In plain English
Instead of running a truck between every pair of cities, an LTL carrier sends freight to a hub and re-sorts it there. Trailers run full on every leg, which keeps cost per pound low.
The trade-off is that freight can travel indirectly and takes extra touches.
Why it matters when you ship
It explains why two nearby cities can have a transit time of several days: the freight may go through a hub hundreds of miles away.
Example
A pallet from Tampa to Orlando may go north to a hub before coming back south, because there is no direct trailer between the two terminals.
Related terms
Hub-and-spoke: common questions
Why does LTL take longer than a direct truck?
Because freight passes through terminals and sometimes a hub, and waits to be consolidated, instead of going straight to the destination.
Cite this page
Cite as: Transportli, “Hub-and-Spoke: Meaning in Freight Networks”, https://transportli.com/glossary/hub-and-spoke/, updated November 11, 2026.
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