Truck Topics
Where's the freight? The pro's list their picks
One of the most important questions that the new expediter asks about the business is, "What are the best cities for expedited freight?"
Actually, that's one of the questions that veteran expediters ask as well. In a business in which success is so dependent upon being in the 'right place, at the right time', it only makes sense to try to go where the freight is.
Just ask any expediter who recently spent a few days waiting for a load in a city where expedited shipment is an unknown phrase and he/she can expound at length on the value of location.
As any emergency freight hauler with over a week in the business can tell you, a few days in a dead zone with no freight (or prospects of acquiring any) can be the kiss of death to that week's revenue picture. And, as part of the bleak economic situation, the expediter begins to question his choice of vocation and wonders where does he find the freight.
First, what constitutes a "good" city for expediting? Freight. Loads. Runs. Shipments. All of the previous, both inbound and outbound. It's a simple as that. Sure, you can throw in the extras like a number of quality truck stops or sites to see, but everyone wants keep the wheels rolling with a loaded truck and that's what makes a "good" expediting city.
One way to find those cities is through your carrier. They keep the most accurate statistics of all concerning the amount of freight that a particular location has to offer. The trouble is, sometimes the dispatchers aren't always exactly forthright about those stats, especially if it's a difficult load to get covered. Expediters have all heard, "If you take this load, it'll put you in a great area! We get (fill in number) loads in your size out of there everyday!"
Another technique is to use your own experiences with the different cities by keeping detailed records of your load history from those areas. Unfortunately, that can be an expensive learning curve as referenced in a previous paragraph.
Or, you can utilize an amalgam of past experiences - both your own and those of others - by using Internet resources like the Expediters Online forums as well as the preferences listed by the veteran fast freight professionals in this article. And, despite the desparate dispatcher comment made previously, your carrier does, most assuredly, have a handle on where freight has been moving. An expediter can use the Qualcomm information provided by his carrier to his advantage, unless his personal experience tells him otherwise.
It has to be noted however, that due to the just-in-time nature of the business, a hot freight center last week, can be ice cold this week. Individual expedited carrierrs have their weak and strong cities as well and if the economy is undergoing it's frequent "corrections", all bets are off, regardless of location.
The cities below are not listed in a particular order of freight importance, so now that we've added the proper disclaimers to this unscientifc survey, let us begin.
Glen and Janice Rice - C unit
1. New York City
2. Chicagoland - "There was always a lot of freight within 50 to 75 miles of the city."
3. Atlanta
4. New Jersey - "Unfortunately, it can put you into a loop of runs back and forth into New York City."
5. Raleigh
6. Toronto
7. Memphis
Rich Moore - D Unit
"It's important to remember that some companies do much better in certain cities."
* Chicago - "Number one."
* Indianapolis
* Cleveland
* Cincinnati - "Or, at least it used to be."
* Philadelphia
* North New Jersey
* Atlanta
* Charlotte
* Kansas City -
* Minneapolis - "I've always gotten loads from there."
*St. Louis
Scott Hancock - Experienced both as a D unit owner-operator and as a recruiter for Express-1.
"The expediter can think of Detroit as the hub of a wheel and all of the automotive suppliers as the spokes of that wheel. In expediting, all roads lead to Detroit."
*Detroit
*Cleveland
*Ft. Wayne
*Chicago
*Youngstown, OH
*Allentown, Philadelphia, King of Prussia, PA - "A lot of automotive suppliers in those areas."
*Atlanta
*Greenville, SC
*Alabama, Northern Mississippi, Tennessee - "Alabama could be the next Detroit. With all of the foreign-owned car plants opening , it's truly a developing territory."
*Mississisauga, Ontario - "Draw a 60-mile radius circle around that city and you have the hottest freight area in all of Canada."
Joe Manley - Operations Manager for DJ Trucking, a fleet with 25 trucks leased with two carriers
*Detroit
*Chicago
*Cleveland
*Laredo - "A real hot spot with a lot of freight going from the north down there and back."
*Greenville, Spartansburg, SC
Tim Bennor - Operations for DJ Trucking
*Mississippi
*Boston, north New Jersey and other parts of the Northeast - "Plenty of freight and no trucks. People avoid this region because of tolls, high prices, no-idling laws, but so many loads from there go south or west for long distance runs."
"As far as automotive freight, GM and the others are not the big dogs anymore; the Hyundai's, Toyota's and Honda's are building plants all over the south, so the expediters are taking the freight longer distances."
Terry and Rene' O'Connell - cargo van expediter with 16 years experience.
"Freight is not only seasonally cyclical, but expedited carrier cyclical as well. Company A will have a higher freight volume than Company B in certain areas until Company B's sales force begins to concentrate on that area and picks up new accounts. There's a good deal
of ebb and flow in the business."
*Chicago/Milwaukee/South Bend/Gary area
*Cleveland metro area
*Cincinnati/Dayton area
*Charlotte, NC and Greenville/Columbia, SC areas
*Northeast in a triangle from Harrisburg, PA to Boston to Baltimore. - "You can't always pick a certain city, it's better to list an area or region where freight is good."
*Detroit/Toledo area
Pat Smythia - Owner of Freedom Express fleet from Linden, TN. Fourteen trucks leased with two carriers.
*Nashville
*Chicago
*Columbus, OH
*Northeast
*Texas, Alabama, Mississippi
*Los Angeles - "Our teams are getting more freight out of L.A. recently, and it's not brokered loads, but full-paying expedited freight.
*The Carolinas
Ed and Michelle King - Tractor-trailer owner-operators working with specialized handling freight for past three years, but also haul typical expedited freight.
"Even though we run a tractor-trailer, so many of our loads are smaller ones that straight trucks can carry, so the cities we've listed are not good areas just for big trucks."
*Detroit/Ypsilanti
*Columbus, OH
*Cleveland
*Louisville, KY
*Chicago/Rockford
*Texas
*Washington State - "Can be tough to get out"
*Los Angeles
"Charlotte/Greenville areas
*Virginia