When you’re managing high-volume shipping operations using NetSuite, freight—especially less-than-truckload (LTL)—shouldn’t be the slowest or most complicated part of the process. And yet, for many businesses, it is. Why? Because most tools weren’t built with LTL freight shipping in mind. That’s where multi-carrier shipping software, such as Descartes Pacejet, makes all the difference.
If your business relies on NetSuite and you’re looking for ways to streamline LTL shipping, reduce shipping costs, and improve speed and accuracy, this guide is for you.
Why does LTL freight shipping become a bottleneck in NetSuite?
For most NetSuite users shipping less-than-truckload (LTL) freight, bottlenecks occur because of:
– Manual rate shopping between carriers
– Time-consuming paperwork generation
– No visibility into costs or delivery performance
– Errors from re-entering shipment data
This results in slower fulfillment, higher labor costs, and missed savings on freight shipping.
Let’s be honest, LTL shipping is complicated. You’ve got freight class data, pallet dimensions, packing rules, and BOLs to manage, often through disconnected portals and systems. These complex shipping needs require a specialized feature set to process shipments efficiently in NetSuite.
The good news is that many of these time-consuming manual workflows can be automated. You can optimize LTL freight shipping workflows for NetSuite with the right tools.
How to optimize LTL freight shipping for NetSuite
To optimize LTL freight shipping for NetSuite, use enterprise resource planning (ERP)-integrated multi-carrier shipping software, such as Descartes Pacejet. This type of purpose-built solution lets you automate, consolidate, and simplify freight operations within NetSuite by filling the gaps in the platform’s native feature set.
Here’s how you can use multi-carrier shipping software integrations to streamline your LTL freight workflows for NetSuite:
Rate shop LTL carriers for NetSuite orders
Use a multi-carrier shipping software integration to connect your NetSuite environment to the largest built-in freight carrier network, including over 93% of North American LTL carriers. This allows you to:
– Instantly compare rates and delivery times from multiple carriers for NetSuite orders
– Automate carrier selection based on cost, region, or speed
– Access real-time quotes from thousands of services, including direct LTL and third-party logistics (3PL) options
Why it works: Manually comparing rates takes too much time, so many businesses skip this important step and lose money. In contrast, Descartes Pacejet users see a 10–30% reduction in shipping costs due to real-time multi-carrier rate shopping for NetSuite orders.
Real-world example: Home City, an omnichannel importer of home textiles with products sold under multiple brand names, conducts automated rate shopping and ships thousands of orders a day with a 1-day processing time.
See how Home City handles multimodal NetSuite shipping
Automate LTL freight paperwork to eliminate manual entry
When you use ERP-integrated shipping software to automate LTL freight paperwork, you can stop toggling between spreadsheets and portals to generate bills of lading (BOLs) and shipping labels. Instead, with a built-for-NetSuite solution such as Descartes Pacejet, you can automatically:
– Generate BOLs, packing lists, and export documentation
– Print GS1-compliant and branded labels with shipment-specific data
– Apply your own rules to trigger paperwork for specific customers or order types
Why it works: Many shippers overlook automation because they think it will require expensive custom development work. However, Descartes Pacejet’s built-in Word-like editor makes it easy to customize documents and labels, then automate paperwork. There’s no HTML or dev time needed.
Real-world example: MFS Supply automated LTL and parcel shipping directly within NetSuite using Descartes Pacejet. Instead of manually entering data for each shipment, the team now generates the bill of lading and shipping labels automatically in seconds, reducing errors and accelerating fulfillment.
See how MFS Supply automated LTL freight paperwork in NetSuite
Centralize shipping visibility across carriers and modes
Multimodal shippers often spend a significant amount of time managing shipping-related information on multiple disconnected platforms. Then, they must update NetSuite records manually. This is a tedious and error-prone way to handle data.
In contrast, a NetSuite-integrated multi-carrier shipping solution, such as Descartes Pacejet, gives you one system of record for shipping-related data from multiple sites, carriers, and shipping modes, all from within NetSuite. You gain real-time visibility into:
– Shipment tracking, documentation, and status across every carrier and mode
– Freight spend and shipping workflow key performance indicators (KPIs)
– Carrier reliability and delivery metrics and reports
Why it works: There’s no manual data entry. Whether you’re using parcel shipping, LTL, or 3PL services, Descartes Pacejet integrates all platfoms and compiles all shipping-related information into one system of record within NetSuite.
Real-world example: Ursource warehouses and distributes nationally recognized janitorial and cleaning products in bulk with next-day shipping. They optimized their NetSuite shipping with multi-carrier shipping software Descartes Pacejet and now save $200,000 per year.
See how ursource optimized NetSuite shipping for parcel and LTL
What are the best freight shipping integrations for NetSuite?
Popular freight and less-than-truckload (LTL) freight shipping integrations for NetSuite include transportation management systems (TMS) such as:
1. Descartes Pacejet
2. FreightPOP
3. Kuebix
4. ShipHawk
5. ShipJunction
These systems connect with NetSuite to optimize shipping for parcel, LTL, full truckload (FTL), and other complex shipping requirements. With business automation rules, multi-carrier rate shopping, and seamless data flow, they equip high-volume shippers for scale.
Descartes Pacejet stands out from the others because it can help NetSuite users achieve 20% lower costs, 80% less labor, 3x faster fulfillment, and 99% error-free results.
Key takeaways
- Manual processes slow down your NetSuite LTL shipping workflows.
- ERP-integrated multi-carrier, multimodal shipping software eliminates bottlenecks.
- Descartes Pacejet automates rate shopping, paperwork, and fulfillment for NetSuite orders.
- NetSuite becomes the central hub for all shipping-related processes and data.
- Our customers can cut freight costs by 10–30% and labor by up to 80%.
Ready to get started? Request a demo