Nowhere is transportation and shipping expertise more vital than in mission-critical shipments. Let’s start by defining what we mean. Mission-critical shipping has high stakes because it requires multiple levels of precision and planning at every stage. Whether you’re shipping heavy haul construction materials, oversized products like generators and wind turbines, or industrial equipment like heavy duty air conditioning units and prefabricated buildings—these types of shipments often have common requirements, including:
- Precise timing and delivery windows for just-in-time (JIT) delivery
- Heavy weights and/or oversized dimensions
- Specialized equipment and escort vehicles
- Veteran, highly-trained drivers
- Meticulous pre-planning and routing
- Heightened safety measures and securement procedures
Advanced planning steps you never want to skip
With mission-critical shipments, advanced planning starts weeks before the shipment will actually move over the road. A methodical, careful planned approach is vital to ensuring that shipments will go smoothly, safety measures are in place, and it arrives on time.
Step 1: Document shipment details.
The first—and most important—step is to gather all of the pertinent details so you have them at hand from the start.
- What are the exact dimensions and weight of what you are shipping? This enables your transportation provider to analyze and assign the correct kind of transportation equipment.
- Are there additional, smaller components or parts that must accompany the ‘main load’? For instance, an industrial air conditioner might have a variety of installation parts that need to arrive at the same time as the main unit.
- What is the shipping schedule and delivery cadence? For many JIT projects, it is necessary to schedule precise dates and times for the shipment to arrive. In addition, for jobs with multiple deliveries, the sequence of delivery dates should be planned for in advance. For example, data center construction projects may need carefully choreographed deliveries to the site over a period of time.
- How is site access being provided? It is important to define the safest route to the site entrance and who to contact upon arrival.
- What are the personal protection equipment (PPE) requirements? Safety is always important, but for mission-critical shipping, it is often even more crucial. Take time to identify what kind of PPE the driver or anyone else handling or interacting with the shipment must use.
Step 2: Identify key stakeholders.
There are many stakeholders in mission-critical shipping, and they will likely change at different stages of the shipment process—pre-shipping, in-transit and post-shipping. Don’t underestimate all the people involved that will contribute to a successful shipment, nor the ones that need to be kept informed about its status at all times. The list extends well beyond the driver and the escorts transporting the shipment. At Momentum, we ensure a wide variety of roles stay in sync—project managers, integrators, general contractors, crane operators, the transportation company’s dispatcher, and more. Ask yourself: who is involved at your company, in the office and at the operational site? As well, what individuals at your transportation partner need to be kept in-the-know?
Step 3: End-to-end project management.
The third critical step — and one where Momentum has deep experience — is project management. Project management is more than just a person you can call—good project management is an entire solution with the focus and connectivity necessary to deliver each shipment on-time and damage free. At Momentum, we manage your freight shipments minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour with extra care and stewardship, making our project management unmatched in the industry. It includes a series of onboarding and detailed tactical planning calls, customized SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures), complex time-sensitive ship plans, and post-delivery best practice review sessions.
Why Momentum is perfectly suited to handle your next mission-critical shipment
After more than 6,000 heavy haul and specialized shipments, Momentum, an award-winning Landstar agent, is proud to report an average on-time delivery rate of 99%, with 99% of mission-critical shipments arriving safely and without damage. We can mitigate the risks of the industry-wide equipment shortage with more than 18,000 dry van, flatbed and specialized trailers at our fingertips. In addition, we offer highly-trained drivers who can help make your next mission critical shipment a success — in fact, the Landstar agent network boasts 1,000+ “Million Mile” safe drivers. Finally, due to the complexities inherent in mission-critical shipments, you can count on our project management expertise to coordinate each and every detail so that the entire planning, in-transit and delivery process is a success.
To learn more about how Momentum Transportation can help you with your mission-critical shipping needs, contact us at www.landstar-agent.com.
This blog post is the first in a series that discusses how to achieve success when shipping mission-critical products using methods like heavy haul, flatbeds, escorts and more.