However, there are plenty of variables to mind and control for this process to be successful. Someone needs to facilitate and track shipments. Therefore, freight brokers have become vital for the transportation industry, solving problems for users and freighters; assisting in everything related to taxes and customs; safekeeping and picking up products; submitting paperwork, documentation, and processing payments; finding potential clients and cargoes for freighters; and locating, quoting, and choosing safe and efficient freighters for clients.

Freight brokers are a necessary link in the supply chain who may work for companies or manage their own firms. So, if you are thinking about becoming a freight broker, keep reading and learn the process to become one.

Training

There are schools in the US offering training for freight brokers. There is no legal requirement for attending classes, but it is highly recommended as it provides access to the technology required to run a business such as this one and teaches the industry’s best practices and trends.

Many schools offer in-classroom courses while others offer only online self-training. Another way to get information on the land transportation industry is to participate in online forums or reading trade publications.

Operating in the USA

The United States’ Department of Transportation oversees and regulates the freight broker trade and issues a license to operate as a Freight Broker or Freight Forwarder.

USDOT Number and Authority as a Freight Broker

First, you need to apply for a USDOT number at the Department of Transportation. You will need this number to complete your application for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).

Second, you need to submit your application to get a Broker Authority – a license issued by FMCSA to grant you permission to act as a freight broker. To get this license, you will need to fill out form MFCSA OP-1, including the contact information for the individual or company and choose the option broker of property. This form requires your USDOT number and paying a processing fee. It takes three to four weeks to complete this process.

If your application is approved, the FMCSA will send you your freighter number by e-mail. Lastly, you will need to wait another 10 days for the registration to finish so you can get your full MC authority and begin operations.

Requisites

Surety Bonds or Trusts

Freight brokers must get a Surety Bond (BMC-84) or else make a deposit in a Trust Fund Agreement (BMC-85). Any of these options must be filed in your dossier at the Federal Highway Administration office.

The Surety Bond or Trust acts as an insurance to guarantee freighters will be paid for the services hired by the freight broker.

Agent authorized to accept Notifications and Lawsuits.

Likewise, freight brokers must appoint representatives or agents before the FMCSA to accept notifications and lawsuits in every state they have operations. Said agents must also be paying members of the FMCSA, and registered using the BOC-3 format, which lists every state.

There are law firms with offices in several states that may be hired for this purpose.

Unlicensed and Working for a Company

You can also become a freight broker without having to start your own business by working for a freight brokerage firm as a sales associate, which puts you in contact with clients and freight companies, helping them move cargo.

Transport cargoes for Solistica and join the best 3PL brokers in the industry. We promise to build a solid relationship with our brokers; one based on trust, experience, and quality.

 The rise in supplies means that the parties involved in the chain must adapt to the new distribution needs and strategies, which implies taking advantage of the newest advances in the cold chain equipment’s technology to increase efficiency.

Why? Because any variation in temperature or humidity throughout the cold chain may render vaccines ineffectual.

In fact, according to IQVIA’s Human Data Science, the biopharmaceutical industry loses approximately US$35 billion a year from failures in temperature-controlled logistics.

It is estimated that 20% of temperature sensitive products are damaged because the cold chain is interrupted during transport.

 According to research carried out by the World Economic Forum, over 50% of vaccines are wasted every year throughout the world due to issues related to temperature control, logistics, and shipping.

Currently, no one wants to hear that a thousand of vaccines in a lot cannot be used because a freezer went down, for example. We cannot waste a single shot! So, we must plan in depth how we are going to store, transport, and administer vaccines; and those doing the planning must be fully aware of the challenges. Things go wrong, compressors break down, so we need to have spare parts available as well as know how to repair the units and how long can we take to fix things.

Usually, we can solve this issue by overstocking but, with the high demand for COVID vaccines, every lost or damaged dose hurts deeply. Protecting the usefulness rate of the vaccines depends on monitoring and on the transition to the last mile.

Clearly, this pressure to perform better is pushing the limits of what we can and cannot do. Meanwhile, it is currently a priority and a key element of WHO’s Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP).

Together with PATH, WHO has developed the Project Optimize to find new ways to optimize the immunization supply chains to serve an increasingly larger and costly portfolio of vaccines aiming to give the immunization industry stronger, more flexible, and more efficient logistics systems.

According to Who itself, “successful immunization programs are built on functional, end-to-end supply chain and logistics systems. The role of the supply chain is to ensure effective vaccine storage, handling, and stock management; rigorous temperature control in the cold chain; and maintenance of adequate logistics management information systems.”[1]

CTC, the new Cold Chain

Therefore, we are currently evolving beyond the traditional cold chain, which helps keep products like temperature-controlled vaccines in the proper conditions throughout the supply chain, from purchasing to transportation and distribution.

