Soliciting, analyzing and awarding transportation contracts through a bid process is a complex process. To get the best outcome, transportation buyers need to conduct a thorough opportunity assessment and make sure they have the infrastructure and framework in place to effectively manage the bidding process, says Art Nourot, senior director of carrier procurement at Unyson Logistics.

Mileage-based rates within the trucking industry typically are not calculated using actual miles driven. Instead, they generally are based on historical zone-to-zone mileage or on the standard shortest possible route between two points. That's known as "practical routing," explains Craig Fiander, vice president of marketing at ALK Technologies, which provides mileage mapping software.

A networked transportation management service, in which key supply chain participants share information and visibility through a central hub, is more cost efficient and more effective than traditional transportation management applications, says Alan Dunkerley, vice president of product management at Descartes Systems Group.

The operations of less-than-truckload carries have changed so dramatically in the last two decades that they bear little resemblance to the traditional LTL model that was prevalent for decades, says Brad Morris, vice president of marketing at AAA Cooper, a regional LTL carrier operating in the Southeast.

The economic crisis has provided shippers a great opportunity to step back and rethink their logistics and supply chain operations to see where they can pull costs out of the system and become more efficient, says consultant Dan Goodwill. "Everyone knows that beating up on carriers to bring costs down can't go on forever."