Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/696201
26 // OWNER OPERATOR // JULY 2016 Feature Story C.H. Robinson: Carrier performance program for first access to freight, online portal updates, more By Todd Dills The C.H. Robinson freight middleman has been at work fitting user portals' technology to a broader strategy shift that "goes back a number of years," says company President for North American Surface Transportation Bob Biesterfeld. Biesterfeld outlined some of the changes carriers of all sizes doing business with C.H. Robinson are seeing now in a late April blog post. When I got on the phone with him recently, he noted that the origin of changes, in effect streamlining carriers' access to the Robinson freight universe and bringing the domestic freight program into the company's global "Navisphere" branding, goes back four years. Biesterfeld and others at the company "sat down and saw the landscape was changing for 3PLs and truckers. We wanted to add value for our [shipper] customers and also back to the carriers." Part of that included an internal as- piration to recognized by the carriers contract- ing with C.H. Robinson on freight movements as "their 3PL of choice," he adds. Conversely, the company wanted to be able to deliver the "same level of recognition for the carriers," many of them owner-operators, of course. "What we know is that 85 percent of our freight is with carriers with less than 100 pieces of equipment," and that new own- er-operators contract with the broker daily. What's valuable in a brokerage service for owner-operators is "a lot different from a lot of the publicly traded companies," Biesterfeld adds. The company surveyed its carrier partners, and the results showed "carriers wanted ease of use," he says. Keep tech simple. But an important theme also emerged — "that they needed a better way to plan ahead and be consistent, avoiding empty miles and having earlier access to freight" to reduce situations where they're stuck somewhere now worried how to get home. Carriers also noted a desire for opportuni- ties with their broker partners for "more con- sistency in volume and rates," and access to freight mattered a lot to small carriers. While "more and more load boards are becoming available," Biesterfeld says, "if you can see a load and you can't get it, it's worthless." C.H. Robinson has launched its Carrier Ad- vantage program as a response. Carriers who work closely with C.H. Robinson, meeting