2018 in the rearview: A look back at a year with Freightquote.

It’s been a year of ups and downs for the freight shipping industry. From the impact of the ELD mandate to the stress of the capacity crunch, shippers and carriers alike have had to consider many new factors when shipping in 2018.

The industry is breaking new ground, and here at Freightquote by C.H. Robinson, we’re more than ready for the challenge. This past year, we’ve provided content in the form of blog posts, infographics, whitepapers and more to help shippers get the most out of their freight shipping strategies.

Let’s take a closer look at what we’ve been up to this past year:  

The year of the capacity crunch.

A big factor in shipping this year was the capacity crunch, which impacted many areas of shipping. To help with this, we created several assets to help businesses navigate:

Capacity crunch: 3 keys to help you maneuver a difficult shipping market.

With the capacity crunch lasting nearly all year, we identified a few factors to help shippers maneuver the difficult truckload market. As noted in our infographic, flexibility, reliability and efficiency are keys to improving the shipping process when operating in tight capacity. No matter what you’re trying to improve, planning ahead can help eliminate unnecessary roadblocks.   

7 steps to become a preferred shipper.

In today’s tightly-packed freight shipping industry, achieving preferred shipper status improves your relationship with carriers and helps secure capacity. We outlined 7 useful steps to becoming a preferred shipper including common carrier challenges and suggestions to help fix them. Facility updates or other small improvements can help out carriers and make it easier to load or unload a shipment.

What's led to the tight freight capacity in 2018.

Tight freight capacity was a well-known issue in 2018, but we did some research to find out why. We looked at several factors including the driver shortage, E-commerce changes and more.

Freightquote features.

This year, Freightquote has been featured in a number of publications and we are proud to have so many industry experts on our team. Take a look at some of the content created by the Freightquote team:

Modern Materials Handling: Steps to becoming a preferred warehouse shipper.

Becoming a preferred shipper helps build relationships and efficiency with carriers. Open communication with your warehouse and its needs supports your shipping process. Director of Sales Ryan Prouty outlined what it means to be a preferred shipper in today’s climate—and steps to become one.

Inbound Logistics: Preparing for the rough road ahead: Taking a long-term look at how the driver shortage is affecting LTL.

The driver shortage was much worse than expected and showed no immediate signs of improving. Director of Procurement in Transportation, Tim Quinn, explained some of the factors impacting the driver shortage such as the ELD mandate and an aging workforce. There is no simple solution to this problem due to factors such as the rise of e-commerce and the damage from natural disasters in 2017. 

LinkedIn: Optimizing your LTL strategy with a freight audit.

Our very own Freightquote subject matter experts even posted content on their personal LinkedIn pages about the freight shipping industry. Director of Freight Brokerage George Meier recently gave some advice on optimizing your shipping strategy. Meier outlined ways to get the most out of your strategy, such as planning for a freight audit and identifying ways to save.

Community and company culture.

Community is a big part of Freightquote and C.H. Robinson’s culture. Here are a few highlights from the year:

We gave back to our community in many ways this past year, one of our favorites being our lunch at The Ronald McDonald House in Children’s Mercy Hospital.

The work didn’t just stop there. During Robinson Cares Week, our employees raised over $50,000 for non-profits. More specifically, Freightquote sponsored the RISE rooftop crawl benefitting Big Brothers and Big Sisters. Some employees even worked with the Eric Berry Foundation to stuff backpacks with supplies, which were donated to local kids.

Our community includes our customers too. We won over many shippers with our excellent service this year—even for larger shipments!

Lastly, we hosted a university day to connect with students and identify career opportunities at Freightquote, and our larger parent company C.H. Robinson.

Moving on to 2019.

Of course, none of this would be possible without the amazing shippers and carriers that read and share our content throughout the year. The team here at Freightquote would like to give a big thank you to everyone who contributed to our success in 2018.

As we approach 2019, we plan to continue to provide useful content to help you navigate future trends and get the most out of your freight shipping strategy. See the rest of our content on the Freightquote blog!   

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