Expedited Freight

Expedited freight is the logistics equivalent of pulling the emergency lever. It's used when a shipment absolutely must arrive faster than standard transit times allow – whether because of a stockout at a key retailer, a production line waiting on components, a missed appointment that needs recovery, or a customer commitment that can't slip. Expedited services include dedicated trucks (no other freight on the trailer), team drivers who drive in shifts to avoid rest stops, and air freight for the most urgent needs.

The cost premium for expedited freight is substantial – typically 50–200% above standard rates for ground, and significantly more if air is involved. Dedicated expedited trucks are priced at a premium because the carrier commits the equipment exclusively to your load, often repositioning empty to make the pickup. Team drivers cost more because two drivers split the haul, enabling near-continuous movement that covers 1,000+ miles per day versus the 500-mile average for a solo driver. These costs are justified only when the cost of delay – lost sales, production downtime, contractual penalties, or customer churn – exceeds the expedited premium.

For most shippers, the goal isn't to get better at expediting – it's to need expedited less often. Every expedited shipment represents a planning failure, a visibility gap, or an exception that wasn't caught early enough to resolve with standard service. The shippers who spend the most on expedited freight are usually the ones with the weakest real-time visibility into their supply chain: they find out about problems too late to fix them with normal service options.

Proactive exception management – catching a delayed pickup or missed appointment hours before it becomes a crisis – is the most effective way to reduce expedited spend. When your team sees problems developing in real time, they can intervene before the only option left is an expensive emergency shipment.