Truck freight rates -

What is it?

A truck freight rate is a price a shipper or broker is willing to pay to a carrier to transport the cargo. Basically, this is what you will be paid for shipping. Let’s focus on freight rates for owner-operators and authorized carriers with ezlogz.com.

Where can the truck freight rates be found?

You can find them on load boards on the Internet. Over 3 million trucks per month appear on such boards. You can filter the results by location, trailer type, weight, and date of pick up/drop. Use free or paid apps to view freight broker ratings, days to pay, and other useful data.

How are truck freight rates calculated?

They are calculated using a number of variables (level of demand, overall weight, size, current market situation, travel distance, and the freight being shipped). Brokerage rates on some routes may be higher due to a large amount of cargo and the high demand for carriers.

The rates are frequently set by freight brokers and can be negotiable and fluctuant. The broker takes a percentage of the total rate a shopper is willing to pay and pays the carrier the difference. As a rule, the rate is calculated on a per-mile basis. So, take the mileage between the starting and destination points. Then divide the overall rate by the number of miles between destinations to get your trucking freight rate.

Calculating the truck freight rates you need to take into account your fixed costs. These are the expenses you’ll pay every month such as insurance, permitting, equipment leases, repairs, taxes, and driver rates. All these things will help you to determine a base rate.

The things, on which the overall rate depends, are:

Available routes and loads. Your fleet and available routes, as well as the loads you’ve already taken on determine a big part of calculating the rate.
Shipment weight and density is also important to factor. To control costs, you must carefully monitor the total weight loading for your fleet. Higher rates can allow lower rates for shippers, thus lowering the rate, but still providing more revenue for you.
Freight classification. Each type of shipment has its own classification. There are 18 classes of commodity shipments, defined by the National Motor Freight Traffic Association.
Distance, which involves gas, mileage, and vehicle wear and tear. Rates also depend on whether you’re using an established shipping route or an atypical one.
Supply and demand are also important. Setting the rates, you must take into the account number of trucks and drivers available for the freight you’ve already committed to handling.

These are the main factors that affect the freight brokerage rates.