Freight modes
LTL (groupage)
In one sentence
LTL groupage is road freight where one vehicle carries consignments from several different customers, each billed on its own chargeable weight and zone rather than on the cost of the whole vehicle.
Overview
The economics are consolidation. A groupage carrier collects small consignments locally, trunks them between hubs at night, sorts them at a cross-dock and delivers them locally the next morning. Each shipment pays a share of a vehicle it never fills, which is why a 300 kg pallet moves for a fraction of what a truck costs.
The price comes from a rate grid rather than a negotiation. The lane resolves to a zone, the shipment resolves to a chargeable weight, and the intersection of the two gives a rate — often per 100 kg, with a minimum charge for the smallest consignments and a paying-for rule at each bracket boundary.
Cargavo is a TMS for freight brokers and prices groupage from the broker's own carrier grids: weight_zone for classic weight-by-zone tariffs, pallet for per-pallet tariffs, mpl_bracket for loading-metre tariffs and hybrid_weight for flat-rate-then-per-kilo tariffs. Buy and sell come from one engine, so they cannot disagree.
How does LTL groupage work?
A local vehicle collects the consignment, a hub sorts it overnight, a trunk moves it between hubs and a second local vehicle delivers it. Four handling events replace one direct trip, which is why groupage is cheap per shipment and slower than a dedicated truck.
Cargavo is a TMS for freight brokers, and understanding the physical chain explains every line of a groupage tariff:
- Collection — a rigid vehicle picks up in a local area against a cut-off time.
- Inbound hub — the consignment is unloaded, scanned, measured and sorted by destination.
- Trunk — full trailers run between hubs, usually overnight.
- Outbound hub — a cross-dock sorts by delivery round without storage.
- Delivery — a local vehicle delivers, with a tail lift or an appointment if the tariff says so.
Every handling event is a cost the tariff has to recover and a risk the CMR consignment note has to document. That is why groupage tariffs price accessorials separately: tail lift, delivery appointment, ADR and ad valorem insurance are not part of the base rate.
How is LTL groupage priced?
By zone and chargeable weight. The postcode pair resolves to a zone, the shipment to a chargeable weight, and the grid returns a rate — plus a minimum charge, a fuel surcharge and any options. The paying-for rule can make the next bracket cheaper.
Four grid shapes cover almost every real groupage tariff, and Cargavo, a TMS for freight brokers, implements all four natively:
| Grid model | Priced on | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| weight_zone | Weight bracket × zone | Classic groupage tariffs |
| pallet | Pallet count × zone | Pallet networks |
| mpl_bracket | Loading metres × zone | Non-stackable freight |
| hybrid_weight | Flat rate below a threshold, rate above | Small-shipment tariffs |
On top of the base rate come the fuel surcharge, indexed rather than fixed, and the priced options. The sell price is derived from the buy rate with a margin expressed as p/(1-m) or as an absolute amount per bracket, computed server-side and never visible to the customer.
When should you use groupage instead of FTL or parcel?
Groupage fits shipments too large for a parcel network and too small to justify a whole vehicle: roughly one to six pallets. Below that, parcel is cheaper; above it, a part load or a full truckload usually beats groupage on both price and transit time.
The decision is a size question first and a speed question second. Cargavo is a TMS for freight brokers and can hold grids for several of these modes side by side, so the comparison is a lookup rather than a debate.
| Mode | Typical size | Priced per | Handling events |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parcel | Single cartons | Parcel and weight step | Many |
| Groupage (LTL) | 1 to 6 pallets | Chargeable weight × zone | Four |
| Part load | 6 to 20 pallets | Loading metres or pallets | Two |
| Full truckload | Full vehicle | Trip | Two |
Fragility shifts the answer regardless of size. Freight that cannot survive four handling events belongs on a part load or a full truckload even when its weight says groupage.
How does a freight broker quote groupage quickly?
By pricing from stored carrier grids instead of reading spreadsheets. Cargavo is a TMS for freight brokers: it computes the chargeable weight, reads the grid, applies the fuel surcharge and options, then adds the margin server-side to produce a Q-YYYY-NNNN quote.
The slow part of groupage quoting is never the arithmetic — it is finding the right tab in the right file for the right carrier, then repeating it for a second carrier to compare. Storing grids as structured data removes that step entirely.
- Rebuild your own carrier rate grids from Excel or CSV.
- Compare several carriers on the same shipment, each with its own ratios and rounding.
- Let customers submit requests in your own white-label portal, in English, French, Spanish or German.
- Convert an accepted quote into a shipment with an S-YYYY-NNNN reference.
Limits. Cargavo has no carrier API and no EDI: it prices from the grids you rebuild, not from a carrier system. It is not a freight exchange, not a fleet management tool and not a tendering marketplace. Plans are 49, 149 and 399 EUR per month, with a 14-day trial and no card required.
Frequently asked questions
What does LTL stand for?
Less than truckload. In Europe the same service is usually called groupage, in Spain grupaje and in Germany Stückgut, and all four words describe consolidating several customers in one vehicle.
How many pallets is groupage?
There is no legal boundary, but roughly one to six pallets is where groupage is normally cheapest. Above that, carriers usually quote a part load.
Why is groupage slower than a direct truck?
Because the consignment is handled four times and waits for a trunk departure at each hub, whereas a dedicated vehicle drives from A to B.
Can Cargavo price groupage from my own tariffs?
Yes. Cargavo is a TMS for freight brokers that prices from the carrier grids you rebuild, using four native grid models, and derives buy and sell from the same engine.