Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/490954
April 2015 |
Overdrive
| 29
The program's app enables shippers to
connect with available drivers seamlessly.
GPS functionality on the phone enables
in-transit visibility for shipper and receiv-
er. In-phone cameras serve as proof of
pickup and delivery. Standardized rates
translate to quick payment upon delivery.
In the truckload market, new players
are lining up to be the "Uber of truck-
ing." Whether any – or none – will reach
the scope of the taxi service, becoming
a true disruption in an industry in which
independent owner-operators and smart-
phone-based load-matching technology
already are fairly prominent, is anybody's
guess. In less-than-truckload operations,
elements of the so-called "sharing econo-
my" have been on the rise for years.
HAPPENING NOW:
UBERIZATION IN
LOCAL TRUCKING
Victoriano Molina's California Less
Than Trailer Load business runs eight
26-foot box trucks to in-state warehous-
es, residential properties and businesses.
Molina got his start in transporta-
tion running Circuit City distribution
centers. When the economy tanked for
the retailer in 2008, "I got a call from
a former home-delivery manager at
Circuit City" who'd moved on to the
Crate & Barrel operation in need of
third-party capacity.
Molina bought a 26-foot box truck,
hired a good driver he knew and went
to work doing home delivery for Crate
& Barrel. The business has prospered,
particularly within the last year as he's
dedicated three of his company's units
to Cargomatic's on-demand brokerage
platform for local trucking.
Company cofounder Brett Parker says
Cargomatic works for local truckers in
several key ways. The technology speeds
up a lot of the transactional elements
of dispatch, load search and selection,
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payment. These were once the province
of time-consuming phone calls and shuf-
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cab. This is much like what Uber does
for its drivers, or what smartphone apps
from brokers, carriers and load boards
do in some ways for truckload haulers.
"We want to work with the indepen-
dents in the local market to give them
opportunities with the bigger shippers,"
Parker says. That can mean moving
high volumes of freight from warehouse
to warehouse or direct to the consumer.
They're working with "forwarders,
brokers, the 3PL warehouse, the retailer
[and] the carriers themselves," Parker
says. As the company has inked agree-
ments with more such entities, broad-
casting availability and truck location
via the Cargomatic smartphone app has
led to new opportunities for Molina and
California LTL.
Suppose one of his trucks on the
road has capacity for two empty pallets.
"Cargomatic knows that," and entities
with freight in the system have the
ability to see it. "They know where my
driver is, they know what capacity he
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size parameters is in the driver's lane,
"worst case, they give him a call to do
it. Otherwise, it's automating dispatch,
which is pretty cool."
It's hard to spend a lot of time market-
ing as an independent hauler, Parker says.
"We want to be able to do that for them."
The company recently announced $8
million in venture capital funding, includ-
ing prominent trucking players. Active
only in California today, Parker says it's
going to market soon in and around New
York City, and then in major cities such as
Atlanta and Chicago.
ON THE WAY:
UBERIZATION IN
LONG-HAUL TRUCKLOAD