Transit Time Analysis

Transit time analysis compares how long shipments actually take versus how long they were supposed to take. A carrier commits to three-day transit on a lane from Atlanta to Chicago – transit time analysis tracks whether loads consistently make it in three days, occasionally take four, or routinely arrive in two. The gap between committed and actual transit reveals carrier reliability, lane difficulty, and whether service commitments are realistic.

The analysis is most valuable at the lane and carrier level. Aggregate transit time averages can mask wide variation – a carrier might average 3.1 days on a lane, but if individual shipments range from 2 to 5 days, that average is misleading. Standard deviation or consistency metrics – what percentage of loads arrive within a defined window – tell a more honest story. A carrier that delivers 95% of loads within a one-day window of their commitment is more reliable than one with the same average but a three-day spread.

Transit time analysis supports several decisions. It validates whether carrier commitments made during an RFP hold up in practice. It identifies lanes where transit is consistently longer than expected – which might indicate a structural issue like a carrier's network requiring an intermediate terminal transfer. And it quantifies the service impact of mode choices – comparing truckload transit against intermodal on the same lane, for example, with real data rather than assumptions.

For temperature-sensitive freight, transit time analysis carries extra urgency. Every additional hour in transit is an additional hour of cold chain exposure risk. Shippers handling perishables need tight, predictable transit windows, and the analysis helps identify where variability threatens product integrity.