Full truck load (FTL)
The vehicle is dedicated to your cargo and drives from your collection point to your delivery point. Fewer touch points, faster transit, more predictable timing — and you pay for the whole vehicle whether it is full or not.
Less than truck load (LTL)
Your consignment is consolidated with others. It is cheaper for small volumes, but the cargo is handled more often, transit is longer, and the schedule depends on other people's freight.
How to decide
If the consignment fills most of a vehicle, is fragile, is high-value, or has a hard deadline, take FTL. If it is a few pallets, robust and not urgent, LTL usually wins on cost.
The middle ground
Regular smaller volumes on the same lane can often be consolidated into scheduled full loads, which gives FTL handling at closer to LTL cost.