Join Loadsmart’s Carrier Sales Manager, James Fahey, for less than 60 seconds on this episode of Loadsmart First Look Weekly Market Recap.
This is a weekly series that brings the insights we use to get your shipments from A to B from our carrier sales floor to your home office. Each week keep up with what we saw last week and what we expect to see this week in the freight market.
What we saw last week
EOM means higher rates and increased volumes
Though employment, manufacturing and industrial production are down, the amount of finished goods flowing through the supply chain is continually increasing and straining tight capacity. OTRI has increased again from 18.57% to 19.18%. While we hit a new 2.5yr high for outbound tenders, as the US consumer is hungry for finished goods. As rejections continue to climb, national long-haul rates are averaging $1.88/mi, while spot rates are inching within cents of contracted rates, a massive inflection point for shippers to be cognizant of.
In addition, we saw DAT Spot rates increased again 2.6% last week marking 13 consecutive weeks of rate increases.
Rail carload data is showing the industrial sector is starting to recover, up 6.5% from last week, and though still down year over year, this could indicate a strong Q3 and Q4 for transportation providers.
Markets in Southern California, Texas, Little Rock, Memphis and Harrisburg show high tender rejection rates on “tweener loads” (loads that run between 450-800 miles), indicating that carriers have other options on mid-haul or long-haul loads.
What to expect this week
Hurricane Isaias made landfall in FL over the weekend and bring disruptions into the FL market. Anticipate inbound rates to spike, while outbound orders may fall due to production issues. The storm is projected to turn northeast throughout the week and affect large swathes of the Northeast Seaboard, bringing rain and coastal flooding.
The Ports of Long Beach and LA have seen another spike in container volumes, which could further strain capacity in SoCal. Intermodal cap is already tight in the area, well ahead of intermodal peak season, and tweener rejections are elevated out of California, as carriers are seeking to stay in the region. Expect tweener and long haul volumes rates to further increase.
The Port of New York reached a YTD-High for imports last week, volumes for Port of NY and NJ have seen a 32% increase over the past two weeks. This coincides with capacity constraints in much of the Northeast.
Initial jobless claims have increased for the past two weeks to 1.434million and continued claims rose 5.4% up to 17.02million. As Congress is still working to extend unemployment benefits and a second round of stimulus, expect headwinds until approved.
Stay Up to Date
With all the latest weekly and monthly market insights on our Youtube page. Questions about anything you saw? Email sales@loadsmart.com and let’s talk about how we can help you take advantage of real-time market conditions.
Moving freight on the spot market can feel like the wild west… but it doesn’t have to.
Join Casey Monahan, Director at Loadsmart, and Keith Caruso, Operations Manager at Kuebix, and see how shippers of any size overcome market volatility in the spot market — without heavy lifting.
You’ll learn…
How to supplement existing capacity with reliable alternatives
How to book the best price available in the spot market
How to eliminate surprises and improve visibility by tracking freight in near real-time
Join Loadsmart’s Director of Carrier Sales, Jordan Abrams, for less than 60 seconds on this episode of Loadsmart First Look Weekly Market Recap for July 20 – 27.
This is a weekly series that brings the insights we use to get your shipments from A to B from our carrier sales floor to your home office. Each week keep up with what we saw last week and what we expect to see this week in the freight market.
What we saw last week
Volume and rejections remain consistently high when they should be falling compared to past years.
Lead by the So Cal and border markets
OTRI increased a full point to 17.9% from 16.8% Wednesday – Thursday
DAT Line Haul Rates continue to climb when they should be falling
TX remains just as hot of a market as CA
What to expect this week
Some market indicators show SE softening. With decreased L/T ratios and rejection rates
Hurricanes are starting to pop up. This will affect the Gulf, FL and the East Coast. Hurricanes can have massive impacts on markets and capacity.
We expect the same Southern Cal and border markets to continue their challenging run.
Stay Up to Date
With all the latest weekly and monthly market insights on our Youtube page. Questions about anything you saw? Email sales@loadsmart.com and let’s talk about how we can help you take advantage of real-time market conditions.
We’re in the business of connecting the logistics industry, but that doesn’t stop at connecting shippers with carriers. This is our second episode of On the Road with Loadsmart, a platform to connect the industry to the stories that matter, inspire, and are essential for giving credit to the unsung heroes of the road we have the privilege to work with every day.
In this episode Aaron from Loadsmart sits down with Jose from JN Ideal Transport to discuss how he had to ‘change everything, but it worked’ during the pandemic.
Aaron: Can you tell us a little bit about your business – how you started and where you are today?
Jose: We started in 2014 with a single truck. We were working with 7 trucks at the beginning of the pandemic. We were growing real good. When the pandemic came it brought us down a little bit, we went down to two trucks, we sold two trucks.
Normally we do a route in NY and we do a route in NJ, and business went down pretty good in those areas during the pandemic. And there were no loads to go to NY and NJ.
Aaron: How many loads were you doing between Charlotte NY/NJ before the pandemic and what did that go down to during it – did it go down to 0?
Jose: We were doing around 20 to 25 loads a week, when the pandemic came up we went down to 5 loads.
Aaron: When that happened did you ever question whether you would still be in business?
Jose: I didn’t know if I would make it through because business was pretty tough. There was no money to pay the insurance, no money to fix this truck, so I stopped all the trucks – and whenever one truck broke down I used one of the trucks I had in the yard and we survived like that.
Aaron: Do you think that you will eventually get back to what your business was like before this or do you think things are going to be a little bit different for the foreseeable future?
Jose: We are going to have to learn new ways to work
Aaron: What are some of those new ways?
Jose: Well before the only way I was working was interstate. And I didnt see myself doing those local loads before and I didn’t even try to see the business. I see it now we can survive doing some short run and I don’t have to be worried about my drivers to be out of hours which is a real plus because that’s always a big worry for me.
Aaron: What was stopping you from doing these local loads before?
Jose: I didn’t know we were able to make some money like that, but I see a different way now.
Aaron: So before the pandemic what were some of the challenges – or was business growing and business was good?
Jose: We were working everywhere. If the North is down this week, we’re going South. I was comfortable with that route because I was doing that route for more than five years.
