G Roch

I had an experience once when I worked for a freight broker only and we gave a perishable shipment to a local GTA carrier on a Friday to pick up in the US and return to Canada. The carrier then had another carrier do the local US pick up as there driver was running behind. (We did not know about this). The carrier then did not pick up the load and left on the local US carrier's dock. Well the local carrier does not have temp controlled dock and the product spoiled. They did this other carrier a favour and he was not planning on holding it for more then a couple of hours.

We only found this out after being lied to several times when tracking. The carrier then refused to accept responsibility and claim. I contacted their insurance company direct and I was told that the carrier did not have any coverage when brokering a load or using an agent, only for freight on their own trucks. Claim was close to $20000.00 if I remember correctly.

As a legit broker we did have 3rd party liability insurance. We could go thru our insurance and the in turn would work with us and sue the carrier.

It is important that any carrier/broker that does broker freight have this insurance.
 
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"the actual carrier is liable, no broker can be liable... in theory, sometimes deep pockets change that..."

Roca in the states everybody can be liable, if you have proper insurance coverage the insurance company will fight for your rights, if you do not have the proper insurance then you are on your own. It would be naive to think that you would not be dragged into a law suit because your fingerprints are all over the load whether it was your customer or you "co-brokered" the load from another broker...in theory.
 
Legally it may be correct that only the carrier is liable -- it depends on the contract between broker and shipper. In most cases, where the PRIMARY broker is under contract to the customer, the broker assumes the liability of broker through the contingent policy ... and acts as the mediator between carrier and shipper until insurance companies get involved.

The biggest problem with double-brokering, co-brokering, whatever you'd like to cream puff it with, it only adds cost, doesn't add value to the supply chain. It doesn't matter how quick you are paying as a double intermediary, it still increases the risk of trouble because of lengthening the chain.

As I've mentioned before there are certain instances where Ryder or Schneider Logistics or someone like that will CONTRACT their Canadian lanes to a Canadian broker as a means of being closer to market. But taking freight from one broker off a load board and posting to another is not one of those cases.

If I'm a carrier (once upon a time I was) I wouldn't deal with brokers who I knew weren't the originators of the freight because the risk of problems was too great. If the carriers out there REALLY want to make a statement, you have to stop taking the freight from them, period. The primary brokers in many cases are as much to blame as the G Rochs/Rockmans etc of this world, they are not doing their due diligence to see what is going on ... just wanting the freight off their plate. They deserve to fail too. There are plenty of Canadian brokers calling down to the US that can fill this niche, they would be even more successful if this circle wasn't being perpetuated.
 
The man

You are completly right.

As a carrier you have to tell your staff to hold out a while prior to booking the truck. Once the double brokers/co brokers are not succesfull, the originator will have to start looking and will eventually contact you. All the bigger freight brokers use the same tools, they most likely have DAT and can see your equipment.

And yes, the local freight brokers can expand their business down south.

With the scarcity of Equipment clearly developping, this would be the perfect opportunity of getting rid of the double brokers once and for good.

Most of us know who they are by now, if and when they call, you know that there is a real load out there, and patience will lead them to you!!!
 
When shipments are double brokered it makes it that much harder to deal with issues such as additional footage used or shippers forgetting to stack.
 
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