing many distribution and manufacturing companies to lose money over past years. This means that many businesses with shipping requirements are looking for outside guidance to minimize their costs going forward. Our team at Amstan Logistics has great experience transporting goods from A to B, and in our latest post, we’re highlighting the economic benefits of partnering with third-party logistics companies.

Competitive Carrier Rates

A third-party logistics provider helps your organization by evaluating carrier rates to find cost savvy options that reduce your costs in the years ahead. They work with carriers to establish pricing that benefits both your company and is acceptable to the carrier. They also have access to a large selection of carriers, allowing you to choose a service that best suits your business needs, both from the economic and strategic standpoints at delivering to your customers for the lowest cost.

Reduced Capital Commitment

A clear benefit of third-party logistics companies is that they require less of a capital commitment than employing logistics teams within your own firm. You can avoid purchasing the tracking technology and the management systems for your team. You can avoid hiring and training team members for your logistics needs. You save time and money to resolve client issues that may occur during the transportation process. You get commitment from your third-party logistics provider to ensure each of these areas is managed effectively, ensuring that your deliveries are completed on time with the most efficient use of your resources.  The 3PL’s network gets deployed for your needs.

Savings on Routing

One of the most common expenditures for transportation companies is ensuring that freight gets routed effectively for every delivery. Working with a third-party logistics provider is the best way to save on freight costs because they have the technology in place to track freight across various routes in real time. They help drivers avoid heavy traffic and plan around days in which there is local road maintenance. This helps clients save thousands of dollars in fuel and truck maintenance costs.
To discover more about the cost-saving benefits of working with third-party logistics companies, turn to the trusted team here at Amstan Logistics directly. We have done this for all our clients and will certainly help you. Call our team now and we can show you how this works.

How Third-Party Logistics Companies Can Stand Out in the Market

In the current marketplace, third-party logistics companies must work to keep their clients and to ensure their business grows in the long-term. Our team at Amstan Logistics are key leaders in the local and national logistics marketplace, and in this latest post, we’ll explain a little more about how we work to maintain our leadership position.

End-to-End Shipping Visibility

One of the reasons our services stand out in the marketplace is because we provide end-to-end shipping visibility for our work. We provide data to our clients so that they can ship more cost-effectively while minimizing time to delivery and streamlining routes. The data we provide with our services help our clients complete tracking models, craft management reports, analyze carrier rates, use rate shopping services, reduce freight bills and complete claims management forms.

Intermodal Options

Our company thrives by offering the leading intermodal services in the market today. Whether you require access to train, ship or truck transportation, we can devise the optimal route for effective delivery. Our advantage as one of the top logistics companies is within our analysis of routing data and our connection with carriers across the marketplace. This means we not only have the network access required to provide you with full information on your freight always but also the data to show you how affordable each form of transportation will be for your business over the coming months. We analyze trends, use predictive modeling, and eliminate bottlenecks in your shipping processes to reduce costs with our intermodal logistics services.

Complete Supply Chain Management

When working with a third-party logistics provider, it’s important they understand the challenges and opportunities within your supply chain. Our supply chain management services are second-to-none across the marketplace. We analyze the trends to ensure that all opportunities are explored, and the best are capitalized upon for the benefit of your firm. It’s this commitment to prudent management that makes Amstan Logistics one of the leaders across the industry.
Our trusted team is here to guide your organization in building a streamlined logistics strategy. We’ll help consolidate your costs and support your business growth for the coming years. Call today to get started with Amstan Logistics.

How Freight Management Logistics Services Save You Money

If you’re in distribution, and you’re still handling your own logistics, you might be costing yourself valuable time and money.  In many cases, a freight management logistics company like Amstan Logistics can offer significant benefits over your current systems.  Hiring a logistics specialist isn’t an expense – it’s a cost-saving measure.
For those who haven’t yet considered partnering with a third-party logistics provider (3PL) for their distribution, here are some major ways it could pay off in both the short- and long term.