Aaron: You were doing business the same way for five years and then when this hit you had to completely change?
Jose: That’s right. We had to change everything and it worked. I didn’t know we could do some different stuff and make a living.
Aaron: How confident were you that it was going to work?
Jose: I wasn’t confident – I didn’t know. I was trying to make some money to survive. When the pandemic started everybody was scared so I got 6 drivers at the time and I came down to 2 – including myself
Aaron: Did you see anything you thought you would never see before?
Jose: I break down. I don’t know if you know Roanoke, Virginia one night. And I called road service and they told me road service was not working and I couldn’t get anybody that night. So one of my drivers – I had to wait on the side of the road almost the whole night just waiting for one of my drivers to show up – and we fix the truck by ourselves the next day.
Aaron: How did Loadsmart come into play – did you work with Loadsmart before this?
Not that much, we did some loads coming down from Jersey to North Carolina. I think we did a couple loads for you guys. But when the whole pandemic happened – I called this guy Jean Pierre – the guy who I worked with – he was pretty nice and he helped me alot during the pandemic and hopefully we can keep going.
Aaron: Do you think more drivers are using technology that you can have on your phone?
Jose: Yeah we’re going to have to. We’re going to have to work different.
Aaron: Are you feeling optimistic about the trucking community – do you feel there is a sense of community that’s building?
Jose: I think a lot of people now know about trucking. I know before a lot of people didn’t even know – I know we have a big truck on the road but sometimes they don’t notice. They don’t even look at us. But right now they know we’re there
Aaron: That’s what we‘re trying to do as well to get your stories out there because they’re deserving of that.
Jose: No problem, I appreciate it.
Aaron: Thanks Jose for the time.
Jose: No problem, my pleasure.
Aaron: The insights you have from the road are special to us and I think a lot of people out there so thanks for sharing them with us.
Welcome to July’s Episode of Loadsmart First Look. This will be a monthly series that dives into the domestic freight market, the economy as a backdrop to the trucking industry, and the latest developments and technologies that are changing the supply chain.
Joining our moderator, Ethan Feldman, for our first episode is Jim Nicholson, the VP of Carrier Sales and Ricardo Salgado, CEO to discuss what they’re seeing in the freight market, how to reconcile record freight volume with record levels of unemployment, and the adoption of tech during Covid.
What’s going on in the market?
Ethan: Jim – I wanted to ask you the first question more of a macro view, what are you seeing in the freight market?
Jim: Post memorial day you really saw this gradual increase and then as you got further into June and more states were opening up more activities were coming back online that acceleration increased to where you see today where volumes are at all times high, plus 20% over prior years and rejects and capacity continues to be very much constrained. Post July 4th typically you see a drop off, but that absolutely is not the case this year and to me all seasonality trends in the market that typically follow, 2020 is just out the window.
What markets do you have your eye on?
Ethan: Could you speak to more specific markets and what you’re seeing in some of the hotter areas of the country?
Jim: One that we haven’t been seeing or talking too much about that I think is really interesting is the Mexico-US cross border. Laredo – Mexico is a top 3 trade partner over $500 billion annually with the US – and Laredo is by and large the largest entry to the US from Mexico of 40%. What we’re seeing in Laredo is volumes that are nearly double to the prior two years and you’re also seeing some of this in El Paso and McAllen as well. But what does this mean? There is a severe backlog of what Mexico produces for the US.
Why are we seeing record levels of volume, but historic levels of unemployment?
Ethan: So I wanted to ask Ricardo, a question I’ve been getting from my customers. How do you reconcile the freight industry reporting record volumes, record outbound tender rejection, with the look of the everyday American, spending is down?
Ricardo: That’s a fair statement and can be a bit confusing because typically economic activity is represented 2/3 by consumer spending. So given the uncertainty and unemployment that you’re seeing why on earth are rates up to the levels they are right now or why are volumes up 20% year over year?
And it’s around end customers of trucking, and a big chunk of full truckload are essential services. Think about consumer staples, CPG essentials, such as food, beverage, water, pharma. So maybe instead of eating out at a restaurant, for example, where you use Ketchup to eat your fries, now you do that at home. You still consume that, so maybe you saw some shift from trucking being delivered into that restaurant into a grocery that ultimately ends up in your home. So net net, things still need to move. We have been able to help supplement these movements through technology. So for by digitizing, for example the pipelines into shippers, by integration into their transportation management system. That has allowed them to be much more efficient and procure capacity in a digital format
Ethan: That was a great take on the demand side, Jim do you want to talk about how stimulus running out may be effecting what we’re going to see capacity look like?
Jim: Total count of tractors did decline for the first time some time since in April. But that wasn’t necessarily unexpected. It was less than 1% and it actually rebounded back in June. And more recently with the benefits of PPE which really helped truckload operators. We saw Class 8 truck sales increase 20% year over year. Another dynamic that’s kind of interesting is the used truck three years was actually positive for the first in quite some time. I don’t anticipate any type of reduction in capacity in the market. So then this shifts to ‘ok, this is a demand story.’
How is freight tech influenced by all of this?
Ethan: So, I know Ricardo has a spin class that he needs to get to. So we’ll wrap it up quickly. More than ever the world’s largest and most sophisticated shippers are leveraging technology to drive efficiencies in their supply chain. And there’s been a lot of exciting developments. But, Ricardo I was hoping you could tell us a little bit more about what you’re seeing.
Ricardo: We always believed – even pre-covid – in the secular shift from brick and mortar, analog to digital slash online. And Covid has only accelerated that journey across most industries. And for us it’s exactly the same thing. We saw more integrations in Q2 in 2020 than all of 2019. So I would say that this is something that is getting the attention of transportation leaders. Thematically what we see is that transportation leaders were very focused on the primary goal which was to get goods moved from A to B and probably a little bit of technology, and now that little bit of technology has expanded significantly.
Keep up with all the latest weekly and monthly market insights on our Youtube page. Questions about anything you saw? Email sales@loadsmart.com and let’s talk about how we can help you take advantage of real-time market conditions.
