Beginner’s Guide to Transloading
Transloading has become an increasingly popular way to transport goods and materials from one place to another. This is especially true for international shipments. It’s nearly impossible to ship internationally without transloading at some point in the shipment process.
In 2022, transloading is an integral part of the supply chain. Employees use this practice mainly as a way to cut down on supply chain costs as more and more of our goods are coming from abroad.
In this article, we’ll go over the definition of transloading, compare the practice to other ways of transporting goods, and discuss the practice’s benefits and drawbacks. Read along to learn more about how employees currently use transloading in the supply chain and how it might actually affect your life.
Transloading Meaning
Simply put, transloading is the practice of transferring cargo between locations using more than one mode of transportation. For example, this could mean moving a shipment from a train to a truck. With international shipments, transloading is typically what gets goods from their starting point to their final destination.
Usually, goods will load onto a boat that will then travel to a port in the United States. There, the cargo will wait to load onto trucks to head to distribution centers and warehouses. But that’s not all that transloading might mean to different companies.
When delivering to final destinations, this might mean that cargo initially loads onto a train and transfers to a truck for the last-mile delivery. Additionally, employees can also use transloading as a way to move materials and goods between job sites, warehouses, and end-customer locations.
Alternatively, cross-docking is also a method of delivering cargo, characterized by using one method of transportation. Cross-docking typically refers to using trucks to transport these goods and materials. Employees directly distribute products to customers or retail chains without having to store them.
International Transload Logistics
Most freight in today’s world moves via steel boxes that tend to be either 20 or 40 feet long. These boxes can move as needed from ships, trains, and trucks. Transloading is popular for palletized shipments that have multiple warehouse destinations because of its increased efficiency compared to other shipping methods.
There is a range of benefits to transloading, and employees can use the method at any point in a company’s logistics strategy to help products arrive at their destinations on time. Some benefits of transloading include:
- A reduction in overall shipping costs
- Faster and more efficient shipment of cargo
- Saving on costs of transportation
- Optimizing distribution centers
In many scenarios, transloading can save a company money on shipping costs. This is because of the reasons stated above but also because the contents of four ocean containers fit into three domestic containers. This means that by transloading the contents of four ocean containers into three domestic ones, one ocean container essentially gets shipped for free.
What is a Transloader?
A transloader is essentially a third-party logistics provider that manages the process of the shipments for manufacturers and wholesalers. Transloaders typically take care of all of the logistics of shipment, like navigating old-school infrastructure and new technologies to create a smooth transport process.
When Does Transloading Make Sense?
Typically, a domestic shipment doesn’t need to be transloaded. This is because it’s usually faster and more cost-effective to pack and ship items using a single method of transportation like trucking. However, sometimes transloading is necessary for domestic shipments.
For example, shipping by rail can be cheaper and more efficient in some instances, but most trains simply cannot reach the cargo’s destination. The infrastructure doesn’t exist for a train to get to a specific warehouse, for instance. This is when transloading might become necessary. Cargo can be loaded onto a train and spend almost its entire journey there, then it can be loaded onto a truck for the last-mile delivery.
Types of Materials That Typically Get Transloaded
Transloading is a great shipping option for a lot of different products, from food and beverages to household items. The method is incredibly versatile in the types of products that it can help ship. In fact, nearly anything (if properly packaged and stored) can be transloaded. But there are still some materials that are more often than not transported through transloading, including:
- Construction/building materials like lumber, bricks, metal, etc.
- Large items like military equipment, machinery, etc.
- Household goods like clothing, furniture, and electronics
- Specialized freight like temperature-sensitive shipments and potentially hazardous materials/chemicals
- Food and liquids
Drayage, Warehousing, and Brokerage
At Heavy Weight Transport, we operate around the country hauling ocean containers, offering long and short-term storage in our warehouses, and providing efficient cross-docking near ports. Our private chassis fleet is equipped to handle sealed ocean containers weighing up to 64,000 pounds. While we can move regular-sized containers, we specialize in overweight loads.
We have terminals in New York, Charleston, Savannah, Houston, and Los Angeles, so if your shipment is coming through a major port, we can help plan the logistics. Plus, our cross-docking practices and consolidation of freight yield massive savings for our clients.
At Heavy Weight Transport, we are all about transparency and creating the best possible experience for our clients. This is why we offer transparency and convenience. Our chassis and tractor telemetry are equipped with GPS that allows for continuous visibility of your cargo.
If your company is looking for new and innovative ways to move goods and materials in ways that are faster and more cost-effective, look no further than Heavy Weight Transport. Not only do we strive to understand and meet your goals and expectations as a company, but we also try to keep our business as simple and transparent as possible.
Logistics can be a pain to try to deal with on your own, so let us at Heavy Weight Transport help. For more information about our services and our mission, visit our website. Trust us to manage your shipments and get them to their destinations on time.
