Category: Technology

[NEWS] Loadsmart Announces $19 Million Investment for Major Drayage Initiative with Maersk and Ports America

Matt Fleming1 Comment

The largest U.S. port operator joins Maersk as a Loadsmart investor

New York, NY—Loadsmart, a digital freight technology company, today announced they have raised $19 million to embark on a major initiative to improve the flow of freight through American ports. Ports America, the largest terminal operator and stevedore in the U.S., joins the world’s largest container ship and supply vessel operator’s investment arm Maersk Growth as an investor. This latest round follows Loadsmart’s series A round in late 2018, bringing total funding to date to $53.3 million.

The investment will be leveraged for Loadsmart’s new Smart Drayage initiative, helping industry participants rethink the flow of shipping containers through marine terminals and develop a free-flow model to accelerate the transit of goods through the largest ports in America.

“The free-flow model moves the industry from container-specific to container-agnostic. It means that truck drivers will be given the best container available when they arrive at the port, having pre-agreed with a specific mileage band trip” said Ricardo Salgado, CEO and co-founder of Loadsmart. “As a result, we project that truck drivers will be able to reduce their time to get in and out of the port by at least 25%. At the same time, we estimate that port operators will be able to reduce container shuffles by at least 50%, which is a huge efficiency gain.”

Recent Freightwaves research shows that there are more than 60 million drayage movements each year in North America, representing a $50 billion plus market with ports contributing 26 percent to the U.S. gross domestic product. Yet, due to lack of efficiency and transparency, 15 million man-hours and 2.3 billion gallons of fuel are wasted due to trucker congestion at ports. 

Maersk alone moves around 13 million containers a year, or around 15% of the world’s container market. Ports America operates 33 port terminals in 22 cities in the U.S. and moves around 6.7 million containers in and out of the country.

“At Maersk Growth we want to define the future of trade,” said Sune Stilling, head of Maersk Growth. “From the onset, we recognized the synergies between Maersk and Loadsmart and our joint opportunity to drive change through technology. Our partnership will increase inland business opportunities to add value to our clients.”

As part of the new drayage initiative, Loadsmart will leverage the data, expertise and industry knowledge of major industry players.

“As the only tri-coastal terminal operator, we are focused on providing value to supply chains through transparent and efficient terminal operations and in our pursuit to provide our customers with best-in-class service, we need to rethink how goods are moved more efficiently. Streamlining the drayage movement benefits our trucking community with faster turn times while providing cargo owners with better visibility and more efficient container retrievals” said Mark Montgomery, President and CEO, Ports America. “

The announcement comes together with the release of Loadsmart Drayage Instant Booking. The new service is available via Loadsmart’s website and enables small and medium sized shippers to book a drayage truck in seconds. For enterprise accounts Loadsmart offers an API integrated solution. 

Aside from Ports America and Maersk Growth, Chromo and Connor Capital (who also took part in the firm’s Series A funding last October) participated in this intermodal-focused investment, bringing the total investment in Loadsmart to date to $53.4 million.

“The addition of drayage to our established expertise in truckload services allows Loadsmart to provide integrated logistics services through technology. Our goal is to offer shippers of all sizes access to a fully integrated, seamless multi-modal end-to-end experience,” said Felipe Capella, chief product officer and co-founder, Loadsmart.

“Chromo is here for the long haul. We are fully supportive of Loadsmart’s executive team in their technology-first approach, which will now become the standard for drayage as well,” said Marcelo Ferreira, managing partner, Chromo.

“Logistics is a trillion dollar industry worldwide which requires more technology and efficiency. We believe Loadsmart will be the technology platform bringing different players together in a scalable and integrated way,” said Josh Connor, managing partner, Connor Capital.

