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.
The CB Insights research team selected the AI 100 from nearly 5,000 companies based on factors including patent activity, investor quality, and proprietary Mosaic scores. The Mosaic Score, based on CB Insights’ algorithm, measures the overall health and growth potential of private companies to help predict a company’s momentum. This year’s list includes:
100 emerging private companies with a cumulative of $7.4B in funding across 300+ deals from 600+ unique investors.
10 unicorns (companies valued over $1B)
Healthcare, retail & warehouse, and finance & insurance companies across 13 countries
Loadsmart is the only digital freight marketplace to be recognized in its category, underscoring the company’s innovative approach to addressing supply chain challenges through a mix of advanced technology and deep-seated industry experience.
Click ☝️to download full report
“At Loadsmart, we pride ourselves on cultivating meaningful relationships with those at the helm of the supply chain—shippers and carriers—and crafting visionary AI-based solutions to ensure they succeed and thrive,” said Ricardo Salgado, CEO and co-founder of Loadsmart. “We’re honored to be recognized as a leading tech innovator in the commercial transportation sector, and enthusiastically look forward to continued collaboration and growth.”
In this on-demand webinar, join Hunter Yaw, VP of Product at Loadsmart and Adam Wells, Director of Strategic Alliances at MercuryGate, as they walk through five ways shippers can leverage Loadsmart and MercuryGate to deliver tangible cost savings, improve service, and get more out of their TMS.
They discuss how to…
Accelerate rate discovery by adding instant rates to your TMS
Beat the market by making your routing guide responsive to market conditions
Eliminate surprises by tracking freight in near real-time
Find the best carrier, faster with algorithmic sourcing
This is the 3rd edition of my predictions for the 12 months ahead. You can check my January 2018 and January 2019 editions and decide for yourself if I was too off (yes, some of them were too optimistic!). Emergence of Carrier Digitization: Motor carriers are feeling the pain of being held prisoner by legacy […]
Loadsmart, a digital freight technology company, was awarded #15th place at the 2020 Freight.Tech25 awards held at Freightwaves Live CHICAGO. The award marks the second time Loadsmart has been recognized as one of the most innovative companies in the freight industry, having placed 22nd in 2019.
The FreightTech 25, chosen from the FreightTech 100, highlights the most disruptive companies across the freight and transportation industries, featuring both cutting-edge upstarts and top-notch traditional powers.
“All of our efforts have been focused on developing the right technology and partnerships to make Loadsmart the go-to-marketplace for logistics execution. We are confident that this approach will bring long-term sustainable change to the industry, which to date has seen many companies follow the traditional path of blitzscaling-for-market-share,” said Felipe Capella, Chief Product Officer and Co-Founder at Loadsmart, “Moving up in Freight Tech’s Top 25 most innovative companies is further validation that we are moving in the right direction.”
Loadsmart Awarded #15 in Freight.Tech 25
The FreightTech.25 isn’t the first time Loadsmart has been recognized by analysts and industry groups. In the past 12 months, the company was awarded “Digital Brokerage of the Year” by Frost & Sullivan, nominated by Gartner as a Cool Vendor for “Intelligent SCE Technologies” and recognized by CB Insights as a disruptor in the supply chain industry.
New Solution Maximizes Loaded Miles by Matching Carrier Availability with Shipper Demand Through Advanced Integrations and Machine Learning
NEW YORK, Oct. 8, 2019—Loadsmart, a digital freight technology company, today announced the launch of its Smart Match tool, which provides carriers a faster, easier way to find the right loads to improve their bottom line. By directly integrating with the fleet management platforms relied on by carriers, Loadsmart is able to use machine learning to programmatically match available trucks with the freight it’s awarded via integrations with some of the most popular transportation management systems.
Loadsmart is offering a new level of digital freight matching targeted primarily toward enterprise carriers. With API integration directly to both the carrier and the shipper TMS, Smart Match uses the location of trucks to instantly connect available capacity with shipper demand, maximizing revenue per loaded mile and improving the bottom line.
“Smart Match empowers carriers to move beyond the current load-to-truck paradigm, filtering through endless freight being offered, and instead go truck-to-load, pulling freight from the cloud onto their assets to help balance their network ,” said Hunter Yaw, vice president of product management and business development, Loadsmart. “The new capability will help accelerate how carriers align their networks to the highest yield markets.”
With Smart Match, carriers can receive automated load recommendations based on the current and future availability of their trucks. And as a result of TMS integration and relationships with some of the country’s biggest shippers, Smart Match offers visibility to thousands of potential shipments.
Slowing demand, excess capacity and historic declines in freight rates have resulted in rampant “rightsizing” across the trucking industry, putting companies large and small out of business. More than ever before, carriers face margin pressures, stiff competition and operational challenges. The largely manual and time-consuming process of finding loads and aligning vehicle assets to the most profitable markets is a significant resource drain for for-hire fleets. Loadsmart’s Smart Match capability, which taps the power of machine learning and other technologies to automate the data-heavy task of load matching, speeds time to revenue and maximizes asset utilization.
“The transportation industry is at a pivotal crossroads rounding out a particularly tough year. We believe in equipping carriers and shippers with technology to succeed and thrive, while minimizing cost per transaction,” said Erik Malin, vice president of operations at Loadsmart. “With AI-powered Smart Match, we’re making it faster and easier for carriers to uncover the most profitable markets and find the right opportunities to grow their business.”
About Loadsmart Loadsmart is a digital freight technology company that specializes in full 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. For more information, please visit: https://loadsmart.com.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
Relationship offering shippers real-time truckload rates within their Oracle Transportation Management Cloud routing guide
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.
“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.”
