Materials and products can be shipped by trucks all across the United States and Canada. Many of the loads are not full loads being delivered for one company. Sometimes the truck is hauling less than a truckload for one company, and the rest of the truck is loaded with other companies’ goods. Transportation companies can put 2 to 6 different shipments on one trailer load and it would still be considered an LTL, or less than a truckload. A full truckload would be considered as goods that weigh 20,000 pounds or have at least 14 pallets. LTL loads usually weigh between 151 and 20,000 pounds. LTL carriers carry loads that are non-palletized cargo. Carriers that do LTL loads will have end of line terminals called spokes that are usually local and distribution centers that are hubs.
Usually the spoke terminals will hold the local freight from many different shippers. Then everything is loaded onto trailers, so they can be delivered to hub terminals. The freight will then be merged and sorted to be transported. At the end of the line terminals, there are local drivers to deliver the goods. When the drivers are finished delivering, they start picking up orders to be sorted for delivery for the next day. The efficiency of this operation is that deliveries get delivered in the morning and the orders to be shipped get picked up in the afternoon.
A full truckload carrier is one that contracts a full trailer load for one company. The advantage of hauling a full truckload is that there is only one company involved. All the goods belong to one company and it is going to a final destination for delivery. There is no unloading the goods and reloading the goods onto another truck for delivery.
Some carries will only haul perishable items or food and others will only deliver hazardous or poisonous materials. The carries will each need to have their own type of insurance for the kind of goods they are hauling. The equipment they use would also be different. The federal laws also prohibit certain goods being transported at the same time in the same trailer.
CSA Transportation has many different network combinations such as delivering from Texas to Calgary and California to Calgary. They deliver all over the United States and Canada. They are a Calgary trucking company with competitive rates for truckload, LTL and flat deck loads.
With 10 freight hubs, CSA is capable of delivering to many areas. Their LTL shipments that are coming into Canada may be coming from Florida, Louisiana, Tennessee and other Southern US states and will end up going throughout Canada. The distribution resources work together to get the shipments from one pallet to many skids, so it will consist of a full load made up of LTL freight.
There are many different additional services available to customers that will help make the transfer of goods easier to handle. CSA has lift-gate/tailgate for delivery and pickup, cargo insurance that is standard, appointments for delivery and pickups, and curbside delivery. They also have excellent custom procedures for transporting between the United States and Canada.
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