Integration Offers Shippers Real-Time Rates and Guaranteed Capacity Within Blue Yonder Dynamic Pricing Discovery Solution
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. and NEW YORK – July 21, 2020 –Loadsmart, a leading digital freight technology company, today announced a technical integration of its digital freight platform with Blue Yonder, a leading digital supply chain platform provider. The integration allows joint transportation management customers to significantly reduce costs and improve efficiency by providing access to Loadsmart’s instantly bookable truckload rates and guaranteed capacity through Blue Yonder’s dynamic pricing discovery solution.
“Transportation is becoming increasingly digitized and shippers have realized there is an opportunity to improve operational efficiencies by better integrating systems and processes with their 3PL and carrier counterparts,” said Hunter Yaw, VP of product management at Loadsmart. “With the Blue Yonder-Loadsmart integration, shared customers will be able to retrieve timely, competitive truckload rates for every shipment in seconds. Shippers can then tender the load automatically using Blue Yonder’s solution.”
For many shippers, the ability to instantly secure shipping rates and capacity is crucial to controlling costs amidst challenging, rapidly changing market conditions. This has proven especially true in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has upended the industry. However, companies have long struggled with routing guides because they are often outdated and contain static rates that are out of sync with market fundamentals.
The dynamic pricing discovery solution integrates with Blue Yonder’s LuminateTM Platform, which is powered by Microsoft Azure. Luminate Platform combines data from both internal and external sources — spanning shippers’ digital supply chain ecosystems — to leverage both artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), enabling smarter and more actionable business decisions.
Now, when a primary carrier declines a shipment and the load hits the routing guide, a real-time rate from Loadsmart will be dynamically inserted in advance of the next best option. Once the next lowest rate is uploaded from Loadsmart, the load can be automatically tendered with 100% acceptance.
“We are looking forward to partnering with Loadsmart to use technology to solve a decades old challenge for shippers,” said Terry Norton, VP of 3PL and transportation at Blue Yonder. “Our Luminate Platform, powered by AI and ML, will provide real-time visibility and pricing to allow shippers and freight carriers to leverage the dynamic pricing discovery solution to have integrated and seamless access to pricing and capacity to make better and more profitable business decisions.”
Ready to learn more? Click here to book a demo with a member of our
About Blue Yonder
Blue Yonder (formerly JDA Software) provides seamless, friction-free commerce, empowering every organization and person on the planet to fulfill their potential. Blue Yonder’s machine learning-driven digital fulfillment platform enables clients to deliver to their customers when, how and where they want it. Applying over 35 years of domain expertise, contextual intelligence and data science, Blue Yonder is helping more than 3,000 of the world’s leading manufacturers, retailers and logistics companies create more autonomous, sustainable and profitable operations. blueyonder.com
“Blue Yonder” is a trademark or registered trademark of Blue Yonder Group, Inc. Any trade, product or service name referenced in this document using the name “Blue Yonder” is a trademark and/or property of Blue Yonder Group, Inc.
About Loadsmart
Transforming the future of freight, Loadsmart leverages artificial intelligence, machine learning and strategic partnerships to automate how freight is priced, booked and shipped. Pairing advanced technologies with deep-seated industry expertise, Loadsmart fuels growth, simplifies operational complexity and bolsters efficiency for carriers and shippers alike. For more information, please visit: https://loadsmart.com.
Contact
Marina Renneke, APR Blue Yonder Marina.Renneke@blueyonder.com (480) 308-3037
Emily Senninger Havas Formula for Loadsmart loadsmart@havasformula.com (619) 234-0345
Does this sound familiar? Time-consuming, manual scheduling that requires several phone calls and emails just to confirm a single appointment. And after spending all that time, you find out the driver’s ETA has changed, forcing you to spend even more time rescheduling the appointment.
In this on-demand webinar join Loadsmart’s VP of Product, Hunter Yaw, and Opendock’s Bob La Loggia, CEO, to learn:
How integrating Loadsmart’s Smart Scheduling technology with Opendock’s centralized dock management software helps remove friction and streamline your appointment scheduling process
How Loadsmart can instantly select and book the best possible appointment by using artificial intelligence to analyze travel time and other factors
How appointements can be rescheduled automatically based on changes to a driver’s ETA
How you can immediately benefit from a substantial improvement in on-time performance and lower rates
How to get started
Loadsmart wants to help you use technology to simplify and streamline what has historically been a time-consuming, complicated process, which is why we are excited about our recently announced technical and strategic partnership with Opendock.
If you are….
An existing Loadsmart and Opendock customer: contact your Loadsmart Account Executive to enable the integration.
Interested in learning more about Loadsmart: sign up for free at loadsmart.com or email sales@loadsmart.com.
Interested in learning more about Opendock: sign up in seconds at Opendock.com or email sales@opendock.com
Shippers Can Now Access Real-Time Loadsmart Spot Quotes for Truckload Shipments in Kuebix Community Load Match
June 29, 2020 (Maynard, MA) – Kuebix, a Trimble Company, and leading transportation management system (TMS) provider and creator of the Kuebix shipping community, and Loadsmart, a digital freight technology company, today announced that every shipper in Kuebix can now receive real-time Loadsmart spot quotes on truckload shipments. The collaboration builds upon Kuebix’s current API integration with Loadsmart’s digital freight platform with an “all-access” API integration that automatically provides live Loadsmart freight rates to any Kuebix user looking for a truckload spot quote.
“At Loadsmart, we are really proud of our work with Kuebix and the value we deliver to our joint customers,” said Casey Monahan, Director of SME at Loadsmart. “Combining a best in class TMS with instantly bookable spot quotes is a game-changer that reduces phone calls and lag time, allowing customers to book the best price instantly and track it all in real time 24/7. With a deep collaboration at many levels, a strong understanding of our customers, and a long term strategy, we not only provide the value clients want, but the exceptional service they need.”
When a Kuebix user searches for a truckload spot rate in Community Load Match, a real-time Loadsmart rate will appear that can be immediately booked and managed in the Kuebix TMS. The addition of instantly bookable Loadsmart rates further enhances Community Load Match’s current contract and spot rate capabilities. Community Load Match’s rapidly growing carrier community, powered by Trimble’s network of 1.3 million commercial trucks, offers access to contract rates for shippers with regular lanes. For small- to medium-size businesses (SMBs) and shippers with occasional spot requirements, Community Load Match provides competitive spot rates when shippers don’t have the volume to set up contract rates. For carriers, Community Load Match’s spot opportunities help to balance lanes, offset empty miles and reposition assets.
