Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/591405
INDUSTRY INSIDER As a data company, Cargo Chief also uses aggregate lane and pricing informa- tion to direct its sales efforts and to provide feedback to its carrier partners for where to re-position their trucks to get the best-paying loads, he says. The savings from making freight trans- actions more effi cient and intelligent are passed onto shippers and carriers, he says. Earlier this month, Cargo Chief an- nounced it had raised $10 million to further its growth, product development and expansion into additional markets. It has between 300 and 500 customers and thousands of carriers with daily access to 500,000 pieces of available equipment, he added. The Expedia of trucking In many ways, trucking is becoming like the travel industry with sites like Expedia, Priceline and Kayak that give travelers instant pricing to make purchas- ing decisions. Rather than exchange rates with brokers and shippers manually through email, mo- tor carriers are starting to use technology to automate the sharing of dynamic rate information, much like airlines do. Sunset Pacifi c Transportation, a 135-truck carrier based in Chino, Calif., is using a pricing engine API from Project44 to automate communications with ship- pers and brokers 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, which stands for application programming interface, directs rates from Sunset Pacifi c's transportation manage- ment system into the TMS systems of its shipper and broker customers. Sunset Pacifi c also uses the API in its corporate website to present rates to customers and prospects through an instant search tool. Josh Craig, president and chief operat- ing offi cer, says Sunset Pacifi c gives customers prices based on current market conditions, automatically, by using the cur- rent rate information entered in its TMS. "We can change rates anytime we wish," he says. "If we have a new customer with truckloads out of Minnesota, we can go in and lower our rates to Minnesota." Seventy fi ve percent of the company's rates used to be contract rates. Today that share is about 40 percent with the remainder spot quotes. Sunset Pacifi c also has brokerage authority and is currently working with Project44 to receive truckload rates through the API directly from carriers for its consolidated loads out of California. Craig says the pricing engine API from Project44 does not have a setup fee which eliminates all risk for trying out the technology. The company pays a monthly charge 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 Pacifi c is now able to reach customers that it had not done business with before by being included in these companies' automated requests for spot quotes, he says. F 14 www.FlatbedTruckingJobs.com November 2015