Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/625735
commercial carrier journal | january 2016 49 TECHNOLOGY: NEXT-GENERATION SPOT MARKET to fulfill nearly every load request from customers, says John Sliter, chief executive officer. Another way that online communities are changing is that mobile apps are being used to do more than just find loads. After owning a Los Angeles-based freight forwarding firm, Ivan Tsybaev moved to Silicon Valley to start a compa- ny called Trucker Path. The original plan was to develop a freight transportation marketplace platform for shippers, carri- ers and brokers to connect electronically and automate time-consuming tasks such as freight matching, price negotiations and load tracking. "When we started building a market- place, we realized we didn't have carriers or shippers," says Tsybaev. "We had no value for anyone." Trucker Path now is building what it describes as a new type of marketplace for shippers, brokers and carriers to automate freight transactions. The company started by building a large community of about 450,000 truck drivers and owner-opera- tors who now use its free mobile app for navigation and other useful tools. Trucker Path now is adding automated load searches to its trip planning app. The company is beta-testing a Web-based load board that interfaces with its smart- phone app to automate load searches by location. Trucker Path Truckloads is free to brokers and carriers during the initial testing phase, with a full release planned soon. The load board will continue to evolve into what Charles Myers, vice president of strategy and a member of Trucker Path's board of directors, describes as an optimized marketplace. The marketplace will be a "closed loop" system or private network, with tools that automate the entire freight transaction between brokers and pre-approved car- riers. Carriers can tender prepriced loads to themselves, as well as submit offers. All documentation will be electronic, from the initial load confirmation to tracking, proof of delivery and payment. Instant rate visibility By sharing instant pricing information, trucking is becoming more like the travel industry. Rather than exchanging rates with brokers and shippers manually through email, motor carriers are using technology to share dynamic rate infor- mation automatically. Sunset Pacific Transportation, a 135-truck carrier based in Chino, Calif., is using Project44's application program- ming interface for pricing to automate communications with brokers and ship- pers that are looking for spot quotes. The company consolidates parcels and less-than-truckload shipments into truckloads outbound from California to locations nationwide. Its return trips to California are full truckload moves. The API directs rates from Sunset Pa- cific's TMS system into the TMS systems of its shipper and broker customers. Sunset Pacific also uses the API in its corporate website to present rates to cus- tomers and prospects through an instant search tool. Sunset Pacific automatically gives customers prices based on current market conditions by using the current rate information entered in its TMS, says Josh Craig, president and chief operating officer. "We can change rates any time we wish," Craig says. "If we have a new cus- tomer with truckloads out of Minnesota, we can go in and lower our rates to Minnesota." Most of the company's rates – 75 per- cent of them – used to be contract rates. That share now is about 40 percent, with spot quotes making up the rest. Sunset Pacific also has brokerage authority and currently is working with Project44 to receive truckload rates directly from carriers for its consolidated loads out of California. Craig says the pricing engine API does not have a setup fee, which elimi- nates all risk of trying out the technology. Sunset Pacific pays Project44 a monthly fee based on the number of rate requests or "hits" it receives. To date, its biggest invoice has been $250 for one month. Besides saving time, Sunset Pacific now is able to reach new customers by being included in their automated requests for spot quotes, Craig says. Mobile apps With 90 percent of motor carriers operat- ing less than six trucks, mobile apps give brokers and shippers a way to automate communications with owner-operators and small fleets. A number of technolo- LoadSmart gives shippers instant pricing for hundreds of thousands of lanes for immediate booking. Carriers that use LoadSmart are required to have tracking capabilities. One option is to use a mobile app. Cargo Chief's mobile app, Cargo Locate, is designed to make it easy for carriers to find loads and track shipments.