Trucking news and briefs for Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019:
Loadsmart’s ‘Smart Match’ tool
Digital freight brokerage Loadsmart launched its “Smart Match” tool to boost speed and ease for carriers matching dry van, reefer and port drayage loads (the last limited to Port of New York and New Jersey) to their available trucks. The Loadsmart platform integrates with many fleet management platforms (transportation management systems, or TMS) carriers large and small rely on; by doing so, the company says it’s able to use machine learning to programmatically match trucks with freight.
The Smart Match tool is targeted primarily toward enterprise carriers of significant size. With API integration directly to both the carrier and the shipper TMS, Smart Match employs truck-location data to determine best available load by shipper demand, with a goal of maximizing revenue per loaded mile and improving the bottom line.
Loadsmart’s shipper clients have freight with origins all over the country, the company says, yet they’ve been strongest out of the Southeast in recent times. Find more via Loadsmart.com/carrier.With Smart Match, carriers can receive automated load recommendations based on 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.
The company believes the tool comes at a time when carriers can benefit most from time saved in the sometimes cumbersome matching/negotiation process. Slowing demand, excess capacity and historic declines in freight rates have resulted in what it calls rampant “rightsizing” across the industry, putting some companies large and small out of business. Eliminate the resource drain of some of the work of booking loads can help a company align work to “the most profitable markets.”
Landstar’s contractor app’s fuel functions
Just a few months following release, the LandstarOne mobile app, the company says, has been taken up by more than 8,500 owner-ops leased to the carrier. Among its business-related functions include fuel-related tools that allow operators to find the best-priced fuel with discounts included in price calculations. Daily fuel searches are exceeding 146,000, and using the app has proved “quicker than checking multiple sources and doing the math to figure out my fuel savings and IFTA credit,” says Landstar owner-operator Greg Huggins. It helps take “a lot of the guess work out of my trip and fuel planning,” added Huggins.
Some independent owner-operators leased to Landstar have reported saving up to $90 each time they fill up, the company says, since using the mobile app.
