Using multiple carriers to relay a single load

Ok, I have an idea for a niche business in the industry. In short, what I want to do is offer a solution to a difficult shipping lane. If you have spent much time looking for high priced freight on CentralDispatch then you have certainly come across loads that are going to/from at least one destination that is tough to move a car in or out of because of its geographic location(Minot, Jackson hole, Bellingham, Champlain, houlton, Calais, Eagle pass, Durango), and these loads tend to pay well. What I want to do is service the tough end of that haul with a shuttle service that brings the loads from the undesirable location to a major shipping lane.

For example, let's say Joe wants to ship his car from Vancouver, BC to Patterson, NJ. He is going to call A AAAwesome Broker and they are going to tell him that if brings his car across the border to Bellingham,WA then they could move it from there for $1400. Then, AAaawesome broker will post it on Central for $1100 in hopes that it will move quickly. But it doesn't, because even though it's paying $200 more than a car going from Seattle to NJ would pay, it still doesn't move because it is not worth going that far out of the way for a meager $200 premium. Sometimes, a load will sit at these undesirable locations for several weeks, often times accruing storage charges at the terminal. This is the problem that my company would provide a solution for. We would pick up the load at Bellingham and shuttle it, along with other loads that are being transported by other brokers, to the Seattle terminal. From there the brokers would contract out the next leg of the haul to other carriers. My hypothesis is that in the end, the brokers will be able to ship the vehicle for the same price they do now, but doing so consistently without delay and excessive storage charges.

However, this process in itself could be an obstacle for me. I hauled cars for 5 years and remember vaguely but certainly that brokers were averse to brokering loads thru more than one carrier. I remember reading it in many of the broker-carrier agreements (yes I read them even though I don't understand lawyer speak or quadruple negatives) that I had to sign on a regular basis. Is this something that they are against all of the time under any circumstance? Is this just something that they include in the terms and conditions to keep you form doing it without their knowledge? Is it because of stipulations found in their insurance agreements? Any feedback, especially from brokers who have dealt with a similar type of transport before, would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

Yeah, from a logistical standpoint it wouldn't be reinventing the wheel. Good vehicle inspection and detailed reporting is key to auto transport. I remember hauling loads for companies like reindeer and DAS that used third party carriers for local P/D. Inspection reports were made at each end of each leg.

As far as the liability angle is concerned, you guys are dead on. There would be a lot of bad inspections that are performed by the other carriers that are out of my control, and sometimes those will cause difficulty for me at the very least. The previous poster's comment reminded me if some experiences I had that were similar. I remember boycotting a trailer shop in CT, one of the only places in New England that was warrantied to work on my trailer, because his tow or transport company tried to screw me on an exchange. They actually sent the broker a copy of my inspection report but added in themselves the damage that was being claimed. Thankfully I had the carbon copies to prove they were performing surgery on the docs.

Anyways, I am familiar with these risks and aware of what I am getting into with that. It's something that I think about quite a bit. I'm concerned with it, but I'm more concerned about being able to get brokers to work with me under this type of arrangement. I know that I can provide a solution to a problem, it's a win/win/win all around for me, the broker, and the customer. Money is saved, time is saved, face is saved. I just don't know if I will run into compliance issues that will prevent them from using my service.