Learn more about Smart Drayage

About Loadsmart     

Loadsmart is a digital freight platform that specializes in truckload and intermodal shipping. Loadsmart is leveraging data and machine learning to build artificial intelligence processes into the complex freight cycle, allowing shippers to book a truck in seconds and providing instant and targeted loads to carriers. https://loadsmart.com 

VIDEO: Loadsmart CEO Ricardo Salgado on the Future of Freight

Matt FlemingLeave a comment

Our very own Ricardo Salgado recently sat down with Craig Fuller, CEO of FreightWaves, to discuss the future of freight.

In it, they cover…
– How technology and innovation are deeply rooted in Loadsmart’s DNA
– Why Loadsmart’s go-to-market is focused on building an ecosystem of strategic partners — and how that’s different than other digital brokers
– How the digitization of transportation is comparable to the launch of the first iPhone
– What excites Ricardo most when it comes to the future of freight and Loadsmart’s story

Length: 15:40

News: Loadsmart now provides shippers with instant pricing via Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets

Matt Fleming2 Comments

Today we released our Simple Quote add-on for Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel. The integrations provide shippers the ability to price and book truckload shipments in seconds directly from within a spreadsheet — without the need for a transportation management system (TMS).

While we already provide instant truckload rates inside most major TMSs, enabling Fortune 500 companies to book a truckload in seconds, we are now the first provider to level the playing field for smaller shippers with the new integrations.  

Read More »

Loadsmart completes first-ever automated dispatch and delivery with Starsky Robotics’ autonomous truck

Tinne Teugels3 Comments

The announcement marks the first time an autonomous company and a digital broker have collaborated to price, book and deliver a shipment without any human involvement.

Together with Starsky Robotics were able to automatically dispatch an autonomous truck to haul freight; having successfully priced, tendered and booked via Loadsmart and then picked up and delivered the shipment using Starsky’s self-driving technology. The integration of Loadsmart’s AI-powered pricing and load matching technology with Starsky’s API meant no human intervention was required. The historic initiative is part of a larger strategic partnership which paves the way for the future of trucking: digital brokerages dispatching freight to autonomous trucks without human involvement.

Read More »

NEWS: Loadsmart and One Network Partner to Create a Seamless and Automated Freight Brokering Experience

Tinne TeugelsLeave a comment

To help organizations optimize their freight booking processes, we entered into a strategic partnership with One Network Enterprises, a leader in supply chain network technology. Our joint solution connects Loadsmart’s instant pricing and transportation capacity from the Loadsmart carrier network with One Network’s market-leading SaaS platform, a disruptive artificial intelligence-based technology which enables autonomous supply chain management solutions. As a result of our partnership, shippers can leverage technology in order to reduce friction and create value in the freight market. 

According to Silpa Paul, team lead of Commercial Vehicle Research and Consulting at Frost & Sullivan, “While the trucking industry is in a phase of digital transformation with connected devices bringing greater visibility and transparency across the supply chain the brokerage process, until recently, has struggled to digitalize.”

Recognizing this challenge, and the potential of leveraging artificial intelligence, we forged this collaboration in order to automate the pricing and booking of freight for more than 75,000 participating organizations who rely on One Network to optimize and operate their supply chain. 

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News: Loadsmart and Oracle Collaborate to Digitize Logistics

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Relationship offering shippers real-time truckload rates within their Oracle Transportation Management Cloud routing guide

Loadsmart and Oracle partner to digitize logistics

As a Gold level member of Oracle PartnerNetwork we now announce our collaboration to provide Oracle Logistics Cloud customers instantly bookable truckload rates and guaranteed capacity from the Loadsmart network of qualified carriers directly in Oracle Transportation Management (OTM) Cloud.

Fortune 500 customers such as Kraft-Heinz and The Coca-Cola Company now leverage Loadsmart’s Dynamic Routing Guide technology within Oracle Transportation Management Cloud, which helps transportation teams take advantage of market conditions by inserting instantly bookable real-time rates alongside static prices in their routing guide.

