Patent ID: 8417550

Claim:
An inland freight management module on a computer processor for managing inland moves of freight from a plurality of vendor supply locations to port, the inland freight management module comprising: a profile maintenance component adapted for maintaining in a computer database an inland planning zone profile including information relating to a plurality of inland planning zones generated according to one or more customs districts; a load planning component including a programmed computer in communication with the profile maintenance component via a computer network and adapted for building partial load freight shipments from the plurality of vendor supply locations into container loads, the load planning component being programmed for planning field consolidation of one or more container loads via a multi-stop route between the plurality of vendor supply locations, the multi-stop route being generated within one of the plurality of inland planning zones; and a load routing and booking component including the programmed computer and one or more interactive menus for booking inland freight carriers for the multi-stop route, wherein the load planning component includes: a field consolidation subcomponent for identifying and selecting a first plurality of partial load freight shipments for field consolidation and multi-stop routing the first plurality of partial load freight shipments; and a central consolidation subcomponent for identifying and selecting a second plurality of partial load freight shipments and routing the second plurality of partial load freight shipments to a central consolidator.