Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/592176
T he Internet of ings is a term to describe the phenomenon that everyday items and events generate data and the data that is collected will assist in making those items or events more ecient, more dynamic and more intuitive. We hear terms such as "Big Data", "Meta Data" etc. Data has become part of our everyday life. Truckstop.com is no exception. Every day, Truckstop.com produces thousands of data points in the spot market. We know that having these data points available to you in an easy-to-read format could help your business become more ecient and more intuitive of the market. is is why Truckstop.com joined forces with FTR, a leader in transportation analysis to redesign and launch our new Trans4Cast. Jonathan Starks, Transportation Analysis Director with FTR writes: With the spot market covering nearly a third of all transactions that occur in the over-the-road truckload industry, FTR knew it was vital to get greater insights into this segment. e power of Truckstop.com's technology to capture information about each load is critical to give us a better understanding of how the spot market operates and helps us give our clients a better picture of how the market will move in the future. e spot market has very dierent characteristics than the baseload market (i.e. when using a set of core carriers to move their standard loads). is is especially true with respect to transaction costs and volatility. As transportation professionals and industry observers become more interested in the spot market it is essential to understand these characteristics in order to make best use of its capacity. In addition, the spot market handles the overow of both demand (loads) and supply (trucks), matching the two according to the latest, most extreme, market conditions. ose conditions frequently contain valuable clues about evolving market conditions. Industry professionals who can see and understand those clues will be able to anticipate changes in baseload conditions before their competitors. FTR's relationship with Truckstop.com allows us, for the rst time, to be able to capture immense amounts of transaction data and make that information readily available. Our relationship marries the data-rich computers of a rst-class load board with the analysis-rich computers and brains of a rst class forecasting house. Until recently, the spot market was a dark place, with each broker knowing their particular market but the other market players knowing nearly nothing. Due to the millions of data points aggregated by Truckstop.com we now know more about much of the spot market than we do about the contract market. is is a signicant reversal of what was known about the truckload market. e clear initial benet to you is in getting a concise collection of market summaries, using the data to give you a quick sense of the overall market place. You can use that to sanity check your individual spot or contract negotiations. Truckstop.com has been providing such summaries for several years in its Trans4Cast product. is product has now undergone a thorough redesign, courtesy of the FTR/Truckstop.com partnership. It includes detail by trailer type and region, plus the spot market's rst regular forecasts. Please watch for a webinar with Truckstop.com and FTR discussing the "Trans4Cast-What does it mean?" in November. Truckstop.com, FTR bring spot market to the front with Trans4Cast "THE POWER OF TRUCKSTOP.COM'S TECHNOLOGY TO CAPTURE INFORMATION ABOUT EACH LOAD IS CRITICAL TO GIVE US A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF HOW THE SPOT MARKET OPERATES..." "" 6 IT MAGAZINE Vo l . 9 , N o . 6