IN THE NEWS: Reclassifying LTL Changes | Check Call with Jameson Goforth

FreightWaves
March 4, 2025
Mary O'Connell

FROM THE INTERVIEW: Today, we welcome Jameson Goforth, VP of LTL at ITS Logistics. Thanks for joining us, Jameson," says O'Connell.

"Thank you, Mary. I'm excited to be on," replies Goforth.

"I'm excited for today because we get to go back to my roots, we get to go back to all things LTL, and it will always carry a soft spot in my heart because, once you understand LTL, it's really weird and complicated at first, but once you're in, you're in. It unlocks a new level of understanding, like what a discount is and what a rate base is," says O'Connell.

....

"There have recently been some changes from the National Motor Freight Traffic Association (NMFTA) around the different freight classification systems. Do you mind breaking down how these classification ratings have changed at a super high level?" says O'Connell.

"Let's talk about the National Motor Freight Classification (NMFC) changes that are coming up in July," says Goforth. "To your point, it's a class-based system where every commodity has a class assigned to it by the NMFTA through the NMFC classification system. So, they have a 5-6 digit code that tells the carrier there's the class assigned to this commodity based on a ton of characteristics, whether that be stowability or density, or a number of risk factors that tries to naturalize each product from a costing perspective. But there have become tens of thousands of these NMFC codes, and it's really difficult for a shipper to understand their correct class. What if I have multiple commodities that are on the same palate or the same shipment? The NMFC has done a great job in that respect with these changes of trying to take away the uncertainty and move most of these to a density-based model. So all you will have to know is the weight and dimensions of what you're shipping, and you can pretty quickly get to a class that helps carriers understand pricing a bit better and helps the shippers more naturally get to a class that makes sense for their commodity."

"I could not applaud this change more as someone has fought over whether granola is classified as a foodstuff or a prepared cereal. Or better yet, when a shipper says, 'Here are all the NMFC codes we have for this one product.' I think this is going to help a lot more than it's going to hurt after the initial change," says O'Connell.

"I could not agree more; there's a need for a class-based system, but we need to make it easier for shippers to understand how they should classify their freight."

Watch the full video here or listen to the conversation wherever you get your podcasts.