“Growing our strategic collaboration with Loadsmart makes our community even stronger,” said Peter Coumounduros, General Manager Load Match Group, Kuebix. “Our goal is to remove the friction from finding and securing trucks. We are extremely pleased to have Loadsmart’s real-time spot quotes available to all shippers in Community Load Match, as this new capability makes the sourcing process even more efficient.”
To help companies manage their supply chains efficiently in today’s market environment, Kuebix is offering shippers 60 free days of its award-winning Kuebix Business Pro TMS. With Kuebix Business Pro, logistics teams can collaborate remotely across multiple locations, source spot and leverage actionable reports and analytics for improved strategic shipping decisions.
Ready to learn more?Click here to schedule time with a member of our team.
About Loadsmart, Inc.
Transforming the future of freight, Loadsmart leverages artificial intelligence, machine learning and strategic partnerships to automate how freight is priced, booked and shipped. Pairing advanced technologies with deep-seated industry expertise, Loadsmart fuels growth, simplifies operational complexity and bolsters efficiency for carriers and shippers alike. For more information, please visit: https://loadsmart.com.
About KuebixKuebix, a Trimble (NASDAQ: TRMB) Company, provides a transportation management system (TMS) that powers one of North America’s largest shipping communities. Kuebix is transforming the transportation industry with a common TMS platform for shippers, carriers and intermediaries to enable new levels of visibility and efficiency for the entire market. By connecting all logistics stakeholders on a single platform, shippers gain access to available capacity and competitive pricing, while brokers and carriers increase their business and gain superior asset utilization. Kuebix is a modular solution designed to scale to meet the needs of supply chains of every size and level of complexity. Built on multi-tenant cloud technology, Kuebix’s connected platform enables customers to simplify ERP and other integrations to drive rapid onboarding and ROI. Kuebix is headquartered in Maynard, Mass. For more information visit: www.kuebix.com.
At the height of “panic shopping,” most Americans left grocery stores with essentials feeling lucky. At the same time, many of the drivers who arrived with them were down on their luck. So, we cooked up a fun way to have an immediate impact on one of our drivers by holding a #ThankATrucker Selfie #CarrierContest with a $500 prize.
Our Commitment to Connecting the Trucking Industry
The events of the last few months have allowed us here at Loadsmart to evaluate our commitment to connecting the trucking industry. We soon came to the consensus that our responsibility doesn’t stop at connecting shipments with carriers and vice versa.
To truly have a more transparent industry, we need to give shippers more visibility of their freight, but also give the industry more visibility of the drivers that are struggling to make ends meet while helping so many people do just that.
A message from Nick, our winner’s dispatcher
#ThankATrucker Selfie #CarrierContest
We’ve done several things to live up to this commitment already, including launching On the Road with Loadsmart, an interview series meant to connect the industry to the stories that matter, inspire, and are essential for giving credit to the unsung heroes of the road. In our first episode we interviewed one of our carriers, Joe Burks from American Citizens Transport, on his experience hauling freight through the pandemic. Catch the full episode here.
We also wanted to do something that could have an immediate impact on one of our drivers. From May 15 – June 15 we promoted our #ThankATrucker Selfie #CarrierContest across social media and via email. Drivers who sent a picture of themselves and their truck were entered to win $500 courtesy of Loadsmart.
The outpouring of responses into our inbox showed just how eager many drivers are to share their stories. We plan on using our growing platform to highlight as many of these as we can. Through them all, one thing was clear: drivers were truly pushed to the limit during all of this. While most of America shut down, they were put in overdrive.
Meet The Winner, Rushan
Rushan left home during the pandemic and started living in his truck. He’s been doing it for three months and is an incredibly hard worker. When we spoke to Nick at Dispatch 42, he said “Man, Rushan was feeling really unlucky…maybe his luck’s changed.”
What’s Next
Catch all the episodes of On the Road on our YouTube channel and keep your eye out for more contests just like this one in the coming months as we double down on our commitment to connecting the trucking industry.
We’re in the business of connecting the logistics industry, but that doesn’t stop at connecting shippers with carriers. Today, we’re launching On the Road with Loadsmart, a platform to connect the industry to the stories that matter, inspire, and are essential for giving credit to the unsung heroes of the road we have the privilege to work with every day.
For our first episode, our Director of Marketing, Matt Fleming, had the opportunity to sit down with Joe Burks from American Citizens Transport to talk about their experience hauling freight throughout the pandemic. You can watch the entire episode here.
Challenges Prior To The COVID-19 Pandemic
Matt: What were the challenges that you guys had as a business prior to COVID basically changing everything and then I’d love to learn a little more about the specific challenges you had trying to basically operate while a pandemic is underway.
Joe: Before the pandemic, I guess everything was going well. We had actually planned on putting up our building in the spring this year. Of course we put that off because of this. But, you know, it’s a hustle every single day to find what you need. We were just doing what everyone else was doing, right? Now, when the pandemic came that changed a few things for certain. Now all of a sudden there’s ten trucks available for every load. And there’s a tremendous amount of – let’s just say the brokers took full advantage of that because of their lack of volume. I’m sure they had to make their ends meet. It substantially drove rates down and we struggled through it just like everyone else. We had to switch what we were running over to essentials. You know what? We’re getting through it.
New Sources of Freight And New Parters
Matt: As you’re trying to transition to new sources of freight, potentially, I’m just curious did you end up working with new partners or end up working more with existing?
Joe: Certainly. Like I said, we had to get away from a product that was contaminated. As you can see, taking paper to the paper mill, that is basically scrap paper that was our primary deal from several markets. You know what, so yeah, we had to get into essentials, we’re hauling quite a bit of water now and dry food products.
Struggle Together And We’ll Get Through This
Matt: Is there anything else that you feel I should have asked you about, but didn’t?
