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Pool distribution and consolidated last mile transportation strategies give small- to medium-sized food shippers the chance to combine smaller volumes into full truckloads. These strategies take advantage of the fact that 3PLs can combine temp-controlled shipments from several companies going to the same destinations in the food supply chain.
We write about it in our paper: LTL Secrets Revealed.
When a 3PL helps shippers collaborate, those companies gain the freight density they need to drive down costs. And they don’t need to rely on LTL networks. This simple “share the ride” concept, while nothing new, is surprisingly underutilized among food logistics companies. But more and more food shippers are starting to realize that their lack of freight volume doesn’t leave them without options.
Pool Distribution
Let’s say that several food shippers need to get their products from the Northeast to the West Coast for final distribution. In the past, each company would make a separate deal with an LTL network. But with pool distribution, all of them can ship their product down the road to a regional 3PL consolidation center, where workers combine those loads onto a single truck for delivery to a pool distributor in the West.
Freight Consolidation
Here's an example.
Sun-Maid Growers of California uses a retail consolidation program to ship raisins and other dried fruits to customers in New England and Mid-Atlantic states. KANE is Sun-Maid’s Northeast distribution partner and also serves other food shippers that share retail customers with Sun-Maid. As a result, Sun-Maid orders can ship in the same trailer with candy, snack foods, condiments and other grocery items.
When Sun-Maid compared those consolidated shipments with TL moves, they found that the collaborative approach reduced the company’s cost per hundredweight (CWT) by more than 35%.”
The costliest miles for a truck are the first 50 and the last 50. Temp-controlled LTL is expensive because it involves multiple first and last mile sequences – as many as six. Freight consolidation strategies combine freight from multiple 3PL customers to create direct, lower-cost truckload shipments.
