Freight brokerage, explained clearly

A broker. Mill Freight is a licensed property broker: we arrange transportation provided by independent motor carriers operating under their own authority and insurance. We do not own trucks and we do not employ drivers. The name is a trade name, not a description of our authority, and our MC number identifies us as a broker in FMCSA SAFER.

Every carrier is qualified before its first load: operating authority in active status, a safety rating that is not Unsatisfactory, a certificate of insurance sent directly by its agent at or above our minimums, and a signed broker-carrier agreement. All of that is re-checked automatically at each tender, because authority and insurance can lapse between one load and the next.

Cargo liability for interstate freight sits with the motor carrier under the Carmack Amendment, subject to the limits in its tariff and the terms of the bill of lading. As broker we file and pursue the claim on your behalf against the carrier and its insurer. We will tell you at booking where the liability limit sits for your commodity so you can decide whether additional cargo cover is worth buying.

The validity period is stated on the quote itself, and it is short on volatile lanes for a reason. Truckload pricing is set by capacity in a region on a given week, so an honest quote expires rather than quietly becoming a number no carrier will accept. If a rate has expired we will requote it rather than book a truck we cannot cover.

Origin and destination postcodes, pickup and delivery dates, commodity, weight, and how the freight is packaged — pallet count and dimensions. For LTL we also need the NMFC class or enough detail to determine it. For reefer we need the set-point and whether it runs continuous. Getting this right up front is what keeps the invoice matching the quote.

Standard terms are net 30 from receipt of a clean proof of delivery and invoice. Quick pay is available at a stated discount, disclosed before you accept the load rather than discovered afterwards. If we fail to pay, our $75,000 surety bond exists for exactly that, and a carrier can claim against it.

No. Detention, layover, lumper, liftgate, reconsignment and TONU rates are set out on the rate confirmation before dispatch. If something arises in transit that was not on the rate con, we come back to you with the cost before it is incurred wherever that is physically possible.

The contiguous 48 states, with the most depth in the lanes we run most often. We would rather tell you we are thin in a lane and quote it honestly than take the load and discover on the day that we cannot cover it at the rate we quoted.