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Loadsmart Mentioned in the Gartner Report ‘Digitization of Transportation Networks Provides an Option for Companies to Tackle Transportation Capacity’

Tinne TeugelsLeave a comment

“As digital business models continue to grow, digital models in transportation are providing a complementary method to serve shippers’ freight capacity and deeper freight insights,” Gartner states in its May 2019 research report. Gartner goes on to say, “this research will help supply chain leaders get a better understanding of the digitized transportation networks.”

The report refers to Loadsmart as one of a number of Vendors for Digitized Transportation Networks. According to the report, “Digitized transportation networks provide an alternative to traditional brokers, load boards and the spot market, which remain time-consuming and collect information from carriers and shippers, but don’t support true collaboration.”

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Loadsmart CEO on untapped power of sourcing algorithms

aburkemoranLeave a comment

Loadsmart CEO Ricardo Salgado attended the Trans-Pacific Maritime Conference hosted by JOC. Check out the interview from the event and hear the origins of Loadsmart and the fundamentals of the algorithms that power the automated pricing, booking, and shipment of freight.

Here’s the transcript:

(00:20) AB: I’m Alessandra Barrett, Senior Content Editor for JOC and I’m in our 2019 TPM Conference with Ricardo Salgado, CEO of Loadsmart. Great to have you here.

(00:30) RS: Thank you for having me.

(00:31) AB: With the recent spot market fluctuations, everyone is probably looking for something a little more predictable. What inspired you to create Loadsmart?

(00:43) RS: I actually started very young. My parents owned a paper company and during my internships there I would go out there and realize that in this industry, how we moved goods was highly inefficient. We were in the middle of this technology revolution and as an engineer, I looked mathematically from an engineering perspective and a process perspective with the latest technology, I realized there has to be a better, more efficient and socially responsible way to move goods from point A to point B.

(01:17) RS: As I started going to college and work, I realized there are massive investments in data infrastructure, for example 5G, but the truck drivers today, instead of 25% having a smartphone, now 95% of them have a smartphone. So as you started seeing more connectivity and you can hold them accountable and part of this sharing economy and dual rating systems, I realized there’s definitely an opportunity where you can put it all together and all of a sudden it’s an industry that’s huge, fragmented, lacked technology… and it all just came together at the right time.

(01:55) AB: Loadsmart uses AI for truck brokerage. Can you walk me through how the AI is applied?

(02:03) RS: Absolutely. Our core technology does two things. Number one is we provide instant pricing and booking capabilities nationwide. So at any point in time, just like you book a flight on Expedia, you can say, “I need a truckload from New York to Los Angeles,” click a button and get a price immediately. Now, New York to Los Angeles is a highly trafficked route because they are metropolitan areas. But if I go South Dakota to Maine, there’s not a lot of volume there. To generate that rate, we estimate it programmatically based on roughly 385 different factors. Our AI and data science learns every single time we render a price and iterates through it. Think about each one of these features as a different knob. If we render a price and it’s accepted or not, then it gives us feedback and our learner models kick in and start adjusting. It asks, “what if we had shifted this one or the other one? Would it be more accurate versus where we actually sourced that truckload from our partner network.” So, that’s one element.

(03:09) AB: Oh, I see.

(03:09) RS: The other element is identifying — it’s our sourcing algorithms. Our sourcing algorithms, which is on our supply side, is identifying the ideal carrier or trucking partner within our network or outside of our network. It’s asking itself which is the best carrier at that point in time. Which one is moving in the right direction with the right driver for the right rate in that same time, etc. So those sourcing algorithms also start learning from that carrier base, powered by AI and data science, asking “Did this one work? Did it render correctly? Was it accepted?” It starts learning, and ultimately it starts optimizing both sides of where we sit in the middle.

(03:50) AB: Well, thanks for taking time to sit down with me today.

(03:52) RS: Thank you, Alessandra.

(03:54) AB: I’ve been speaking with Ricardo Salgado, CEO of Loadsmart.

