Dive Brief:
- The National Motor Freight Traffic Association is seeking comment on a series of classification changes, part of a push to reduce unnecessary complexity.
- The latest iteration of an update to an existing mixed-freight rule details how carriers could use density calculations for inaccurate or insufficient bills of lading for mixed-commodity freight, i.e. when a pallet has mutliple classes of different items.
- Comments on the changes can be sent through 5 p.m. Eastern time on Sept. 23 through an online form, email or mail, and a public meeting on the matter will be held Sept. 29. A decision could be finalized Oct. 9.
Dive Insight:
Proposed changes to a mixed-commodity rule for LTL stakeholders could bring more uniformity and predictability for carriers and shippers alike.
The revisions include bringing the mixed-commodity rule within a July 2025 classification overhaul, according to Kevin Brink, VP of LTL Solutions for global freight forwarder and 3PL Kuehne+Nagel.
The July 2025 classification overhaul shifted thousands of items more toward full-scale density-based classification, but Brink noted that it didn’t address mixed-commodity freight.
“They're trying to drive more towards uniformity and more towards removing the ambiguity out of the system,” Brink said of the NMFTA, adding how the organization is aligning more with a parcel pricing system. “It's really just, ‘Hey, we don't care what's in the box. There's some exceptions to that, but we just want we want to know what the density is.’”
The NMFTA has noted how the existing mixed-freight rule is meant to protect carriers when there’s inadequate information listed because figuring out the classification of individual items in a complex mixed pallet costs time.
Generally, when faced with insufficiently documented freight, carriers will opt to charge freight at the heighest class under the existing rule, putting the burden on a shipper to dispute the matter, Brink said. And inconsistencies across carriers and even within a carrier’s network can emerge, such as one billing clerk’s interpretation tendency versus another staffer’s.
The proposal could reduce that inconsistency, according to Brink. “Theoretically, if you fill out the paperwork appropriately, there would be a lot less interpretation from the motor freight carrier side.”
