FreightWaves names nine Shipper of Choice winners at F3 in Chattanooga

Nine shippers picked up FreightWaves' Shipper of Choice awards on Monday, Oct. 26, at the F3: Future of Freight Festival in Chattanooga — and the common thread wasn't technology spend. It was the unglamorous stuff: fast unloads, honest payments and appointment windows that actually mean something.

Craig Fuller, founder and CEO of FreightWaves and SONAR, presented the honors at the F3 Awards Dinner at The Signal. The award evaluates shippers on data connectivity, ease of doing business, carrier relationships and facility operations, with winners determined by industry voting — specifically, by the practices that make companies preferred partners for trucking carriers.

The commercial logic is straightforward. Long waits at docks, unreliable scheduling and tangled administrative processes eat into drivers' productive hours and cap the number of loads a truck can turn in a week. Shippers that fix this tend to get capacity when it's scarce, and better rates when it isn't.

"All of them have made investments to improve the lives of our drivers," Fuller said. "(They've) gone out of their way to improve the lives of the carriers and their operators."

What did each winner actually do?

Schreiber Foods. The dairy and food manufacturer runs predictable procurement: its annual freight bid lands at the same time every year regardless of market conditions, and it prioritizes carriers already hauling its freight. It also trains plant staff on hours-of-service rules, uses drop trailers to cut detention and pays most carriers on net-35-to-45-day terms.

Kraft Heinz. Weekly scorecard calls, in-person business reviews and anonymous carrier feedback collected more often than quarterly. The company also handles detention and layovers fairly and brought carriers into building a new claims intake portal before launch.

Aldi USA. One carrier moves roughly 150 loads a week into the grocer and reports detention on only a handful of shipments. Aldi also gives carriers clear feedback on freight bids, so they know where they stand.

Whole Foods Market. Carriers report unloads typically take under two hours. The retailer shares research-backed food-safety practices — including data-backed transit temperature guidance for cherries meant to extend shelf life — and rewards consistent service: one carrier has hauled a key portion of its turkey program for three straight years.

Sealed Air. The packaging company has invested in drop-trailer pools, cross-border transport and API connections for tracking and billing. When a driver once traveled 400 miles with the wrong freight, a plant changed its operating hours so he could return and fix it.

Agri-Mark/Cabot Creamery. Drivers typically spend about 45 minutes at the farmer-owned cooperative's facilities. Appointments can be booked or changed via an online portal, staff respond on weekends, and a quoting tool shows carriers how their rates compare with market prices.

North American Stainless. The steel producer honors contracted rates and volumes even when spot prices dip lower. It offers drop-and-hook and preloaded trailers free to carriers — rare in flatbed — pays on net-30 terms and assigns every carrier a dedicated logistics coordinator.

Henkel. The maker of Loctite and Persil won for data connectivity and transportation partnerships across North American industrial and consumer operations that span a genuinely diverse supply chain.

Nestlé USA. Recognized for its distribution network and supply chain relationships, the company often absorbs retailers' distribution and logistics responsibilities to keep product flowing reliably.

Univar Solutions. The chemical and ingredients distributor — solvents, resins, surfactants, serving everything from agriculture to pharma — pairs a broad distribution network with logistics and formulation services and emphasizes data-connected supply chains.

Why should a shipiper's competitor care?

Detention minutes, payment terms and appointment discipline are levers any shipper can pull without a capital project. The winners here show the playbook: fix the dock, pay predictably, communicate weekly — and carriers will remember you at the next capacity squeeze. Expect these practices to keep shaping how capacity gets allocated as long as freight markets stay tight.