Small shipment? High costs.

Many companies still transport separate partial deliveries, even though bundling often yields greater returns. Shipment consolidation reduces transport costs, lowers CO₂ emissions and gives you control over the supply chain. In this article, you can read about how to create smart bundles, what forms of consolidation are available, and what the practical benefits are.

Why consolidation is relevant now

Margins are under pressure. Customers expect reliability. And sustainability goals are becoming increasingly concrete. At the same time, it appears that many transport flows are unnecessarily fragmented. Every day, lorries leave half-full — simply because shipments are planned individually instead of being bundled.

There are gains to be made here. Not only financially, but also operationally and ecologically.

Shipment consolidation is a proven strategy that involves cleverly bundling multiple (partial) shipments. This means fewer trips, higher load factors, fewer stops and therefore greater efficiency.

What exactly is shipment consolidation?

Consolidation is all about combining shipments. Think of orders with similar destinations or delivery dates, coming from the same supplier or suppliers that are geographically closer to each other. Or shipments that go to the same unloading location and unloading locations that are close to each other. By transporting these shipments together, you reduce the number of vehicles on the road and make better use of loading capacity.

The advantages at a glance:

• Lower transport costs per unit
• Better CO₂ performance
• Less handling and fewer delays
• Better control of the supply chain

Three forms of consolidation

Depending on your type of transport, network and customer agreements, there are various ways to consolidate. At IDS, we use various practical forms, such as:

Financial consolidation

Shipments with the same loading and unloading location and the same carrier can be combined administratively. This leads to lower costs without physical bundling.

Geo-consolidation

Shipments with overlapping destinations within a certain radius (e.g. 50 km) are combined into one trip. This minimises the number of stops and increases efficiency.

Delivery window consolidation

If deliveries fall within a certain time window (e.g. 2–3 working days), bundling is possible. You continue to meet your delivery agreements, but plan more intelligently.

Practical example: Elementis saves 20%

A good example is the IDS Control Tower for Elementis, an international chemical company. By using a Transport Management System (TMS) and smart consolidation, Elementis achieved significant savings.

‘The system shows us whether shipments can be intelligently combined and consolidated,’ says Marco Hesselink-Kerkvliet, European Director of Purchasing and Transport at Elementis. ‘I think we can achieve a cost saving of 20%.’ In addition to lower costs, it also reduced pressure on operations and improved coordination with logistics partners.

How IDS helps with structural consolidation

Consolidation requires insight and control. At IDS, we use our 4PL platform to analyse transport data. We map patterns, volumes, carriers and frequency — and translate these into concrete new shipment profiles.

What you can expect from us:

• Discovery scan based on your data
• Design of consolidation schedules
• Integration into your TMS or supply chain planning
• Continuous optimisation and adjustment

We remain involved so that consolidation does not remain a one-off action, but becomes a structural savings strategy.

Want to consolidate too? Start with a discovery scan

Schedule a no-obligation consultation and discover how small adjustments can lead to structural savings and more sustainable operations. Small optimisations make a big difference — to your costs, your operations and your sustainability.