Joe: It might take a couple of more hours daily to meet your needs, make sure everybody is good. Of course, the fore load and the backload is more important now than ever just because of the way the rates have been driven down because of this. You can’t just go one way and come back empty no more. You won’t be in business long. But you know what all in all, just like everybody else, just do what we gotta to do and get through and struggle together and we’ll get through it together.
More Stories and More Episodes
You can watch the entire episode with Joe Burks, from American Citizens Transport here.
We look forward to learning more and sharing the stories of the people making sure we all have the things we need and the key to their perseverance during the pandemic. What’s next for their businesses and their thoughts on the on-going impact the pandemic will have on the market.
It may seem like a long time ago that we were all talking about toilet paper shortages; in reality, it was only a few months ago. And while there is no longer a toilet paper shortage, we can’t lose sight of how it made its way back to shelves across America.
For America’s Truck Drivers “Essential” Means Doing Their Job
Much of the country and services came to a screeching halt when the pandemic arrived and are slow to resume. Americans continue to look to “essential workers” to step up to the plate and keep our country’s supply chain running.
A critical but often overlooked link in the supply chain, trucking, was quickly forced into the limelight. Because if you buy something, a truck has to bring it. And thankfully, our nation’s truck drivers just kept trucking.
America is still struggling with how Covid-19 has altered our daily lives and what that means for families and the future of businesses. Meanwhile, truck drivers continue to risk their health and that of their families to ensure products get to stores and hospitals.
If you Google “truck drivers during the pandemic,” you will find lots of articles about truck drivers finally gaining recognition as a vital link in the supply chain. Some even refer to them as “road heroes.”
Read a few articles. It only takes a few to see many responses from truckers like, “This is just what we have to do,” “We did what we had to do,” and “We just keep rolling.”
They are unquestionably the new humble heroes of the supply chain, doing their job, one they do every day, pandemic or no pandemic, and proud to do it.
But, unless you’re behind the wheel of a truck, you haven’t experienced the lines at facilities, been faced with new loading precautions, and been unable to find open restrooms or restaurants, it’s hard to truly appreciate the challenges and sacrifices truckers have made as we depend on them more than ever.
Truck Driver Experience Is Important to Logistics Technology Companies
At Loadsmart, we consider ourselves lucky because we get to talk to carriers every day and have employees who have spent years in the industry getting to know carriers across the county.
There is a very real (and fair) stigma attached to logistics technology companies; many feel they are too far removed from the day-to-day life of a truck driver to understand their challenges genuinely.
Our shippers, carriers, and logistics partners are at the core of what we do at Loadsmart and we believe it’s a privilege to share the road with them every day.
Carriers Persevere Through Covid-19 Pandemic Hardships
While the toilet paper jokes have mostly subsided, we don’t want the hardships felt by carriers during the Covid-19 pandemic (and the humans behind them) to go untold. There is much to be grateful for and to learn from their continued perseverance to keep America’s shelves stocked.
Carriers Tell Us First Hand About Their Pandemic Struggles and Challenges
Our thought is, the best way to do that is to share our carriers’ stories and let them tell us first hand about the struggles and challenges they face while working through the current crisis.
We’ve reached out to some of our carriers, shippers and logistics partners and the amazing people we get to share ports, loading docks, highways, and rests stops with and asked them if they would do us the honor of sharing their stories with us.
We are excited to bring you their stories to you in the coming weeks and months through an on-going video series. Matt Fleming, our Director of Marketing, will have video chats with carriers to learn more about the personal and professional impact Covid-19 has had on them.
We look forward to learning more and sharing the stories of the people making sure we all have the things we need and the key to their perseverance during the pandemic. What’s next for their businesses and their thoughts on the on-going impact the pandemic will have on the market.
Integration offers new capabilities to improve on-time service and eliminate a traditional bottleneck in the movement of freight
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., and NEW YORK – June 10, 2020 —Loadsmart, a leading digital freight technology company, today announced a technical and strategic partnership with Opendock, a market leader in centralized dock scheduling software for shippers and carriers. The API-enabled integration of Loadsmart’s digital freight platform and Smart Scheduling technology, with Opendock’s dock management software, enables shippers to simplify and accelerate the scheduling process by identifying and booking the best possible appointment with minimal human intervention.
For most shippers and carriers, scheduling has long been a time-consuming, manual process that typically requires multiple phone calls and emails to book an appointment. This process becomes even more problematic when appointments must be rescheduled due to a change in the driver’s estimated arrival time. Recognizing this challenge and the potential of leveraging artificial intelligence, the two companies have forged this collaboration to automate appointment scheduling for the more than 1,800 warehouses that utilize Opendock.
“Shippers are increasingly looking for new ways to leverage technology to eliminate bottlenecks and improve the efficiency of their supply chains,” said Ricardo Salgado, CEO and co-founder of Loadsmart, “The integration of our Smart Scheduling technology with Opendock’s centralized dock management software enables us to remove friction and streamline the appointment scheduling process for our shared customers.”
Shippers will immediately benefit from improved efficiency and better service. The integration allows Loadsmart’s Smart Scheduling technology to instantly select and book the best possible appointment by using artificial intelligence to analyze travel time and other factors. Should a driver’s ETA change while en route, the integration even enables Loadsmart to automatically reschedule the appointment in seconds.
“We are excited to be partnering with Loadsmart and their Smart Scheduling capability. It’s impressive how they are using technology to simplify and streamline what’s historically been a very complex and time-consuming process, ” said Bob La Loggia, CEO of Opendock. “With this partnership, we’re eliminating a traditional bottleneck that impacts efficiency and on-time service.”
Loadsmart has completed phase one of the integration with Opendock and is already seeing positive results, including a substantial improvement in on-time performance. The company plans on continuing to enhance and expand integration touchpoints to make even more use of Opendock’s scheduling capabilities.
Ready to learn more?
Join Loadsmart and Opendock June 18th at 2PM EST as they discuss the partnership and joint solution. Register Now.
About Loadsmart:
Transforming the future of freight, Loadsmart leverages artificial intelligence, machine learning and strategic partnerships to automate how freight is priced, booked and shipped. Pairing advanced technologies with deep-seated industry expertise, Loadsmart fuels growth, simplifies operational complexity and bolsters efficiency for carriers and shippers alike. For more information, please visit https://loadsmart.com.
