Top 2021 Freight & Shipping Posts On Industry, Tech, And More

A review of our top freight and shipping tips and news shared over 2021—and an invitation for experts to join us in our Leaders in Logistics feature in 2022.

Doom and Gloom Carrier Rates

We started the year, and sadly we're still deeply entrenched in the situation, by covering the High Volumes & Low Capacity Issues Wreaking Havoc On Rates. We interviewed a number of experts in that post who all believed things would not improve any time soon. 

A few months later we followed up on the situation in our post What Experts Say About Negotiating Better Carrier Rates and shared some pointers on navigating capacity issues, including:

• Optimizing packaging
• Shortening distances through zone skipping-type strategies
• Working carrier relationships 
• Increasing carrier diversity
• And leveraging supply chain technology

Pooling Freight & Zone Skipping

A lot of readers were interested in our posts around pooling freight and zone skipping in efforts to save money and move goods around despite all the barriers 2021 was throwing at them.

Some of our key posts about this were:

How Pooling Freight Beats LTL Shipping During the Pandemic
A changing market means shippers need creative solutions to keep costs low and meet expectations. Pooling freight might be the answer. Read more...

Zone Skipping 101 - Strategically Avoid Carrier Costs Now 

A look at zone skipping basics and how the logistics strategy can be successfully employed to save you money and delight your customers! Read more...

Will Zone Skipping Help You Become More Competitive?
Many shippers are looking to zone skipping to give them a competitive advantage. We asked fulfillment, e-commerce, and 3PL experts for their perspectives. Read more...

Transportation Management

As providers of a TMS solution, we write about transportation management all the time, but the key topics that got a lot of hits this year were:

Forward Logistics Planning

5 Expert Tips for Advancing Your Logistics Planning
Logistics and warehousing experts weigh in on what high volume shippers must include in their logistics planning. Read more...

Freight Tracking

Custom Wheel Company Kicks it up a Notch - Tracks Shipments Smarter
How a custom-design wheel retailer moved from tracking shipments via Excel to powerful shipping software that streamlined processes and freed up labor. Read more...

HAZMAT Shipping

How a Fulfillment Company Improved Their HAZMAT and International Shipping   

How a leading packaging and filling company found the perfect TMS solution for their HAZMAT and international shipping needs. Read more...

COnvincing IT of TMS Benefits

How to Convince Management to Invest in a Transportation Management System 

Shipping software that connects departments, integrates easily, and reduces headaches for IT is exceptional, but how can you convince upper management? Read more...

Shipping Analytics

We get it. It seems like there is never enough time to dive into this side of logistics. In some ways it's just complicated. And even if you have the tools (like a TMS that gives you reporting capabilities), understanding what types of analysis will help you do what in your business can be daunting. 

This is why we invited Purdue University Professor, Amy David, who directs the masters program on global supply chain management, to share her insight in our post How Prescriptive Analytics Helps You Manage Your Logistics Better. Amy outlines analytics in 4 specific stages. 

This topic resonated so well with readers, we followed it up with a post in Logistics Tech Outlook called Supply Chain Digital Transformation One Step at a Time and in our own post 4 Steps to Digitally Transform Your Supply Chain Now where we featured the below infographic:

Leaders in Logistics

The men and women we feature in our Leaders and Logistics feature continue to generate a lot of discussion, with Red Stag's Jake Rheude's feature Quality & Management Insights From Leading Fulfillment Center garnering a lot of interest this year. 

NOTE: All of our features can be accessed here if you are interested in learning more so you can participate. We welcome interviews with any logistics professionals who have insight into our industry. To be interviewed, register below!