SlideShare: How AI is revolutionizing the contracted model

Matt FlemingLeave a comment

At last week’s Gartner Supply Chain conference, we had the opportunity to present our thoughts on how technologies like artificial intelligence are revolutionizing how truckload freight is priced, booked and shipped.

Interested in diving deeper? Check out our presentation via the SlideShare below.

Abstract
While the contracted carrier model has long been relied on by shippers looking to secure access to capacity, that security comes at a price. Routing guides are rarely updated and can move slowly, resulting in excessive costs and poor service. At the same time, they are critical for effective procurement.

With AI, can we make the contracted model smarter?

Read on to learn:

  • How AI can guarantee access to capacity
  • Lessons we can learn from the airline industry
  • Ways AI can accelerate the sourcing process

AI & The Contracted Model— Lessons from the Airline Industry

Tinne TeugelsLeave a comment

AI & Th Contracted Model

The trucking industry is in a phase of digital transformation, with connected devices bringing greater visibility and transparency across the supply chain. Yet, according to Silpa Paul, a Frost & Sullivan commercial vehicles industry analyst, the brokerage process has struggled to digitalize.

In the United States a large trucking company can accumulate 93 billion miles per year. That’s like driving around the globe 3.7 million times. Commercial long-haul trucks in the region typically operate with 25 percent empty miles which result from the inherent opacity and slowness of traditional road-freight brokerage processes. With more than 70 percent of all freight moved via road, road freight capacity utilization levels are therefore highly inefficient at present.

Read More »

Our freight brokerage predictions for 2019

Tinne Teugels1 Comment

While the challenges facing the trucking industry may vary from year to year, the one consistency is that companies managing private and/or dedicated transportation fleets are being forced to do more with less. Following the ever-increasing need to improve efficiencies, the digitization of the supply chain proved to have a substantial impact on the efficiency and flow of freight operations in 2018.

Felipe Capella Quote 1
Felipe Capella, chief product officer, Loadsmart

As we review our predictions from last year, it’s safe to say most of them held true. Data sharing and open access, the onset of APIs, instant pricing + booking, and technologies such as machine learning have made all the difference in getting the most out of finite transportation resources.

For 2019 we expect even more pervasive digitization than last year, ultimately driving towards a more unified experience for shippers and carriers alike.

Read More »

Developing Digitally: Deloitte interviews Hunter Yaw, our VP of Product Management

Maddie GrahamLeave a comment

Hunter Yaw, our VP of Product Management at Loadsmart, recently spoke with Amy Hutchinson of Deloitte Canada on her podcast: “Developing Digitally: Episode 20 with Loadsmart”. In this podcast, the two discussed how Loadsmart is using innovative technology to bring greater efficiency to the over the road market in the United States and, more recently, in Canada as well.

Between artificial intelligence and machine learning, Loadsmart is bringing the latest technologies to the freight market and we’re always happy to share our insights into how these tools are shaping this market.

To listen to the full podcast, click here.

Screen Shot 2019-02-11 at 1.26.40 PM.png

Loadsmart Awarded “Company of the Year” by Frost & Sullivan

Maddie GrahamLeave a comment

For its strong overall performance, Loadsmart earned Frost & Sullivan’s 2018 Company of the Year Award – Automated On-demand Freight Brokerage. What better way to start off the year?

To be recognized as an industry leader Loadsmart had to demonstrate excellence in growth, innovation, and leadership. Based on Frost & Sullivan’s key business performance categories such as visionary innovation, and performance and customer impact, we earned a solid nine, putting us well above the other evaluated companies.  

ls award

Sipla Paul, Industry Analyst at Frost & Sullivan, said, “Apart from a lack of load and carrier visibility, pricing opacity has been one of the key deterrents to the adoption of digital brokerage solutions. Loadsmart has made possible instant pricing across all lanes in the United States (over 900,000) using machine learning, which is a tremendous step forward in automating the freight brokerage process. Loadsmart’s ability to offer an all-in instant price for shippers before hiring the carrier is a unique value proposition that strikes at the heart of the freight brokerage process.”