The innovative approach for handling vaccines of the “controlled temperature chain, (CTC)” allows us to keep vaccines at temperatures outside the traditional cold chain that goes from 2 ° C to 8 ° C during a limited time and under controlled and monitored conditions.

 We are talking about chains that usually imply a single excursion of the vaccine to room temperature not exceeding 40 ° C for a specific number of days before being administered.

 The WHO set criteria for vaccines to be labeled and used in a CTC:

• It must be used in a special strategy or campaign (not recommended for routine immunization). 
• It must tolerate room temperatures of at least 40 ° C for at least three days and it must be accompanied by:
  – A Vaccine Vial Monitor (VVM) for every vial
  – An Indicator of Maximum Threshold for every vaccine carrier.
   
  • Its use in a CTC must be authorized by the corresponding regulatory agencies and bear a label specifying the conditions.
  To ensure an uninterrupted availability of quality vaccines, from the manufacturer to the last stages of service, and to avoid missing any opportunity for vaccination, a supply chain management system is required so we can procure the right product in the right amount and conditions and at the right time and cost. This is the size of the new challenge players in this industry are now facing.

Identifying the capacities and occupation of the operations beforehand is always important for having an accurate control over the available capacity and to understand the physical and intellectual in-house assets we have at our disposal as well as those from our value network to face diverse situations and react faster when dealing with a contingency.

 Likewise, it will help us foresee risks and list viable transport alternatives for scenarios that limit the flow of cargo via land, air, and water.

 It is also convenient to document the actions carried out during contingencies, to strengthen prevention based on experience.

 The following are some other actions we recommend carrying out during contingencies:

• Integrating joint efforts, including government agencies to enable backup transport alternatives. Integrating diverse managing committees is a good option as they will help anticipate the impacts of the crisis, establish overall guidelines to address it, and greenlight critical issues for the operations and people.
• Structuring internal administrative processes to facilitate negotiations and agreements for collaboration with diverse strategic players.
• Creating guiding protocols per area to give our operations more flexibility when facing crises, if needed.
• Preparing the communication departments to broadcast the needs and consequences of the events triggering the crisis.

 How to activate a collaborative management during a contingency

 The first step is to send a contingency alert outlining the situation.

Next, call a meeting with the main players in the network, either suppliers, logistics companies, distributors, or trading partners.

 In this initial meeting, the issues and impact on customers must be fully addressed. We must also create a space where we can collaborate to create and implement basic and quick initiatives that help alleviate the crisis. Lastly, we must agree on the frequency of the control meetings.

 According to the moment’s needs, we must secure the cooperation of other key players for dealing with the crisis. For example, providers of services, suppliers, government agencies, associations, and so forth.

 Then, it is essential for us to continue strengthening these relationships so we can facilitate collaboration at a higher level and scope. 

The pandemic and the measures for continuing operations

 A vast number of ways to manage contingencies are being used during this pandemic.

 For logistics, manufacturing, warehousing, and transportation services to keep on working, we had to strengthen and take on new sanitation procedures – as per the recommendations of the health authorities – ever since this global emergency started.

For example: we have strengthened the continuous cleaning of warehouses, offices, meeting rooms, and transport vehicles for work inside the facilities, where antibacterial gel dispensers and temperature checkpoints have been installed. 

Most companies in this sector have switched meetings to remote and have encouraged home office as much as the employee’s tasks allows it, putting non-essential in-classroom training at a standstill.

 Likewise, mandatory rules for staff have been duly broadcast both via media campaigns and direct messaging, such as hand washing, use of masks, and social distancing, among others.

 In relation to logistics transportation, some companies have opted to ask employees and third-party staff to quarantine at home when returning from trips and to follow a protocol for returning to work. 

 Lowering the number of visits from suppliers and customers to our facilities has also been encouraged, allowing only strictly essential visits.

But, most of all, contingency protocols have been set to offer the necessary guidelines for facing diverse emergency scenarios.

During the current contingency, many companies have set prevention protocols, including the in-depth cleaning of workspaces, and giving instructions about issues such as handshaking, hand washing, and sneezing. Some others have also set protocols for suspect cases to protect other employees and customers when an individual shows symptoms; protocols for confirmed cases, concerning those who the infected party may have contacted; and protocols for coming back to work for employees who have been hospitalized at clinics and hospitals.

Preparation and collaboration provide better responses for crises such as the one we are currently enduring.