News: Loadsmart Celebrates 10 Years of Innovation and Resilience

Chicago, IL, August 7, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ten years ago, Felipe Capella and Ricardo Salgado began a journey in a small New York City apartment that would grow into a significant presence in the logistics industry.

In 2014, Capella spent six months sleeping on Salgado’s couch as they laid the groundwork for Loadsmart. At the time of its founding, Loadsmart focused solely on providing Freight Brokerage services to shippers. It was the first company to offer instant pricing and booking for Full Truckload (FTL) shipments in the US, with TMS API integrations to enable a fully dynamic flow. This practice, once seen as risky and bound to fail, has become standard in the industry.

The journey hasn’t been without its challenges. Many early competitors in the freight brokerage space either pivoted or closed their doors, while legacy players decided to act as resellers of third-party technology. Loadsmart, however, has managed to stay the course by evolving its strategy to include broader logistics solutions with flavors of managed services and proprietary shipper-facing software. This more comprehensive approach, with the right mix of technology and services, has helped the company remain resilient and continue to grow even in challenging times when traditional players present year-over-year decline.

Today, Loadsmart’s logistics offerings span Planning, Optimization, and Execution to Gate, Yard, and Dock solutions, ending with Audit & Pay capabilities. The company deploys the best mix of services and technology customized to the shipper, no matter the size. From SMB shippers looking for single-point products to enterprise-grade organizations with complex and unique supply chain challenges, Loadsmart can craft a bespoke solution or plug-in a ready-made technology set without overcomplicated implementation.

Loadsmart’s next-gen logistics solutions currently include a broad spectrum that covers a shipper's needs from the time an order is placed to the final invoice of the shipment. Solution areas include:

Assessment and Analysis

• Freight Planning and Forecasting
• Network Assessment and Optimization
• FreightIntel AI
• Rate Analysis and Benchmarking

Planning and Execution

• Vendor Portal - Order Initiation
• Tracking and Visibility
• Integration Hub
• Real-time Carrier and Broker Spot Bidding
• Carrier Sourcing, Contracting, and Management
• Mode/Route Optimization
• RFP and Mini-bids
• Order Consolidation
• Brokerage & Managed Transportation

Gate, Yard, and Dock

• Computer Vision Asset Tracking
• Driver Check-in/Out
• Dock Scheduling
• Yard Management

Audit and Analytics

• Freight Audit
• Analytics and Data as a Service
• Market Intelligence and Econometrics

Rather than seeking traditional west coast venture capital, Loadsmart chose to partner with strong logistics players for investment. Companies like Maersk, Ports America, CSX, TFI, and The Home Depot have provided crucial support, helping Loadsmart to expand its capabilities.

Financial discipline has always played a key role in Loadsmart’s success. With more than one hundred million dollars in cash available, the company is well-positioned to continue investing in new technology and expanded services. These investments include order optimization, vendor portals, yard management, AI intelligence and payment solutions, all aimed at reducing the freight spend of their customers while digitizing their transportation processes.

Reflecting on their journey, Felipe Capella notes, “Our experience shows the importance of combining industry knowledge with deep technology expertise. The new generation of supply chain and transportation executives are looking for partners that can help them digitize their processes while servicing their logistics needs - and very few companies possess both capabilities like we do. After 10 years, it’s in our DNA.”

About Loadsmart

Loadsmart offers logistics solutions powered by industry experts and next-gen technology that lower costs, increase efficiency, and digitize transportation. From Planning, Optimization, and Execution to Gate, Yard, and Dock solutions, ending with Audit & Pay capabilities, we deploy the best mix of services and technology to empower your business to move more with less. For more information, please visit https://loadsmart.com.