Get Freight Broker Training in Connecticut
Home to the three deepwater seaports of Bridgeport, New Haven, and New London, and sitting between Boston and New York, Connecticut has an important transportation industry. If you’d like to get started in a great career, helping the logistics of moving all those goods around, freight brokering could be just the job for you. On this page you’ll get all the information you need on freight broking training courses, license requirements and job prospect information for the state of Connecticut.
Connecticut’s busiest port is New London, handling over 100,000 tons of cargo a month. Freight brokers are responsible for matching the shippers of these goods with motor carriers who can deliver the cargo to its destination.
Getting a freight broker license in Connecticut
Freight broker licenses are issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), which is part of the United States Department of Transport (U.S. DOT). The state of Connecticut imposes no additional requirements on freight brokers operating in its jurisdiction.
In order to get a freight broker license, you must first register you must first register your business with U.S. DOT. They will assign you a number. Once you have the DOT number, you can then apply to FMCSA for your license. The application has a cost of $300 and processing time is approximately four to six weeks. Before they issue your MC Authority, as the license is called, you will need demonstrate a) that you have a $75,000 surety bond, b) that you have adequate insurance for cargo and general liability and c) that you have designated a freight agent in each of the states in which you wish to do business. This is important for Connecticut brokers, as the state is small and most cargo will move through several states.
The surety bond has a cost in terms of an annual premium payable to a surety bond company.
Once you have completed these steps, you have become a freight broker.
Unlike freight brokers, freight agents have no requirement to obtain a license and therefore need no surety or insurance. While the jobs of a freight broker and an agent may be similar, freight brokers assume more risk as they are responsible for handling payments.
Neither the state of Connecticut or the federal authorities place any education or training requirements on becoming a freight broker, other than the need to hold a high school diploma, GED or equivalent. However, if you want to be a success in this business, we highly recommend freight broker training. It will prepare you with the tools of the trade.
What will I learn on a freight broker training course?
A freight brokerage has shippers as clients. Those clients have goods that need moving to warehousing near their customers. Carriers are either trucking companies with a fleet of vehicles, or, as is more often the case, an owner operator with one vehicle. Freight brokers need to find the appropriate vehicle to handle the load depending on the type of goods (for example, food stuffs need to be moved in refrigerated containers) the destination, delivery date and whether the cargo is a full load or a partial truckload.
Freight brokers negotiate the shipping rate and conditions between the shipper and carrier, draw up the agreement. They then monitor the delivery to its destination, and handle any claims that may arise for, say, late delivery, short delivery or damaged goods.
The best freight broker schools provide training in the legal and regulatory aspects of the freight broking transaction, how to negotiate the shipment, agree the rates, draw up the contract and handle claims. They also teach how to run your own freight brokerage operation, from record-keeping and accounting and financial control to customer service. Additionally, and importantly, they will also provide training in sales and marketing as this is a highly competitive business.
Freight Broker Schools in Connecticut
Over 2,000 colleges in the U.S. work in partnership with Ed2go and Brooke Transportation Training Solutions to provide a first-class, instructor-led online freight broker/agent tgraining program with 180 hours of course time. The program takes approximately six months and in Connecticut is offered in conjunction with Capital Community College in Hartford, Middlesex Community College in Middletown and Tunxis Community College in Farmington. It’s also available at Springfield Technical Community College and Westfield State University in neighboring Massachusetts.
To find a college near you, enter your zip code in the box below:
Load Training and Freight Movers School also offer short five-day intensive programs, but none is currently available in the state of Connecticut. They also offer online broker training.
While there is no obligation to have it, the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA) offers a freight broker certification program. The association has created the Certified Transportation Brokers (CTB) exam, and this qualification should improve your standing before potential clients. The TIA offers a combined advanced training and exam package for $1,050 for members or $1,325.
How much do freight brokers make in Connecticut?
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics does not currently report freight broker salaries for Connecticut, but they do for Massachusetts. There, entry-level salaries for those with little training or experience average $27,420 and reach $62,240 per year for senior brokers. The mean salary for all employees is $44,840. It should be noted that freight brokers typically receive commission payments for each shipment brokered, and these amounts can significantly increase total compensation.
Where to work as a freight broker or agent
Headquartered in Greenwich, CT, XPO Logistics is an international Supply Chain Logistics company with around 100,000 employees and revenue in the billions. Other national logistics companies also have a presence in Connecticut.
Most jobs will be around the larger cities of Bridgeport, New Haven, Hartford, Stanford and Waterbury.
You can also find freight broker training in New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont.