Crossdocking is a relatively new logistics technique used in the retail and trucking industries to rapidly consolidate shipments from disparate sources and realize economies of scale in outbound transportation. Our crossdocking services essentially eliminate the inventory-holding function of a warehouse while still allowing it to serve its consolidation and shipping functions. The idea is to transfer incoming shipments directly to outgoing trailers without storing them in between. Shipments typically spend less than 24 hours at the facility, sometimes less than an hour.

Here's how it works: in a traditional warehouse, goods are received from vendors and stored in devices like pallet racks or shelving. When a customer (e.g., the consumer or perhaps a retail outlet) requests an item, workers pick it from the shelves and send it to the destination. In a crossdock, goods arriving from the vendor already have a customer assigned, so workers need only move the shipment from the inbound trailer to an outbound trailer bound for the appropriate destination. We typically offer our crossdocking services in conjunction with our Consolidation and/or Distribution services.