Freight companies are companies that specialize in the moving (or "forwarding") of freight, or cargo, from one place to another. These companies are divided into several variant sections. For example, international freight forwarders ship goods internationally from country to country, and domestic freight forwarders, ship goods within a single country.
There are thousands of freight companies in business worldwide, many of which are members of certain organizations. Such organizations include the IATA (International Air Transport Association), TIA (Transportation Intermediaries Association) the BIFA (British International Freight Association), or the FTA (Freight Transport Association) and various or other regional organisations.
There are various methods of shipping goods; by air, road, sea, or rail. Some companies offer multi-modal solutions, this means that they offer more than one service, in many cases air and sea and in other cases air, sea, and road. The most common multi-modal way of shipping is referred to as inter-modal meaning truck pickup to rail to truck delivery.
A shipping method is by evaluating three factors: time, cost, and product characteristics. While shipping by sea could take longer than shipping by air, the latter is generally more expensive. Shipping by rail could also be complemented by piggybacking the freight onto a truck so it can be delivered to the receiver.
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Courier companies are usually spin-offs from freight forwarders. There are various types of courier companies, such as airfreight courier companies (FedEx, Skynet WorldWide Express,[Purolator, Purolator International], Crossflight) or road couriers (Circle Express).
Freight brokers are federally regulated and bonded companies. Most commonly they have a vast network and access to a library of freight carriers and search for the right availability based on customer specifications. Miller Logistics Inc., Amodei Brokerage Company, and C.H Robinson are three of many examples. These also offer various value-added services that encompass transportation, logistics, and distribution. Typically, freight brokers do not "fingerprint", or touch, the freight. They engage in helping shippers find the best price with the best carrier for any given load.
Other logistics companies include 3rd-Party Logistics Providers. They offer a variety of supply chain and distribution-related practices and techniques in order to improve in-house logistics. The main difference between a traditional freight broker and most 3rd-Party Logistics Providers is that freight brokers do not actually touch (fingerprint) the freight, whereas 3rd-Party Logistics providers often do. This can happen, for example, when the 3rd-Party Logistics company handles outsourced manufacturing and/or warehousing. Such companies include the likes of BAX Global, Murphy Warehouse Company, Schenker Logistics, United Parcel Service Logistics Division.
Some of the most well-known and worldwide companies are United Parcel Service, DHL, Purolator, GlobalTranz, FedEx and TNT. Some of these freight companies tend to specialize in certain goods. For example, Activair is the world's largest freight forwarder for the book industry. Many smaller, Internet freight quote and freight shipping companies are gaining traction in the marketplace. These websites, such as FreightNShipping.com and AsiaticFreight.com provide customers with the ability to rate shop online. The online brokers also charge a commission or mark-up on the rate the carriers charge the broker.
Every freight company utilizes software to maximize efficiency and track shipments. Some of the most well known and notable are WRDS Transportation, Transcore, TMW Systems, 3PL Systems, Aljex Software, and McLeod Software. Some of these freight companies specialize in certain parts of the market. For example, Transcore is the USA's largest load matching system, TMW Systems and McLeod Software tend to specialize in asset based full truckload systems. 3PL Systems and Aljex Software specializes in freight brokers and LTL Logistics. There are many other smaller companies in the marketplace such as Bloogistics.com.