In part collaborating with Triumph, best-known as a factoring company, the Highway carrier-identity-verification service is launching what it's calling the "Trusted Freight Exchange" (TFX). Highway bills TFX as a "secure digital freight exchange built exclusively for verified carriers and vetted brokers."
Independent owner-operators working with brokers day-to-day are likely to be familiar with the ID-verify steps the Highway company's helped brokers put in place to ensure carriers are who they say they are. Those steps include anything from electronic-logging-device connection and certificate of insurance (COI) verification to driver's license/facial recognition verification in some instances. The last has been particularly true for ELD-exempt owner-operators without the possibility of utilizing an ELD to verify operations, which one glider owner earlier this year memorably called "overstepping" reasonable boundaries.
For those ELD-exempt owners, the new TFX freight marketplace will be out of reach, for now. Highway Vice President of Marketing Jessie Thomas noted that "having an active ELD connection to your Highway account is a requirement for carriers to access" the TFX. Thomas added, though, that the company was working on a way for ELD-exempt carriers to participate in the TFX.
And those "vetted brokers" participating in TFX the company referenced in press announcing the exchange? "Brokers must be a verified Highway customer using our load-level compliance solution, Load Lock," Thomas said, to participate in TFX. Load Lock is detailed in this document, with levels of verification beyond the onboarding carrier-identity system Highway's offered to brokers since the company's founding in 2021. That includes secured rate-confirmation delivery with verified emails and what the company calls "audited movements." That is, comparisons of "carriers’ observed vehicles with their number of active rate confirmations," according to the informational document. Load Lock "also identifies whether a carrier has overbooked its capability. This provides a valuable layer of additional protection" for brokers worried about service failures or double brokering potential.
[Related: Owner-operator allege Highway 'overstepping' with carrier onboarding process]
Asked about Highway's vetting of broker customers themselves who would participate in TFX and Load Lock, Thomas didn't respond directly but noted that all TFX brokers "are credit approved by Triumph," offering a layer of protection against nonpayment for carriers akin to the Triumph factoring service's utility for its customers.
The company hopes TFX can combine all of it -- Highway's "identity engine" and Triumph's "market rating, intelligence, payment, and credit capabilities" -- to deliver robust "identity verification, compliance, pricing, and payments in a single platform," Highway said in its press release.
Given broker participation in Load Lock is a prerequisite for participation in TFX, reps noted these benefits for carriers:
- Real loads only (no fake or phantom freight)
- Pre-qualified freight (if you can see it, you can haul it)
Same-day cash advances, too, would be available soon with TFX load transactions executed through Triumph's LoadPay system, and the TFX generally is completely free to use for carriers who connect their ELD in Highway's system.
"Brokers who are a customer of Highway pay to access the exchange," Thomas said, "which enables them to post and transact loads with identity-verified carriers."
The company's goal, ultimately, with the TFX? “Build a secure, transparent platform to move freight,” said Jordan Graft, Highway founder and CEO. “TFX delivers on that promise, powered by verified identity, assured payment, and a trusted network.”
The company offered this website address for those interested in scheduling a demo and/or learning more.
