Shippers looking for more flexible supply chains are increasingly turning toward a solution with Cleveland transload providers. 

In the world of modern logistics and supply chain management, transloading is a process that enables efficient transfer of shipments between different modes of transportation (usually truck and rail, but also sometimes ships and planes). The overarching goal is to optimize shipping routes and lower transport costs. It’s especially helpful for moving long-distance goods. 

Taking a Closer Look at Cleveland Transload

How exactly does transloading work? It may look slightly different depending on the unique needs of the customer, but here are the key steps in the transloading process: 

• Receiving. Cargo arrives at the transloading facility via initial mode of transport, such as truck or train. 
• Unloading. Goods are carefully unloaded from the initial transport vehicle. 
• Sorting and staging. Cargo gets sorted and staged according to its final destination and/or next mode of transport. 
• Reloading. Goods get loaded onto their next mode of transport for the next leg of the journey. 
• Shipping. The reloaded cargo continues to its final destination. 

Here’s a real-life example of a Cleveland transload shipment: A shipment of bulk goods gets loaded onto a truck in California. From there, it travels north until it reaches a transload facility, where it's transferred to a rail car and placed on a train to Cleveland Ohio. Upon arrival, it gets picked up by one of our flatbed trucks for delivery to its final destination. 

This sounds simple enough, but it does require a fair amount of advance planning, coordination, transparency, trained workers, and special equipment (conveyor belts, cranes, pallet jacks, dollies, packaging materials, forklifts, loaders, etc.). 

Transloading is a key part of trade and supply chain efficiency for a broad range of industries and sectors, such as manufacturing, automotive, agriculture, retail and e-commerce, construction, and energy. It’s also ideal for many less-than-truckload (LTL) shipments. 

Big picture, transloading also helps ease highway congestion and is generally considered a cost-effective and eco-friendlier way to handle long-distance shipments. It allows shippers to overcome a number of common logistical hurdles, such as limited road access, lack of direct shipping routes, or sudden bottlenecks. 

Here at On Time Delivery & Warehouse in Ohio, some of the primary Cleveland transload hubs with whom we have established partnerships and transport routes include CSX, Norfolk Southern, and Cleveland Hopkins Airport. Our operation is in a prime location, with easy access to interstates and railway stations to help further reduce transportation costs and transit times. 

Transloading is on a Roll

Transloading in general has been on a roll in recent years, gaining traction in today’s ever-evolving supply chain landscape. As the Journal of Commerce has been reporting for more than a decade, companies want increasingly agile inbound and outbound freight management solutions, and are finding it with transloading – particularly near ports.

Truckload capacity is only getting tighter, particularly inland. Transloading not only reduces highway congestion, shippers often find it can facilitate faster delivery to the final customer – which translates to lower costs and higher profits.

As a longtime Cleveland transload company, we recognize that much of this is possible thanks to logistics technology advancements developed and leveraged by 3PL and 4PL service providers. 

When operations outsource Cleveland transload services to a partner that handles both, they reap numerous benefits. Specifically, they can:

• Hold off on final destination decisions. Real-time market demands can be constantly shifting. Companies will sometimes commit to shipping full containers weeks in advance to avoid shortages and minimize order turnaround times. On the flip side, that can increase warehousing costs if products don’t sell out right away. Transloading is one distribution strategy that allows for greater flexibility.
• Reallocate/reroute shipments. Efficiency in transloading means customers shipping containerized freight can more easily have that broken down and redistributed to different destinations – closer to their final mile destination. 
• Optimize inventory management. With strategic Cleveland transload services, customers can streamline their chain of distribution and reduce reliance on multiple distribution centers.

If you’re shipping goods from a distant location, it can be much faster and more cost effective to transfer cargo to a train for the long-haul part of the journey. Trains tend to be more fuel efficient, so your cost-per-mile will be lower. Then you can have it transferred to a truck for last mile delivery. 

Companies considering incorporating Cleveland transload into their supply chain/distribution strategy can consult with our team of logistics experts to determine if that makes the most sense for your operation. 

Need more information about our Cleveland transload services?  Contact us today!