If you want a healthy supply chain, your carrier network can make or break your operation. That’s because a diverse, dependable carrier network gives you access to many things: more competitive rates, flexible shipping options, and resilience when disruptions arise. While this is a goal for any shipper, building and maintaining that kind of carrier network isn’t easy, especially when you’re juggling multiple shipping modes (LTL, PTL, TL), geographic markets, and other needs. 

The good news? You don’t have to do it alone. You can get the benefits of an expansive carrier network without the challenges of managing it, and a trusted 3PL company can help simplify the entire process. 

The Problem is that Growing a Carrier Network Isn’t Easy.

Building a large carrier network sounds great in theory, but for most shippers, it’s a logistical and administrative nightmare in practice. This is because building a reliable network is a time-consuming affair. Each new carrier relationship requires vetting, contracts, compliance checks, integration with your systems, and trust-building, and this is all before a single shipment moves. 

More carriers also means more points of contact, and without a centralized system or platform, coordination gets messy fast. Shipments can become lost, delivery times missed, and other problems can become a hassle to manage and mitigate. Many companies simply don’t have the staff, systems, or time to manage a growing network. The result is they either underutilize carriers or let relationships fall off. 

On top of managing the relationships, it can be difficult to deal with invoices and freight bills from a large number of carriers. Different formats, terms, and billing cycles make it difficult to track charges, spot errors, and ensure you’re paying what you actually owe. Rates can also vary by lane, mode, carrier, and even day of the week. Without proper systems to manage quotes, contracts, and surcharges, your team ends up overpaying or struggling to keep track of invoices and freight bills. 

A Strong Carrier Network Matters

There can be a lot of issues managing a large carrier network, so why would your business want to have one? It’s true that these networks can bring challenges, but they also create a lot of cost efficiency and other benefits for your business. 

Your business isn’t static, which means your shipping strategy shouldn’t be either. Many businesses are looking to scale up, break into new markets, or are simply trying to manage costs. These are all things that having a broad and well-managed carrier network gives you. It’s large in part due to the flexibility and control you’ll have when you have multiple carriers to choose between for any given load you ship. 

Having a healthy carrier network comes with many benefits, including: 

1. Competitive Pricing: more carriers mean more options and leverage. You can compare rates, optimize cost per shipment, and avoid overpaying in tight capacity markets. 
2. Mode Flexibility: whether you’re shipping LTL, TL, PTL, or expedited, the right carrier mix ensures you have the right service for every job. 
3. Geographic Reach: a strong network lets you serve more regions faster and more reliably. It also means you don’t have to rely on just one provider’s coverage area. 
4. Risk Mitigation: shipping interruptions are unexpected, but having a large network means that if one carrier has a service interruption, another can step in. This kind of built-in redundancy is helpful when you can’t afford heavy delays. 
5. Service-Level Control: depending on what you ship, you may require white glove deliveries and final mile, which not all carriers offer. Having an expansive network allows you to get the services you need, when you need them. 

How to Build (and Maintain) a Healthy Carrier Network

Whether you’re managing a handful of lanes or hundreds, you can build smart relationships and manage them strategically. Here’s how to do that: 

Define What “Healthy” Means for Your Business

Start by understanding your needs: 

1. Are you prioritizing speed, cost, or coverage? 
2. Do you need specialization (e.g., temp control, white glove, limited access delivery)? 

Use these insights to shape your carrier strategy. 

Build Relationships

Negotiating aggressively on rates without regard for service or communication sets a bad tone. Instead: 

1. Offer consistent, repeatable freight to preferred carriers. 
2. Communicate clearly on expectations, service levels, and performance metrics. 
3. Pay invoices promptly to maintain goodwill and leverage. 

Good carriers want good shippers. Treat them as partners, not vendors. 

Monitor Performance and Provide Feedback

Don’t just gather the data; share it with your carriers. Make continuous improvement a two-way street. Use KPIs like: 

1. On-time delivery rates 
2. Claims ratio 
3. Communication responsiveness 

The Better Way: Let King Solutions Handle It for You

You don’t need to manage dozens of carriers to benefit from a broad network. You just need the right logistics service provider to partner with. 

At King Solutions, we connect you to a diverse, high-performing network of carriers. You don’t need to expend the overhead of managing them yourself. When you work with King, you get: 

One Point of Contact and Endless Capacity.

We give you access to a national network of pre-vetted carriers—LTL, TL, PTL, expedited, white glove, and more. But instead of you coordinating everything, we handle the communication, scheduling, billing, and relationship management. You get the benefit of an expansive network, with the simplicity of working with just one partner. 

Our robust transportation management solutions allow you to: 

1. Consolidate your shipments for maximum efficiency 
2. Match the right carrier to the right lane 
3. Provide real-time tracking, reporting, and visibility 

We also use advanced routing logic and custom freight planning to improve your shipping process without adding complexity to your operation. We can help you: 

1. Maximize trailer utilization 
2. Reduce deadhead miles and shipping costs 
3. Improve on-time performance 

Ready to Simplify Your Carrier Strategy?

We’re not just here to broker freight. We’re much more than a 3PL company. We work to build lasting partnerships with both you and our carriers, and we offer a complete logistics solution for your business that includes everything from warehousing and fulfillment to transportation management and more. 

Don’t let limited bandwidth or logistics complexity hold you back from growing your business. With King Solutions, you gain a logistics partner who brings the reach, experience, and infrastructure of a national provider, without sacrificing personal service. Contact us today to learn how we can help you streamline shipping and strengthen your supply chain.