About Opendock:
Opendock is based in Scottsdale, Arizona. It is utilized daily by every major freight carrier and broker, including C.H. Robinson, Schneider, JB Hunt, Werner, and others. Additionally, thousands of warehouses use the system for managing their dock availability. Warehouses range from small operations to 3PLs to some of the largest shippers in the world, such as International Paper, Cargill, Owen & Minor, Pepsi, ADM, and Unilever. To learn more about Opendock dock scheduling software, visit http://www.opendock.com.
New Solution Adds Transload Services and Powers Instant Execution and Seamless Transparency Across Full Shipment Lifecycle
Loadsmart, a digital freight technology company, today announced the launch of its Multimodal Services offering, which bridges port drayage, transload and over-the-road truckload shipping. Shippers will now be able to instantly execute multimodal shipments and obtain full transparency across their entire lifecycle—from the port, to the transload facility, onto the vehicles, and, ultimately, to their intended destinations – all from a single digital logistics partner.
Transload refers to the point in the supply chain where containers from the port are unloaded at a distribution warehouse and the goods are then transferred to one or more trailers. Transload providers are often siloed from other transportation segments, including the carrier providing over-the-road services, ultimately causing limited visibility and inefficiency. The absence of integration amongst multiple providers results in a blind spot for shippers, who lack the necessary granular insight. Loadsmart’s Multimodal Services solution brings complete visibility for shippers, consignees, and other interested parties during the entire shipment lifecycle, down to the single package level.
“Loadsmart is one step closer to becoming the go-to platform for intelligent logistics execution,” said Felipe Capella, co-founder and president at Loadsmart. “Through direct integrations with leading transportation management systems, port terminals and now warehouse management systems, we have programmatically wired a big part of the supply chain to arm shippers with the real-time execution and visibility they need.”
Transparent and accurate data helps shippers proactively and effectively manage transportation costs and outcomes. By gaining increased transparency, shippers can develop a transformative and timely strategy for the organization.
“We want to empower planners and logistics professionals on the customer side to be 10 times more efficient than before. Giving them the ability to work with a single vendor for executing and tracking their multimodal shipments makes their job that much easier, especially when many are still working from home.” Capella added.
Traditionally, obtaining visibility from the warehouse through the rest of a shipment’s life cycle has been a challenge for 3PLs and their shipper customers, due to the sheer variety of warehouse management system (WMS) vendors. To address these inefficiencies, Loadsmart’s Multimodal Services offering is designed to be warehouse agnostic. Warehouses can now opt to integrate their WMS with Loadsmart, or alternatively, use Loadsmart’s free web-based platform to manage containers, assign goods to trailers and arrange inland pickups. All of this can be done by simply logging on to a web interface — no integration required.
Growing customer expectations for increased speed and transparency have made reducing complexity and improving efficiency an imperative for modern supply chains. Nowhere is this more apparent than for multi-modal shipments, where shippers are forced to navigate a tangled web of different vendors and technologies. With its Multimodal Services offering, Loadsmart is uniquely positioned to transform the way companies manage their multimodal freight, offering a single source for shipment execution and unparalleled visibility from the port to the final destination.
With most Americans sheltering at home under government stay-at-home orders, the COVID-19 pandemic has flipped the switch on the domestic freight market.
Responding to Abrupt Market Disruptions With Digital Freight Technology
The freight frenzy came on fast but seems to have left even quicker. US Freight volumes have plunged to the lowest rate since Freightwaves began recording them in 2018.
Capacity continues to loosen with most of the country on lockdown and with industries not fully functioning there isn’t enough freight to keep capacity tight.
Logistics and supply chain companies remain the backbone of the U.S. economy and the American way of life.
So, how do supply chains continue to function smoothly and consistently during such an unprecedented and unplanned for global crisis?
What’s Happening In The Domestic Freight Market?
Over the past year, the outbound tender index had been remarkably low, putting pressure on carriers and brokers throughout the market because the majority of freight was moving through primary award carriers.
The market saw low rates of rejection by carriers as they were grabbing all their contracted or fixed opportunities, leaving little spot or overflow freight available for carriers and brokers.
What is the Current Status of the US Freight Market?
Market conditions quickly shifted in late February and March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We initially saw levels that exceeded 2018 in early March, but now things are starting to return to pre-crisis levels.
It’s not just the extreme levels that we saw, but the rate of change that was extraordinary. It wasn’t a steady gradual adjustment with capacity decreasing week over week or month over month with rejection rates increasing, leaving more spot freight on the market. It was as though, almost overnight there was an explosion of spot freight coming into the market that needed to be covered.
It’s important to note that what we are all seeing behind these numbers is not just business as usual. Seasonality trends and all normal expectations were pushed aside as the highest levels in months appeared out of nowhere.
Moving freight is always a critical function in the US economy, but the unprecedented level of urgency, the critical nature of the goods being moved and the need to get them to their destination quickly given the current crisis situation.
What does the COVID-19 data say?
Volume fell 30% off this year’s peak on Mar 23.
Supply is strong.
The Outbound Tender Rejection Index sits at 5.06%, off a high of 20.2%. When the spot market cools, carriers return to more profitable or consistent contracted business. That means carriers reject fewer contracted tenders = lower OBTRI.
Rateson Long Haul runs have tumbled while short-haul rates remain stable.
How Can Transportation Management Systems (TMS) Keep Supply Chains moving during COVID-19?
Shipping companies should be turning to technology to help weather the storm and come out on the other side of COVID-19 set up for success. Technology allows shippers to collaborate with supply chain stakeholders while they are working remotely and makes connecting with additional truck capacity easier and more efficient.
NOW is the time for shippers to lean more heavily on technology.
3 Ways your TMS can help combat market volatility?
At Loadsmart we believe that leveraging technology and thinking about your TMS from a broader perspective gives shippers an advantage when faced with market volatility.
1. Accelerate Rate Discovery with Instant Rates
For shippers, especially those with a large volume to cover, the challenge of getting a price, that’s not a paper rate, that you have confidence in, and that’s truly indicative of the actual capacity that’s also bookable is tough.
