LTL 101 – The Basics

Sometimes, a shipment is too large to send with a parcel service, like Canada post, but way too small to fill a standard truck trailer. In fact, the cost of this shipment as a parcel or truckload would be insanely high because it’s not ideal for either type of providers. In this case, LTL shipping is ideal.

LTL is an acronym for “less than truckload” and refers to those shipments that are less than a truckload. They don’t require the space that a standard truck provides because of their size or weight.

Using an LTL carrier is a lot more cost-effective in this case. Shipments that weight less than 10 thousand pounds or have between 1 and 6 pallets are a good match for LTL. There are different kinds of LTL shipments: standard LTL, larger LTL, refrigerated LTL, expedited LTL (for faster than standard delivery), and guaranteed LTL (where the delivery date is agreed upon).

An LTL shipment is managed differently than a standard truckload shipment. With a standard shipment, the load is picked up and delivered in the same trailer by the same driver. In contrast, an LTL will usually be driven by multiple drivers and loaded from one trailer to another as it progresses along to the final destination. Another difference is that fact that many different LTL shipments are combined to fill one trailer. This makes sense and is really the only way to ensure profitability.