Logistics is a wide subject. There are many participants in the system, and there are so many ways to get things done. However, not all the ways are efficient.
For instance, handling the logistics of your bulk liquid shipment may be quite tricky. And for many shippers, it’s something they don’t want to do. Fortunately, that’s one reason there are liquid bulk freight brokers.
In this article, we describe what liquid bulk freight brokers are, their responsibilities, and why you may need them as a shipper.
What is a Liquid Bulk Freight Broker?
Before we jump into what a liquid freight broker is, let’s take a brief detour into what a freight broker is.
The freight broker is a property broker or company that uses its network of carriers to help shippers get the best efficient shipment logistics deals.
Imagine you need to ship freight from halfway across the world. Instead of handling the complex logistics on your own, you only need to contact a freight broker, and they’ll handle it for you. The freight broker already has a network of carriers they know and work with. So it should be easier for them to secure the safest, efficient, and effective way to get your carrier to you.
A liquid bulk freight broker is also a freight broker who uses their network of carriers and experience in logistics to orchestrate freights shipments, only that the freights are liquid and in bulk.
The Difference Between A liquid Bulk Freight Broker and Any Other Freight Broker
Although they have the same definitions, a liquid bulk freight brokerage is a different ball game from just any kind of freight brokerage. The reason is due to the complexities involved in shipping bulk liquids.
For instance, dry and prepackaged freights aren’t often picky about what tanks or trailers they want to be shipped in. Liquids, on the other hand, are. There’s the world of kosher certified carriers with their kosher-washed trailers for food-grade bulk liquids. There is also the world of shipping liquid hazmat materials that need special kinds of trailers. Most corrosive liquids, for instance, must be shipped in stainless steel trailers. In addition, there are also those bulk liquid shipments that must be transported in temperature-controlled in-transit heat trailers.
These complexities, and many more, make a liquid bulk freight broker different from other kinds of freight brokers. Liquid bulk freight brokers have to have a wide array of bulk liquid carriers with expertise in various niches before they can satisfy various shipper clients.
This is why we recommend that you contact a liquid bulk freight broker, and not just any kind of freight broker, for your bulk liquid shipments.
Responsibilities Of A Liquid Bulk Freight Broker
To help you understand what you might expect from a liquid bulk freight broker, here are some of their responsibilities:
- Curating a network of reliable carriers
This is perhaps the most important role of a liquid bulk freight carrier. This is because they aren’t only looking to curate a network of just any kind of carriers. Instead, they are looking to have carriers that specialize in as many bulk liquid transit niches as possible.
In other words, they are looking for the best liquid bulk hazmat carrier, the best kosher carriers, the best food-grade carriers, and so on.
In addition to that, they have to know which carrier they would go to for the lowest cost, or for the fastest shipping time. In fact, it is not unheard of that bulk liquid carriers focus on some niches and leave out the rest.
It is this curated network of reliable carriers the bulk liquid freight broker then uses to ship your bulk liquid freights.
- Plan Shipment Logistics
When you contact a liquid bulk freight broker to help you ship freight, all you have to do is to connect the company to the supplier of your freight. The bulk liquid freight broker handles it from there.
The freight broker reaches out to its network of carriers to get the best deal for you. Here, the best deal means the most reasonable price, the fastest shipment time, and the highest safety guarantee.
And in the case that your freight has to go through more than one carrier, the freight liquid bulk carrier organizes how one carrier delivers your freight to the next carrier.
Simply put, the liquid bulk freight broker lays out a plan of how your bulk liquid freight is going get to you.
- Tracking freight
After your freight gets on the way, it is the freight broker’s responsibility to track your shipment.
- Updating shippers about freight
It is not enough that the freight broker plans your logistics and tracks your freight. It has to keep you updated on every shipping detail about your freight. This way, you too can know where your freight is at every point in time, and be able to make adequate preparation for its reception.
The freight broker also has to notify you when there may be a delay or when your shipment would arrive earlier than expected. And if you have any inquiries about your shipment, you can direct them to your freight broker and it should be able to provide you with answers.
- Freight Safety and Security
This is another important role that your liquid bulk freight broker must pay. Your freight broker must only ship your shipment with the safest carrier. The carrier and your liquid bulk freight broker must both agree on the safest routes to pass a
Advantages of Liquid Bulk Freight Brokers
Freight brokers are not just middlemen for the sake of it. They offer your business some immense advantages. Some are:
- Scale
Liquid bulk freight brokers make it easy for you to scale your business. This is because the bigger your business grows, the less you get to worry about growing your logistics department with it. Your liquid bulk freight broker can handle the scale while you concentrate on other important aspects of your business.
- Cost Reduction
Liquid bulk freight brokers often know where to go to get you the best deals. They know what carrier to contact out of their wide array of carriers. They often have relationships and agreements with these carriers as well, which earn them discounts.
- Efficiency and Quality
There is so much you or your company can do by yourself. For most shippers, there’s a limit to what they know about the ins and outs of logistics. As a result, they may not be able to guarantee the efficiency and quality of the logistics they orchestrated themselves. But you can guarantee yourself a higher efficiency on your shipment when you hand its logistics over to a liquid bulk freight broker.
Partnering With The Right Liquid Bulk Freight Broker
Take one more look at those advantages up there. Shipping your freight through the wrong liquid bulk freight broker could easily flip those advantages for you. You would then end up with unnecessarily high shipping costs, and reduced efficiency and quality. Your freight broker then ends up harming your business rather than helping you to grow.
If you must do business with a liquid bulk freight broker, make sure it’s with an experienced one with a good record of reliability and a high success rate. Total Connection is an example of such a company.
Total Connection is a third-party logistics company that offers various logistics solutions, including bulk liquid freight brokerage. We have an extensive network of company-owned carriers that ship bulk liquid freight from anywhere to anywhere. This way, we have more control over the freights we broker, and we can guarantee safety, cost reduction, and efficiency.
You may reach out to us through the quote form below to secure the best liquid bulk freight broker services for your precious freight. Our experts will get back to you in no time.
