In the forwarding business, the Hauptlauf is the section in which many individual shipments are combined by the consolidator to form a consolidated shipment.
The consolidated shipment is loaded onto a truck, train, barge, ocean-going vessel or aircraft and transported to the Empfangsspediteur. The Hauptlauf is completed either by a third party carrier or by the consolidator. The Hauptlauf starts the moment the truck leaves the consolidator. While pre-carriage and on-carriage are usually carried out by smaller local transport and distribution vehicles, the Hauptlauf is carried out by long-distance vehicles, which have a larger transport capacity.
