What is load board?
A load board is a marketplace where brokers post freight that needs moving and carriers search for loads to cover. Most are subscription services.
Postings carry the origin and destination, equipment type, weight, pickup date and often a suggested rate. Carriers and dispatchers search by lane and equipment.
Load boards are where spot freight is matched. Contract freight, booked in advance at agreed rates, largely does not appear on them.
What it means on a dispatch desk
A load board tells you what is available, never what is worth taking. The same posting is visible to everyone searching that lane, so anything still there after an hour is priced below what the market cleared at. Desks that build direct broker relationships use boards to fill gaps; desks that live on boards compete purely on who answers fastest and take the margin that implies.
Related terms
- LaneA lane is a regular origin-to-destination pairing that a carrier runs repeatedly, such as Dallas to Atlanta. Rates, volumes and seasonality are all discussed per lane.
- LinehaulLinehaul is the base charge for moving freight from origin to destination, excluding fuel surcharge and every accessorial. It is the core of the rate.
- BackhaulA backhaul is a load that moves a truck back toward its home base or toward the next place it wants to be, rather than further away. It exists to stop the return trip running empty.
- Cost per mileCost per mile is a carrier's total operating cost divided by total miles driven, including empty ones. It is the number that decides whether a given rate is profitable.
Put load board in context when researching carrier leads by state, including Texas, California and Illinois.
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