Every load must travel some distance. Range is the distance a load must move between its origin and destination. Whether short or long, range is a defining characteristic of transportation. This article highlights considerations for shipment range without distracting readers with industry jargon, policies, or quantitative references. It is the fourth entry in an open-ended series exploring the nuances of moving things from A to B. If you haven’t read the earlier entries, start with the first one here for an overview of transportation parameters and this one here for a discussion of lead time.
Cost
Beyond equipment selection, range is the biggest driver of the cost of a load. Often, logistics companies will charge customers the same for a truckload carrying 20K lbs or 40K lbs, so long as it goes the same distance. However, if a 40K lb truck travels 500 mi or 1000 mi, there will certainly be differences in shipment cost. The range of a shipment defines the fuel consumption, and man hour consumption of a load. Loads that are twice as long require twice as much fuel and twice as much time…generally.
Service
Similarly, range is a tremendous driver of service (or lead time). Our next entry will dive deeper into these implications, but at the very least – increases in range generally increase lead time.
- Short Ranges: At the smallest scale, range may be across a room, up a floor, or between racks in a warehouse. Elevators, conveyors, dumbwaiters, or even a person’s arms are sufficient to bridge these ranges. The cost and complexity of short-range moves are usually low, but the frequency may be high — think of groceries carried from the car to the kitchen, or parts moved along an assembly line.
- Medium Ranges: Regional moves — between cities, or across a state — introduce more complexity. Trucks and barges often play a role. Here, terrain and infrastructure heavily shape options. A mountain range, river crossing, or congested corridor may add to the effective range, even if “as the crow flies” the distance is modest.
- Long Ranges: International shipments test the upper limits of transportation. Ocean carriers can move goods vast distances at low cost but slow speed. Air carriers offer speed at high expense. Intermodal shipments offer a tradeoff between cost and availability. Some ranges stretch beyond our atmosphere — satellites, probes, or even the Voyager spacecraft still moving outward decades after launch. While rare, these examples remind us that range can truly be infinite.
Strategies to Manage Range
Even though the distance itself may be fixed, strategies can make range more manageable:
- Break into Legs: Dividing a trip into multiple segments can unlock efficiencies. Shipments originating on the east coast may ride with one another to the middle of the country before splitting off into shipments headed toward the northwest and southwest.
- Reroute Intelligently: Sometimes a slightly longer path reduces obstacles or cost — avoiding low bridges, weight-restricted roads, or customs bottlenecks.
- Stage Closer to Demand: Positioning inventory closer to end customers shortens the effective range, even if the original production site is far away. This comes at the cost of an additional inventory location, but the customer service impact on demand and satisfaction can help to justify that cost.
Example
Delivering ice cream from Maine to Florida. The range itself is fixed, but choices remain. Refrigerated trucks may drive the whole distance, or goods may travel by rail partway before being trucked to final stores. Cold-storage hubs can stage inventory, so southern stores are replenished more quickly, effectively shortening the last-mile range. Choosing rails may save money but adds transit time; direct trucking may be faster but more expensive.
By understanding shipment range and the strategies that influence it, you can design transportation plans that balance speed, cost, and reliability.
St. Onge Company’s logistics and transportation experts can recommend strategies to optimize ranges and inform key transportation decisions that affect your company’s logistics strategy.
—Connor Frey, St. Onge Company
