Important Factors involving in Freight class calculation

Overview

Transportation of shipments via freight class is the most common method in the US. From fresh fruit to hazardous goods everything can be shipped and delivered via freight transport.

In less than truckload freight shipment, the transportation company gathers various deliveries into one truckload and transits them. However, in order to transport packages via freight classification, it is necessary to pre-calculate your class.

The freight classification systems contain 18 classes that had already been defined by National Motor Freight Classification. You simply have to look in which class your product is present from class 50 to 500.

The factors that define your product’s class include its density, stowability, liability and ease of handling. In freight classification, the rate increases with an increase in the number of classes.

What is Freight Class

The standard classification system according to the National Motor Freight Traffic Association to compare products in order to be transported is known as the freight class system.

For interstate, intrastate, and international commodities shipments, the freight system serves as the standard system for deliveries in the US. You can save time and money if you understand freight categories before shipping. Not only the senders, the shippers and carriers utilize Freight Classifications to have a uniform freight price.

When it comes to LTL (less than truckload) transportation, freight classifications are utilized to keep costs uniform. In the LTL Freight Class classification system for shipments delivered here is a total of 18 different categories of freight from Class 50 to Class 500.

These freight classes are assigned by NMFT and are just like a general grading system i.e lower categories to higher. The freight costs subsequently decrease when the NMFC class number decreases.

Depending on four transportation criteria density, ease of handling, stowability, and liability commodities have categorized in these classes of freight. Consistent pricing among carriers, warehouses, and brokers is easier to achieve with the usage of several freight classes. 

Why Calculate Freight Class

Calculating your exact freight class is crucial to transport your item according to the standard of shipping by NMFC. It is also necessary as the carriers often reweigh your products in order to account for the amount of space that it will take up in a trailer during transportation. 

If you choose the wrong freight class before sending, you will then have to pay more or less than you expected when making your shipment. First and foremost, you must determine which freight class your goods fall under in order to obtain an accurate estimate and suitable quotation. 

The following are some things you need to consider to calculate your freight class. Those with a high density has given a lower freight class than items with a lower density. 

In a similar manner, items having a low density are allocating to a higher freight class than those with a greater density. While other than density three more factors are taken into account to calculate freight class these include, ease of handling, liability and stowability.

What Factors involved in Freight Calculation

Various factors determine the freight class of shipping articles including their weight, dimensions, hazardousness, fragility and worth. However, these are not the standard parameters to calculate the freight class of any item.

According to the National Motor Freight Traffic Association, the major factors that are taking into account before calculating the freight classification are density, stowability, liability and ease of handling.

Density

The major factor in the freight class calculation is the density of the shipment. The density of the product has determined by its weight and size.  However, the density is the mass of the shipment per unit cubic meter.

Density quantifies an object’s weight in proportion to the space occupied by it. It’s important to know how much space your freight occupies per pound (pounds per cubic foot) since dense and compact freight is cheaper to transport.

Lower freight classes assign to more dense freight. Compared to low-density and bulky freight, high-density cargo is cost-effective to ship. That’s why freight carriers favor heavy cargo that takes up little space compared to its weight. 

Liability

Liability determines if cargo is perishable or prone to spontaneous fire or explosion. In regard to how valuable a shipment is, its liability changes. The risk of freight damage, theft, loss, or harm to the article itself and others as well is calculated as the liability.

Carriers have given a liability value per pound for perishable goods and cargo prone to spontaneous combustion or explosion. The liability rating and freight class will be greater if the item is dangerous, flammable, or perishable. 

Therefore, hazardous, flammable, and perishable goods have a higher liability rating and freight class designation than non-hazardous goods. The cost value of the cargo affects the ship’s classification as well and get count in liability.

Classifying freight according to the degree of danger it poses to the carrier determines its classification.

Related: You can also calculate the mortgage by using an online mortgage calculator, as it is also one of the major things for the businessman in a business.

Ease of Handling

The ease of handling use to classify freight shipping. This factor determines the class of items based on the ease or difficulty of loading and transporting them. Therefore, a cargo’s ease of handling contains the level of attention it needs when transported. 

The object’s shape, size, weight, fragility, and dangerousness all contribute to handling parameters. Some cargo requires extra care because of their overall size, weight, hazardous qualities,  dimensions, fragility, and packaging. 

These parameters have considered and calculated in order to determine the ease of handling of the product. A commodity’s freight class and shipping cost will rise in relation to the ease of handling during shipping. The more care required to transport a product, the higher the freight class and shipping cost.

Stowability

Stowability is a measure that takes into account how much convenient it is to transport the package. Or in other words, it relates to how readily your goods can ship with other cargoes. 

Stowability plays an important role in determining the rate class, which affects the total cost of delivery. The difficulty of loading and transporting these things are quantified using the factor stowability.

Some delivery articles are quite easy to transport and don’t require specific precautionary measures. For instance, boxed or crated freight is simpler to load than strangely shaped or carelessly packed freight. 

Flammability, perishability, or hazardous material are just a few examples of qualities that make it difficult to transport commodities and has considered under stowability. Hazardous or combustible cargo that cannot carriy with specific materials would likewise have a higher freight class. 

Hazardous materials need special handling, thus in order to prevent risks, this factor has taken into account. Therefore, if your freight can travel with other freight with ease, its stowability measure is less.