Many companies that were using more efficient solutions to cover their spot freight prior to the COVID-19 crisis are reverting back to older solutions to keep their heads above water.
The need to get rates, capture data coupled with the complexity and confusion in the market has caused them to go back to swapping spreadsheets over email with lists of carriers and brokers.
Getting rates, understanding what genuinely bookable truly liquid rates are out there is generally a challenge, especially for companies that haven’t invested in integrations with more machine learning-driven instant pricing solutions.
Still, in the current market, it’s even more difficult. Just capturing the eyeballs of a carrier or broker to make sure they get you a rate is a challenge and knowing if the rate is going to be good and how long it’s valid is difficult. We believe that ultimately this is not a challenge shippers should be facing.
We recognize that in a market like the current one, there are going to be multiple problems to solve and considerable challenges to overcome. Yet, we don’t think that getting a bookable rate should be one of them.
It really should be much more straightforward. Much more scalable. And much more automated.
So those having to make procurement decisions can spend their time and their energy on more critical challenges than just trying to figure out what rates are available.
Artificial intelligence is fundamentally changing how freight is priced and shipped.
The thought that someone on a sales team receives a rate request then has to connect with operations and others within a brokerage or carrier, trying to understand what availability is out there is exhausting. Then they still have to decide how much to mark it up and how much they can squeeze out of the customer, then after some time which can be hours someone gets back to the shipper with an instantly bookable rate – those days are behind us.
Pricing calculations need to use the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning models.
AI-powered pricing provides shippers with many more rate options while reducing the headcount cost associated with calculating rates.
Having a sales team, whose compensation is almost entirely driven by how much they can squeeze out of a customer and how much they can mark up to the shipper focused on calculating rates is not necessary.
Now you can have algorithms calculate the rate, and you don’t have to pay them a commission.
The market then becomes more efficient, which allows us to offer more value to Loadsmart customers rather than price gouging, which has been typical with spot in the past.
Using a machine learning model allows us to provide our customers with an instantly bookable rate in a matter of seconds, by ingesting large amounts of data (over 500 different data points) allowing us to provide a rate within 2 to 3 seconds in any one of over 900,000 lanes across the United States.
2. Make Your Routing Guide Respond to Market Conditions
Let’s dig a bit deeper into the idea of the routing guide and how integrating your routing guide with a solution like Loadsmart makes your routing guide better and smarter.
Those that didn’t see much volume running through your routing guide last year have certainly seen the dust blown off that routing guide recently.
What Is The Problem With Traditional Freight Routing Guides?
Traditional routing guides are static. Routing guide rates only get updated a few times a year, and loads can spend hours or days in routing. Rates are often significantly higher than the spot market.
Why Are Dynamic Freight Routing Guides Important?
With Loadsmart’s dynamic routing guide, rates update in real-time and we accept 100% of tenders instantly. You can take advantage when market rates are below routing guide rates.
Integrating with Loadsmart’s dynamic routing guide allows you to reduce the amount of freight that goes to the spot market, you can get routing guide freight covered much faster, and pay less to move freight than you would by relying on only static rates.
3. Find the Best Carrier, Faster with Algorithmic Sourcing
Algorithmic sourcing is the best way to get a carrier to cover a load. Getting the right pricing, knowing the rate you are paying is reasonable and that the tender gets accepted by the carrier broker is critical. But it’s also imperative to understand that when you are working with a broker like Loadsmart, how they go about choosing the carrier who ultimately ends up moving your freight.
Algorithmic Sourcing – The Old Paradigm vs. The New Normal
Traditionally the only way for a broker to get a load covered was to have an army of carrier salespeople pounding away at keyboards and dialing the phone all day, communicating with carriers trying to get freight covered.
We understand and respect the value that comes with a carrier sales team and have our own carrier sales team at Loadsmart. That said, we also realize that over the long term, much more freight needs to be covered based on algorithmic decision making rather than by individuals to allow carrier sales to focus on the relationships they have with carriers.
Making sure carriers meet service levels and are performing as they need to is a better use of carrier sales time versus worrying and touching every single load.
Algorithmic sourcing allows you to move the load through the system without the support of a carrier salesperson (unless in the case of an exception), giving your team time to build better relationships with carriers and while increasing operational efficiencies.
How does Loadsmart Use Algorithmic Sourcing?
There are 3.83 Million Class 8 Trucks on the road in the United States.
For shippers that were recently struggling to get their freight covered, that may seem like not enough, but the reality is there is a tremendous amount of capacity out there in total. That’s important to note because it speaks to the complexity and the challenges associated with choosing a specific truck to move a particular load.
Considering the complexity of a problem where you measure in millions, not single digits or tens of thousands, it’s hard not to think that there really has to be a better solution out there.
One would imagine there has to be an algorithm out there that is capable of finding way more options than a person possibly could.
Who has the time it would take to consider millions of options before making a decision? Not logistics professionals who need to ship a lot of items very quickly while keeping costs down for both themselves and their customers.
How Does Loadsmart Help Shippers Consider Millions Of Freight Options?
Loadsmart helps shippers consider millions of freight options by using technology as much as possible. We start by determining which carriers we feel should be part of our network.
We use technology to make better carrier network decisions by integrating with all sorts of 3rd party data sources, including RMIS, FMCSA, which gives us access to inspection data and carrier safety records and even integrations with load boards.
Load board integrations are essential to us, not because we are trying to move freight on the load board, but because it allows us to monitor carrier behavior on the load board.
Here’s an example of why load board monitoring is essential.
By integrating with load boards, Loadsmart’s able to see how many trucks on average a given carrier has posted on that load board. That’s important because we also know how many trucks they have in their fleet. We get that number directly from the carriers we currently work with and easily capture the number from other sources when it’s not.
Let’s say we know a carrier has ten trucks in their fleet. I can see that on one or two major load boards they are consistently posting 50, 60, 100 trucks. What data has historically told us is that it’s probably a carrier you don’t want to work with because they are representing that they have much more capacity than they do.