Four Big Ways You Save Money with A Freight Management Logistics Specialist

1. Leveraging shared loads

When a 3PL is handling cargo for a lot of different companies, that pays off for you in multiple ways.  With standard loads, you get the advantage of their economies of scale – they’re bulk buyers, and they pass the savings on to their customers.  Where it really pays off, however, is if you’re making a lot of short-notice or under-sized loads.  In those cases, your load may be combined with existing shipments and spare you the huge cost of special delivery runs.

2. Dedicated rate negotiations

Pricing of shipments is complicated, and something smaller distributors simply don’t have the insight to manage.  A larger 3PL, however, is very experienced with rate negotiations, as well as having dedicated staff that follow the latest regulations and external factors that affect pricing.  This knowledge is given to your firm and it means you pay even less for shipments.

3. Technology integration

Better freight management logistics firms have specialized computer systems and databases that smaller operations simply don’t have the time and money to install.  These systems pull current schedules and rates from dozens to hundreds of shipping options.  This makes it much easier to build shipping lines optimized around your needs.  Again, your company gets the best in technology.
As a side benefit, you can also leverage the technology to provide better service to your own customers, such as more accurate shipment tracking.

4. Bureaucratic Systems

Payments, invoicing, auditing, and other bureaucratic requirements can be a costly and time-consuming drag on most businesses.  Why would your own people handle these things when they could be focusing on your core business instead?  An efficient 3PL handles the bureaucracy with ease.  Your best people can focus on more important work.

Five Key Services the Right Transport and Logistics Companies Can Provide

If your business needs shipping and distribution, you could realize significant savings of time and money by hiring transport and logistics companies like Amstan Logistics.  These transport and logistics companies, also called 3PLs (for third-party logistics) offer numerous services which can pay off in a big way for their clients.

Every year, more companies are realizing the benefits they can reap by partnering with a 3PL.  Here are some of the biggest reasons they make the shift.

Five Services A 3PL Can Provide with Superior Cost-Effectiveness

1 – Price leveraging
Since 3PLs are often handling the logistics for dozens of client companies at once, that gives them the ability to leverage significant economies of scale.  Your operation benefits from their lower costs, as well as being able to save by “piggybacking” on existing scheduled shipments at substantial savings.  This can particularly pay off if your organization often needs to make shipments that are undersized, on short notice, or both.

2 – Route Optimization
A 3PL will have databases in place with dozens, or even hundreds, of shipping options.  Often, these will span multiple forms of transportation as well – including road, air, rail, and water.  This gives them the incredible flexibility to plan your routes and optimize them for your benefit, picking and choosing from the options.

3 – Superior Data Systems
Much of the information at a 3PL’s fingertips can be made available to you as well.  You’ll get significant insights into how your loads are handled, and the overall cost-effectiveness of your supply chain management, bringing you more actionable data to improve your business result.

4 – Robust Dynamic Freight Tracking
Transport and logistics companies will be able to track your cargo from end-to-end in real time, making all the information available to you whenever you need it.  This won’t just help your own operations.  You can share this information with your own customers as well, adding value to your operation.

5 – Administrative Support
Why pay your own people to handle the bureaucratic requirements of shipping and logistics?  A 3PL has systems in place to handle invoices, payments, auditing, reporting, and more – available at a fraction of the cost it would require implementing a similar system within your own operations.  With the right logistics partner, shipping becomes painless.  This is the best option for outsourcing your logistics needs.

Overcoming the Challenges Facing Flatbed Trucking Companies

Because Amstan began as a trucking and hauling company before branching into logistical and supply line services, we understand the challenges facing flatbed trucking companies.  Flatbed trucking is one of the single most difficult forms of long-distance hauling, and there’s a lot that can go wrong.

Read Full Blog here: http://amstan.com/overcoming-the-challenges-facing-flatbed-trucking-companies/

Save Time and Money with a Third-Party Logistics Provider

Why manage your own logistics in-house, when it’s not necessary?  A third-party logistics provider (3PL) such as Amstan Logistics can offer significant benefits to businesses of all sizes, improving and optimizing their supply line management while freeing their own managers to focus on core business needs.

Read Full Blog here: http://amstan.com/save-time-and-money-with-a-third-party-logistics-provider/