By Shefali Kapadia
Shipper and carrier needs ebb and flow with the cycles of the market, but one particular service remains in high demand: drop and hook.
The practice involves a carrier dropping off one trailer at a dock and attaching another pre-loaded one, rather than live loading. The programs are popular among carriers, drivers, brokers and shippers due to efficiency and reduced dwell time.
“It’s a service that shippers need and carriers want,” said Adam McDonough, VP of truckload, North American Surface Transportation at C.H. Robinson Worldwide.
In today’s soft freight environment, fleets and freight brokers can use drop-and-hook programs to combat low volume and secure long-term agreements with shippers. J.B. Hunt Transport Services saw that bear out in Q4. Volume fell 7% year-over-year in its truckload segment. But volume rose within its 360box drop-and-hook program.
“Having a trailer pool makes it stickier,” said Chris Caplice, chief scientist at DAT Freight & Analytics. Instead of volume changing with each bid, shippers and carriers doing drop and hook must commit to a certain amount of business with each other, he explained.
“That’s exactly the key thing that carriers want: consistency,” Caplice said.
SHEFALI KAPADIA 