LTL Freight News

When a shipper requests that a carrier pick up a shipment for delivery to their customer the carrier is to make the delivery regardless of the requirements unless the carrier is unable to deliver, usually for reasons or circumstances out of their control. Carriers can and will bill for a lift gate if it’s needed to off load the freight, even if carriers aren't given authorization to do so upfront. Simply requesting or writing that the carrier must call the shipper for approval of any service not requested on the BOL does not protect the shipper from incurring  and  having to pay additional accessorial fees required to deliver a shipment.  It is the carrier’s responsibility to deliver a shipment in good condition, and it’s the shipper’s responsibility to provide accurate information about a shipment to the carrier for delivery. Residential deliveries don’t always require a lift-gate, but probably more than 95% of the time they do. Logic dictates that most residences ...

There are some important changes that have been made in Supplement 1 to NMFC 100-AO regarding guidelines for filing and investigating damage claims. New NMFC guidelines effective April 18 require concealed damages be reported to carriers within 5 days after delivery. Currently concealed damages can be reported up to 15 days after delivery for consideration of a valid claim; however, per NMFC guidelines effective April 18, 2015 the time period for reporting concealed damages is being reduced to 5 days. The closer to the time of delivery that the damage is reported to the carrier the more likely the claimant is to receive some type of settlement offer, but just because the damage is reported in a timely fashion doesn't necessarily mean that the claim will be approved for a settlement. Other changes effective on 4/18/2015 include one day being removed from the time frame allotted for filing suit on a claim. The new time period for filing a suit is two years. Previously, it was two...

Broker model 3PLs buy freight from the carriers and put a markup or margin on it and resell it to the shipper at a higher rate. This is how they make their money, and their margins can be adjusted on virtually every shipment as they fit. With the 3PL broker model shippers are normally unable to go directly to carriers for copies of the actual freight bills, and in some cases they are unable to obtain rates directly from the carriers. Since the 3PL broker is actually the one “buying” the freight from the carrier, they invoice the freight to a shipper on their own freight bill instead of one from the carrier. Otherwise, if shippers had direct access to the carrier freight bills then the shippers would be able to see how much the freight actually cost versus what the 3PL was "re-selling" it for.   As a part of their proposed value to shippers, many broker model 3PLs will tout that they file claims for their customers. They portray filing claims as their willingness to go th...

It is important to keep in mind that each claim is different and involves different circumstances, so not all of the below information will apply for every claim. WHO FILES THE CLAIM? Typically, the payer of the freight bill can only be reimbursed for the freight charges, so they are usually the ones to file a claim. Anyone can file a claim, however, but this is usually the simplest way to do it. HOW LONG DO YOU HAVE TO FILE A CLAIM? The answer to this depends on the type of claim being filed. There are generally two types of damage claims: Noted Damage and Concealed Damage. The difference between the two is that noted/visible damage claims were noted at the time of delivery, usually on the delivery receipt, and concealed damages were not. Concealed damages must be reported to the carrier within 15 days of delivery. Anything reported past the 15 day window will not be considered for a settlement and will be denied for filing too late. A claim for noted/visible damage m...