How will the Canadian Freight broker survive?

Michael Ludwig

Well-Known Member
20
@Jim L @Michael Ludwig combine what you both said, after the first quarter, after the April fines come into play, we'll probably see a leveling out of things

You need to consider my Learned Friend from Brantford's post as well. Rob is very correct in his assertion that when the perishable goods transportation begins in the spring and ends in the fall, it's going to be very interesting out there.
Jim is right that there will be trucks coming out of "retirement" but they will stay mostly in the intra-Canada market and will have little effect on Canada-US trade.
What will hurt us will be the failure of NAFTA negotiations, and the scrapping of the NAFTA agreement.
 

ShawnR

Site Supporter
10
Every year it does affect us, but only on one corridor, the others aren't really touched, but I get what he's saying
 

H.Jordan

Member
10
Also the insurance rates are going up drastically thanks to the trucker that caused the Humboldt accident. Tragic accident due to negligence causing long term rate spikes for all trucking companies.
 

Michael Ludwig

Well-Known Member
20
Also the insurance rates are going up drastically thanks to the trucker that caused the Humboldt accident. Tragic accident due to negligence causing long term rate spikes for all trucking companies.

Sorry brother, but I gotta call BS on that one. Insurance rates are not up directly because of Humboldt, although Humboldt did cause insurance companies to take a closer look at their exposure to risk. Let's call that a market correction.
That being said, if you are a poor carrier and present an increased exposure to risk, you are certainly going to pay more for insurance. If your exposure to risk has remained the same, or decreased, then your renewal rates will reflect that.
The other significant factor is the stock market. If the market is hot and insurance companies are making good coin, they're not as aggressive with their rate increases. The opposite is also true.
It pay carriers huge dividends to know exactly how the insurance market works from the inside out. You can be sure your broker is not going to give you that information. It's simply not in their best interest for you to know as much about their business as they do.

PS ... don't be so quick to condemn that truck driver involved in the Humboldt accident. None of knows all of the sordid details, and the stars that aligned, to cause that accident.
All that we know for sure is that the outcome was one of the saddest in recent history.
 

theman

Well-Known Member
30
Hi guys, I haven't been on for a while. What everyone needs to remember is that trucking services are basically a commodity and swing with the balance of supply-demand. So the craziness that has been happening this year shouldn't become a business model, but you should be 'taking' profit and putting aside for the crap times.

I still believe that ultimately unless one's market strategy is onesy-twosey with smaller shippers, it's the integrated providers that are going to win. The big brokers are no longer one trick ponies, they are offering a blend of asset and non-asset based services and usually a lot of IT technology as well.

Expectations got too unrealistic, that's why I walked away.
 

Freight Broker

Well-Known Member
30
My largest customers ship 300 to 500 loads a day out of single locations, day after day. During the 2008/2009 meltdown though, their volumes did drop to a paltry 250 loads a day. My point: so long as I keep them happy I'll be eating quite well. The small Canadian broker will survive by doing what they've always done.. providing over the top service that their larger brethen cannot provide. So long as your customer sees you as a valuable contributor you're going to be fine.. and that's going to be true if you're a broker or a carrier or maybe a supply chain facilitator.. Best advice I could give to an upcoming small carrier or broker: become invaluable to your customer. Do as much as you can for them.. followup continuously and flawlessly.. don't give them an excuse to look elsewhere.
 

loaders

Site Supporter
30
Although the large multi national companies seem to be the ones most susceptible to falling for the latest consultants “flavour of the month” recommendations , if you follow Freight Brokers advice, even those large customers will stay loyal. There is no substitute for top level service. If they think that they cannot function without you, you have succeeded.
 
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