6 Reasons Freight Procurement Is Key to Modern Logistics

Modern logistics management is a complex process with numerous moving parts. It encompasses all aspects of organization necessary to control the flow of freight along your supply chain. As such, information such as optimal routes, classifications of freight, carrier selection, and more are all vital. 

But here’s the thing: you should begin with freight procurement, which is the backbone that feeds into all aspects of modern logistics.

In this post, we’re going to break down how and why freight procurement impacts all levels of modern logistics. Our goal is to illuminate how through understanding this core concept, you can hone your efforts towards an optimized and streamlined supply chain.

Characteristics of Modern Logistics

Below are the common characteristics of modern logistics management:

• Long-Term Orientation: Carrier appointments and shipment deliveries are not instantaneous. Shippers often plan weeks or months ahead, requiring reliable processes and predictable outcomes to stay on schedule.
• Organization: Managing multiple carriers, routes, and freight classes requires clear, accurate information to keep operations aligned.
• Sustainability: Environmentally safe and cost-effective strategies are critical for long-term success in modern logistics. Reducing empty miles and energy waste cuts costs and avoids reputational and regulatory risks.
• Technology-Powered: A survey by PwC found that 53% of operators and supply chain leaders are already using AI to anticipate or mitigate supply chain disruptions, with another 31% testing such purposes. Technology provides real-time visibility across warehouses, transportation, and scheduling, enabling faster decisions and fewer costly disruptions.

6 Reasons Freight Procurement Is Key to Modern Logistics

Let’s break down the six reasons that freight procurement is key to modern logistics.

1. Supply Chain Efficiency and Reliability

Freight procurement—how you choose carriers, modes, and routes—is the backbone of supply chain efficiency. More businesses are adopting automation to make smarter carrier selections while keeping strategies flexible enough to maintain consistent capacity and service. This adaptability is essential in volatile markets and during seasonal changes, ensuring supply chain reliability year-round.

2. Sustainability

Your choice of carriers directly impacts your overall sustainability. Fuel-efficient carriers and strategic mode choices (like LTL for smaller shipments) reduce empty miles and emissions. With 29% of US CO₂ emissions coming from the transportation of goods and passengers, it’s important to consider what steps will ensure long-term sustainable procurement, both financially and environmentally. Procurement strategies that consolidate loads and optimize routes lower both costs and emissions.

3. Improved Delivery

Fostering strong relationships with reliable carriers helps ensure steady on-time deliveries. This can be a collaborative process through methods such as using software that improves scheduling visibility, streamlines communication, and reduces delays at the dock.

4. Cost Reduction and Optimization

Continually iterating on your freight procurement process allows you to uncover new strategies to reduce unnecessary spend. By incorporating different modes of transportation, you can not only cut fuel costs but also build relationships with more affordable, often overlooked carriers. 

Rather than remaining stagnant with static routing and contracts, a focus on continuous cost optimization ensures each load is moved in the most efficient way. Leveraging procurement technology with built-in rate benchmarking and mode analysis makes it possible to consistently select the most cost-effective option for every shipment without increasing administrative overhead. 

5. Improve Supplier Relationships and Customer Satisfaction

Effective procurement practices bring greater organization and visibility, which not only improve supplier relationships through trust and long-term collaboration but also strengthen service reliability. An optimized freight procurement process ensures on-time, predictable deliveries, directly enhancing the end-customer experience. Reliability drives satisfaction, and satisfied customers are far more likely to become repeat customers.

6. Eliminating Common Risks

An inflexible freight procurement process opens you up to disruptions and seasonal fluctuations that impede supply chain efficiency. This is why it’s critical to continuously evolve your freight procurement process. Diversifying carriers and leveraging data (often collected on your behalf by effective software tools) reduces exposure to delays, market swings, and capacity shortages

Digitized Freight Procurement: The Backbone of Modern Logistics

A 2024 McKinsey survey showed that two-thirds of respondents were working on digitizing their supply chain to plan more accurately, respond to disruptions rapidly, and improve their overall supply chain resilience. Early adopters of digital procurement gain a competitive edge in speed, accuracy, and cost control.

But there’s no reason to get left behind, or to struggle with unwieldy tools with a learning curve.

Intuitive freight procurement tools like ShipperGuide allow you to create bids for contracts, monitor all lanes for routing to optimize performance, minimize costs by choosing the best modes, and more. Just like that, you can reap the benefits of a streamlined freight procurement process that strengthens every part of your logistics strategy. Request a ShipperGuide demo to get started optimizing your freight procurement!