What is Cross-Docking?

When you work with Forte Frozen, you get tons of great value-added services. These services include case picking, pick & pack, distressed load handling, cross-docking, and more. While we’ve talked about many of these services before on our blog page, there’s one question we’ve yet to answer - what is cross-docking?

While it may be a foreign term to some, the concept of cross-docking is actually quite easy to grasp. Simply put, cross-docking is when products are unloaded from a truck and reloaded directly onto another truck that takes an item to its destination. The whole point of cross-docking is to try to eliminate any storage time between the products going from the manufacturer to the customer. 

Benefits of Cross-Docking

There are multiple benefits to cross-docking. These include: 

Consolidation

During this cross-docking process, transport vehicles may consolidate products onto trucks going to the same destination. Think about it: why have multiple people going to the same place when one vehicle can handle the shipment, saving time, money, and mileage for the other vehicles? This creates efficiency in the supply chain. 

Less Time Between the Manufacturer & Destination

Cross-docking means there is less time between a customer receiving a product after being shipped out from the manufacturer. That means your customer has a shorter wait period between ordering and receiving their product. And you know what that means? Happy customers means more purchases in the future. You can’t go wrong!

It May be the Cheaper Option

For businesses that want to save on inventory handling and storage costs, cross-docking may be a great option to look into for saving money. As business owners ourselves, we understand the importance of saving money and streamlining processes as much as possible in order to focus money, time, and energy on other aspects of the business. 

If you have questions about how Forte Frozen can help you streamline logistics for your online business, contact us here. Also, be sure to check out our blog page for more tips and information about cold storage and e-commerce solutions!