“For large private fleets, the integration of Loadsmart with their TMS for semi-automated route guide or fully-automated dynamic route guide provides the ease and agility that translates into better asset utilization, whether human or truck, and, thereby, more cost savings,” said Silpa “The efficacy of Loadsmart’s solution is evidenced by its revenue growth in recent years (350% year-on-year in 2018) achieved by on-boarding fortune 500 companies such as Daimler Trucks North America, Anheuser-Busch, and Albertsons/Safeway.”

20181009-Loadsmart _Twitter (1)
Ricardo Salgado and Felipe Capella, co-founders, Loadsmart

Ricardo Salgado, CEO, Loadsmart, said, “We’re pleased to see all of our hard work come to fruition and are incredibly proud of the entire Loadsmart team. Since inception, our mission has been to help shippers more with less, by leading with technology and complement it with strategic partnerships. Frost & Sullivan’s “Company of the Year” award is strong validation of our approach as we look to dramatically accelerate growth in 2019.”

Here’s what some of customers and investors have to say:

“To manufacture trucks, we need carriers to deliver components and parts to our plants. Offering a customized app to our contracted carriers gives them first access to our spot business and improves critical points in our supply chain.” – Lori Heino-Royer, director of business innovation at Daimler Trucks North America

“We see huge potential with Loadsmart. Forward integrations between ocean shipping and over-the-road services can create incredible synergies and eventually provide a full service to shippers.” – Sune Stilling, Head of Maersk Growth

“Loadsmart has a solid company strategy and exciting distribution plan. They have built an outstanding team with advanced technology that can be deployed alongside our investment portfolio to digitize and accelerate supply chain and transportation logistics execution.” – Emmett McCann, Managing Director and Co-portfolio Manager, Oaktree

“Chromo focuses on investing in companies leveraging AI in different industries. We have been very impressed with how Loadsmart leverages huge data sets to predict future outcomes and automate tasks. We’re looking forward to scaling the technology and driving this forward.” – Marcelo Ferreira, Managing Director, Chromo Invest

No doubt 2019 will be an interesting year and we can’t wait to see what it has in store.

Interview: Betty Liu, Operating Partner @ Maersk Growth

Matt FlemingLeave a comment

Hot on the heels of our recent funding announcement (more on that here), we sat down with Betty Liu, Operating Partner @ Maersk Growth, to discuss the story behind the financing and…

  • What Maersk hopes to achieve in starting a venture fund,
  • The challenges facing the freight brokerage industry (… and how today’s technologies hold the potential to make it radically more efficient),
  • What made Maersk move from meeting Loadsmart to leading our latest financing just four months later, and
  • How Maersk can now leverage Loadsmart for FTL services.

betty-maersk-v3

About Betty:

Betty is an Opeating Partner at Maersk Growth and is helping our invested portfolio companies to grow. She has spent over two decades in the shipping and logistics industry, with much of her career spent at A.P. Moller – Maersk, the world’s largest shipping line.

Betty holds an Executive MBA from the Copenhagen Business School and graduated from Maersk’s International Shipping Education program in 2002. In 2012 she was nominated as Denmark’s Top 100 talent by Berlingske business. You can learn more about Betty here.

The Logistics of Logistics Podcast: Using Artificial Intelligence to Improve the Shipper / Carrier Experience with Erik Malin

Maddie GrahamLeave a comment

Recently, our vice president of operations, Erik Malin, spoke with the “Logistics of Logistics” podcast host, Joe Lynch. Joe interviews senior level 3PL providers and business professionals in the logistics and transportation industry. In this episode, Erik and Joe discussed how innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) are changing the freight brokerage space. The two also talked about Loadsmart’s dedication to its customers, and how the company’s use of strategic partnerships has made it a leader in the industry.

To listen to the full podcast, click here.

logistics podcast