They may be out there fishing for loads for trucks even though they already accepted a tender putting them at high risk for being the type of carrier that will drop a load just before pickup because they got a better offer. That is not the type of carrier Loadsmart wants to move our customers’ freight.
Making sure the carriers that you have in your network are carriers you want to be doing business with is just one of many examples of the things Loadsmart can do with the massive amounts of data we ingest from 3rd party sources. It allows us to solve particular problems for our customers.
Bonus: Keeping Your Loading Docks Open And Fully Utilized
Loadsmart can help improve the throughput of your loading docks to ensure your facilities, which may already be under pressure under current market conditions, are running as efficiently as possible.
While this is the way everyone books appointments, we believe there is a better solution that improves the throughput of facilities while also reducing driver wait time.
In any market condition, the quality of driver experience is super important, but especially in times like now, when every minute and every hour of driver time and facility availability is vital. We want to make sure that both the driver over time and the facility capacity are being used in the most efficient way possible, not wasting anyone’s time and not wasting available dock hours.
So, how do we make that happen?
We accomplish this by integrating with the facility to capture real-time dock availability through an API allowing us to book an appointment when booking the load automatically.
That allows us to book an appointment automatically when booking the load. Instead of having to call or email the facility, we can grab an appointment instantly and automatically by integrating with the doc scheduling tool that you are using.
Integrating via API allows us to grab the appointment availability and lock in the appointment much quicker while also taking advantage of the tracking data we capture. At Loadsmart, we are obsessed with tracking and put the data to work by using the real-time ETA of when the truck is going to arrive at the facility to see if we need to update the appointment, which we do automatically while the drive is still en route.
By doing this, we are able to avoid situations where drivers arrive at times outside their scheduled appointment time. For example, a driver’s expected to arrive at noon, but we know thanks to real-time ETA data that the driver is going to get there at 8 AM.
Rather than having the driver sit there and wait for four hours, we can automatically ping that facility via the integration with the dock scheduling tool to see if there is an earlier appointment available. Then if there is an appointment that is closer to the driver’s real-time ETA, we can grab that and give back our previously scheduled time.
Why does this matter?
The person at the gate doesn’t have to worry about trucks showing up early or late, and drivers don’t have to sit there and wait for their initially scheduled appointment if they are too early or to get worked in if they are late.
Instead, we more closely align their ETA of their truck with an appointment much closer to their arrival time. Meaning you have fewer drivers waiting at the gate and less driver time wasted waiting at a facility in general. You can improve the throughput of the facility because you have a better match with when the truck arrives and when there is an available gate to get that truck loaded or unloaded and move on to the next truck.
In times like we are experiencing now, driver time and facility efficiency are critical. But in any market conditions, we all need to show more respect for drivers’ time and the driver experience.
Automating and integrating with the dock scheduling tool allows us to reduce driver wait time and be much smarter about real-time appointments, which improves your network.
How Can Shippers Prepare For The Next Supply Chain Disruption?
Shippers can and should prepare for the next supply chain disruptions by implementing digital freight technologies NOW, not when the next disruption happens.
The last few months have shown shippers that volume can surge, and outbound tender rejections can rise to unprecedented levels at the drop of a hat.
While outbound tender rejections begin to fall, providing stability for shippers now is necessary to ensure the next disruption doesn’t catch you off-guard. Integrating with digital freight technologies now will give you peace of mind and make managing the next crisis easier.
As uncertainty grows, shippers are turning to technology for greater clarity to leverage instant market-based pricing and dynamic routing to deliver real savings while improving service.
Don’t wait for the next disruption to happen. Integrate your TMS with Loadsmart now to help you build, manage, and tender loads.
Integration offers shippers new tools to improve efficiency and gain superior visibility for their shipments
HOLLAND, Mich. and NEW YORK – April 8, 2020 – BluJay Solutions, a leading provider of global supply chain software and services, and Loadsmart, a digital freight technology company, today announced a strategic and technical partnership that delivers greater transportation efficiency and visibility to shippers. The API-enabled integration of Loadsmart’s digital freight platform with BluJay’s cloud-based transportation management software (TMS) allows customers access to Loadsmart’s offering of instantly bookable truckload rates and guaranteed capacity directly within the BluJay platform.
“Loadsmart and BluJay share a passion for innovation and a commitment to putting customers first, making this partnership a natural fit,” said Felipe Capella, president and co-founder of Loadsmart. “The integration of our industry-leading platform with BluJay’s first-of-its-kind cloud-based TMS delivers tangible value to our shared customers, who now can more seamlessly and efficiently lock in rates and capacity through a single UI.”
Customers benefit from improved efficiency and reduced transportation costs. The integration allows for Loadsmart’s real-time, bookable rates to appear within BluJay’s Transportation Management application in the Carrier Shop, Routing Guide, or both. As a result, shippers can automatically tender the load and receive status updates from pickup through delivery, with near-real-time tracking.
“Our partnership and integration with Loadsmart couldn’t come at a better time for BluJay and our customers. The current pandemic has had a tremendous impact on freight rates and capacity. The Loadsmart solution, combined with the advanced capabilities of the BluJay TMS, will help our shippers rapidly secure capacity at a competitive rate. Even once the environment settles, Loadsmart will provide our customers with the tools needed to improve visibility, control costs and improve operational efficiency,” said David Landau, chief product officer at BluJay.
About Loadsmart Transforming the future of freight, Loadsmart leverages artificial intelligence, machine learning and strategic partnerships to automate how freight is priced, booked and shipped. Pairing advanced technologies with deep-seated industry expertise, Loadsmart fuels growth, simplifies operational complexity and bolsters efficiency for carriers and shippers alike. For more information, please visit: https://loadsmart.com.
About BluJay Solutions BluJay Solutions helps companies around the world achieve excellence in logistics and trade compliance – it’s in our DNA. Through a blend of Data, Networks, and Applications, delivered in the BluJay Way, our DNA platform powers the Frictionless Supply Chain for thousands of the world’s leading manufacturers, retailers, distributors, freight forwarders, customs brokers, carriers, and logistics service providers. To learn more, visit: http://www.blujaysolutions.com, or follow us on Twitter @myblujay and LinkedIn.
