What is LTL (Less than Truckload) And FTL (Full Truckload)?
Suppose you are a business honour, ecommerce business or running and logistics company or belong to this industrial sector. In that case, you must have come across these terms of LTL less than truckload and FTL full truckload. These terms are very common for people who transport or ship heavy goods from one place, but at the same time rare for the common people.
Some new start-ups and people in the industry need to know better about these terms to understand better and run your business accordingly. However, even people from a long time in this industry must know every detail about these terms to bring numerous benefits to their business while transporting or shipping the products from one place to another.
This piece of writing will help you understand everything about LTL (Less than Truckload) and FTL (Full Truckload) in detail. To understand these terms, we first need to understand heavy shipments and road transportations.
What is Inland Transportation?
Inland transportation means transporting goods from one destination to another through road transports like trucks, rails, vans, and others. This type of transportation is mostly used to transport goods from one place to another inside the country. Usually, foreign shipments are sent through ships, and air freights. In a country like India, which is home to the world’s second-largest road network, almost every state, city, village is connected through the roads. In India, most of the goods are transported through the roads. Most of the companies, ecommerce businesses use road transportation to ship their products from one place to another in India. LTL (Less than Truckload) and FTL (Full Truckload) loads are also part of the road transportation, and now first, we will need to understand heavy shipments.
What Are Heavy Shipments?
Heavy shipments are usually carried by trucks or rail through road transportations. Heavy shipments are carried away from one destination to other. Shipping heavy or large things from one place to another is a challenging task; many challenges come in the way of the company and also for logistics. Cost, time, security, everything becomes a question. LTL Less than Truckload and FTL full truckload can sort things for your heavy shipments. If you understand everything about both the terms, it will be easier than ever for you to ship your heavy shipments to any destination in your country.
What is LTL (Less Than Truckload)?
Less than Truckload will prove extremely beneficial for your shipments if your shipments do not need the whole space in the truck. As the term itself specifies, less than Truckload means your shipment will cover only the space required for your parcel, which means that your shipment will share the Truckload with other shipments going on the same route, but on different locations.
There are many benefits of transporting goods through less than Truckload-
- LTL shipment is extremely affordable and cheap for your small shipments. More safety to your shipments as it is covered under different palates and containers to carry.
- With live tracking and easy locating, you can continuously track your shipment and its whereabouts to avoid misplacement and loss.
- You also get an option of additional services like easy pickups, deliveries, weighing and others.
What is FTL (Full Truck Load)?
FTL is also an abbreviation for Full Truckload, Full Truckload or complete Truckload, which is used to transfer goods in huge quantities. This type of transportation is used by the logistics who want to transfer the goods in huge quantity. When the logistics want to transfer the goods will occupy 50%-100% of Truckload. This type of Truckload is also used when the logistics look for less transit time and a cost-effective option. Also, this type of road transportation is beneficial.
Advantages of FTL
This road transportation also comes with multiple benefits, which are-
- Faster transit times, the products are shipped within a short period. The products reach the final destination within time.
- There is very little possibility of any damage, loss and misplaces of the shipments.
- It is quite economical also as you are taking up all the space in the truck or maximum space of the truck.
Difference Between LTL & FTL Transportation?
There are few differences between both types of road transportation-
- Less Truckload is used when you need less space to transport from one place to another in the truck, and FTL means Full Truckload, which is used when you need 50-100% of the space in the truck.
- Less Truckload takes more time to deliver the products as it will deliver many shipments to different destinations. At the same time, Full Truckload takes less time to deliver the product because it will be directly delivered to the destination.
- Both types of road transportation, LTL and FTL, are economical on their sides; you will need to choose it according to the need of your shipments.
Final Words
Suppose you are shipping products that fall under the category of heavy shipments. Then you must know the difference between LTL and FTL to decide which type of shipments you will need to choose to ship your products from one destination to another.
