Committing to a Safer Trucking Industry
In today’s fast-pace transportation landscape, ensuring the safety and reliability of truckload carriers and third-party logistics providers (3PLs) is highly important. Cargo theft, unsafe practices, double-brokering, and other practices will hinder operations of any organization. This post aims to discuss the importance of carrier monitoring and explain how a shipping manager should manage their partnerships.
Factors affecting the Trucking Industry
While there are ton of risks in not properly vetting partners, the main risks are the following:
Double-Brokering
The illegal act of a broker or carrier transferring a load to another trucking company without notifying the shipper.
FMCSA Safety Violations
A carrier currently has a hold on their MC# operations due to safety violations per Federal Motor Carrier Safety Association (FMCSA). Moving freight with an unsafe carrier is never a good idea.
Out-of-Service MC#
A Carrier’s MC# may be out-of-service for numbers of reasons. It’s important to discover why the MC# is out-of-service and develop a process on MC# validation.
Stolen Freight
Unvetted carriers can pose a substantial risk in regard to stolen freight. When a freight broker like TLI diligently vets carriers, they scrutinize their reputation, safety records, and compliance with industry regulations, and importantly TLI has a minimum threshold of time the carrier must be in business prior to awarding them freight. This comprehensive approach significantly reduces the likelihood of your valuable cargo becoming a target for theft.
Cargo Hostage
This occurs when a unscrupulous carrier refuses to release the cargo until additional payment or ransom is provided. By partnering with a 3PL freight broker like TLI, that thoroughly screens carriers, you reduce the risk of such situations. TLI can identify carriers with a history of problematic cargo taken hostage behavior and ensure that your cargo remains safe throughout its journey.
Protecting your Operations
Safety precautions exist for shippers to mitigate the risk of cargo theft or malpractice. Shippers should take time to properly onboard carriers and have a plan for continuous review. Placing these standards in place can help a shipper mitigate risks of moving freight with risky carriers.
Carrier On-Boarding
Properly vetting carriers on the front-end is of the upmost important. Asking basic information on the initial phone call makes a huge difference. Make sure to check the Carrier’s information with databases, such as TIA WatchDog, to ensure the carrier is in good-standing. Screening software will help the process. Utilizing both, initial screening and automated screening, can help a shipper properly vet a carrier.
If a carrier is interested in routing freight for TLI, our expert team conducts an initial phone screening. If the information checks out, then the carrier is asked to complete an online registration. The online registration will alert TLI of any suspicious activity and health report on the carrier’s MC#. If there is too much suspicious activity, or the carrier does not have enough information, then TLI will not set up the carrier.
Carrier Monitoring
A carrier may check all the boxes on the front-end, but only time will tell if the carrier is a good fit for your operations. Carrier Scorecards and constant monitoring of carrier’s MC# can help to determine if the partnership is a right fit. What are the key-performance indicators of the carrier? Are there any indications the carrier is double-brokering the shipment? Is their MC# still active?
After registering , TLI constantly monitors the carrier through industry-leading technology. The technology keeps an eye on carrier MC# alerts and TIA WatchDog alerts. If the carrier situation changes, the carrier will no longer move freight for TLI.
Carrier Monitoring Made Easy.
Monitoring carriers can be a time-consuming effort. Partnering with a Third-Party Logistics Provider like TLI can help make the task easy. Book a load with TLI to enjoy 30,000+ vetted carriers in our network and make logistics easy.