What is a Freight Broker?

brokerage business

 Freight Brokers are used by the industry to arrange for the transportation required by the shipping company. They act as a link between the shipper and the carrier companies or individual drivers. Most who start in the freight brokerage business think that brokering is trucking. This is the #1 common mistake that most new freight brokers make.

A freight broker derives a commission for their matchmaking skills. Freight brokers are also known as “truck” brokers, “transportation” brokers and “property” brokers. And the brokerage industry can span not only with trucks, but air, rail (train) and ocean liners. This course guide will deal only with the trucking industry in the 48 contiguous states using ground transportation by trucks.

Freight brokers then search for business, looking for distributors, manufacturers, farmers and shippers who use freight broker services to ship their cargo and products through trusted motor carriers. A freight broker’s job is to approach them and try to identify their budget and delivery needs. Proving yourself as a trust worthy freight broker will create ongoing business with them, as a Freight Broker all you have is your integrity to market yourself to your clients. A freight broker needs to use good negotiating skills to complete a “competitive” transaction whereby everyone is satisfied – shipper, carrier and broker. This course comes with a database of over +150,000 transportation profiles for you to search for new clients. To facilitate this process, the freight broker should have a strong relationship with the motor carriers.

The broker usually accepts the credit of a shipper and has, in turn, his credit accepted by the carrier. In other words, he collects from the shipper and pays the carrier, less his commission. Motor carriers can be the carrier company which runs a large number of trucks by hiring truck drivers or can be an independent truck driver knows as an owner-operator running his own truck driving business. A freight broker works for the commission that he gets for efficiently matching the shipper’s load with the right carrier, who will charge a fair price for delivery.

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