Seasonal demand swings are a fact of life in freight. The goal is not to eliminate them—it is to plan so your network stays stable when volumes spike or drop.
Start with forecasting: lane history, customer promotions, and local calendar effects. Even imperfect forecasts let you plan drivers, equipment, and coverage earlier.
Build flexible capacity options: core carriers/drivers for reliability, and overflow options for peaks. Over-reliance on the spot market during peak season is where costs jump.
Prepare facilities too. Peak season failures often happen at docks: congestion, missed appointments, and dwell. Extending hours or pre-staging can prevent bottlenecks.
Use real-time visibility to manage exceptions: early alerts on delays, detention risk, and ETA variance help you protect service when everything is tight.
After the season, run a review: what lanes broke, what customers over/under-forecasted, and what operational changes would have reduced chaos next time.