The portion titled Shipment and Claim Summary has been taken from the quarterly reports that participating carriers submit to GSA. The number under the heading total shipments represents the number of shipments reported to GSA by participating carriers, based on the quarterly reports. This is the only category under Shipment Data that is not an average. Under the heading average overall weight, the number you see represents an overall average of all shipments reported to GSA by a carrier. The average cost per 100 pounds represents the overall cost per 100 pounds on all traffic reported by a carrier. The latter two categories includes all interstate, intrastate, and offshore traffic combined to obtain an average.

The claim data have also been taken from the quarterly reports submitted to GSA. Under the heading total claims, this number has been taken directly from the carrier's reports. The claims ratio represents the frequency of claims to shipments by a particular carrier. In this example, the ratio is 23.91%. On the average, a claim is filed on about 24 out of each 100 shipments, or a frequency of approximately 1 in 5.

The average amount claimed and average amount settled represent the overall average (interstate, intrastate, and offshore) that employees have filed claims against a carrier and the amount the claim was settled for by the carrier. In some instances, the amount settled may be greater than the amount claimed since settlements occur after the claim and may fall outside the report period.

The last two elements are the average amount claimed per pound and the average amount settled per pound. These values were computed using a carrier's claimed and settled data along with their average weight of shipments. You may again notice that some carriers show a larger amount in the settled per pound category than the claimed per pound. The reasons mentioned in the previous paragraph would again apply for these two categories.