Less-than-truckload shipping

Less-than-truckload shipping or less than load (LTL) is the transportation of an amount of freight sized between individual parcels and full truckloads.

[1] Parcel carriers handle small packages and freight that can be broken down into units less than approximately 150 pounds (68 kg).

Semi-trailers are typically between 26 and 53 feet (7.92 and 16.15 m) and require a substantial amount of freight to make such transportation economical.

In these cases, the shipper "rents" a trailer to transport their product where it needs to go, typically paying a "per mile rate" from the carrier.

The trailer is unloaded and the individual shipments are then weighed and inspected to verify their conformity to the description contained in the accompanying paperwork.

If the freight must be sorted and routed more than once, or if more than one linehaul is required for transportation to the delivering terminal, then the transit time will be longer.

These services are usually billed at a predetermined flat fee, or for a weight based surcharge calculated as a rate per pound or per hundredweight.

For example, a North Carolina shipper with a large quantity of shipments bound for Western US States (for example, California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho) may be able to realize significant cost savings by having a FTL carrier, known as a linehaul carrier, transport the freight to a break-bulk facility in a central location near the ultimate destination of the freight (in this example, delivery to a break-bulk facility in California for parceling out into LTL lots for transport to the final destinations).

A further benefit is realized in both loading cost and product damage, because the freight will not need to be unloaded and reloaded as many times.

Additionally, this reduces the incidence of loss and the opportunity for pilfering or theft, because all of the freight travels together and is not broken down into LTL loads until it reaches the break-bulk distribution facility.

For instance, one shipment will start out on the railroad, then be transferred to an ocean carrier, and end up on a truck before delivery.