Heavy Duty Trucking, March 2020

FLEET LOGISTICS Knight Swift moving ahead with digital freight matching night Swift is getting into digital freight matching in a big way working with companies such as K DAT Solutions and Truckstop com In the first quarter the Phoenix based trucking and logistics company has been piloting DATs new rate forecasting tool which provides forecasts based on the DAT RateView database of more than 68 billion in annual freight transactions I know digital is kind of a buzzword right now But thats really how it works explained Ken Adamo DATs chief analytics officer in an interview about the new forecasting tool Using that system we can connect the most trucks with shippers and brokers who need to move freight and help them find a carrier match As that process unfolds in real time it brings a lot of transparency to the rates for both sides of the shipping equation All parties can see how many loads are available in a market as well as how many trucks are available And so if a market is hot a carrier can instantly determine if they can charge a fee higher than its standard margin amount to move a load of freight Meanwhile Knight Swift Logistics is running a pilot program on DAT Book Now an automated freight tendering technology that eliminates lengthy load searches phone calls negotiations and other manual processes for freight brokers and carriers In addition Truckstop com and Knight Swift Transportation announced a digital freight matching integration service they say is aimed at helping the companys owner operators and its network of third party trucking partners move more freight efficiently The first phase of the partnership includes the integration of Truckstop coms Book It Now into Knight Swifts Logistics environment This allows Knight Swift Logistics to post a rate and allow their preferred partner carriers to instantly book loads and receive automated confirmation for the loads they choose Looking forward to spring Pent up demand after the busy holiday season kept truckload prices high in the first half of January As more capacity became available the competition for freight drove rates down quickly Higher truckload freight volumes and lower rates are common for January Rates for dry van and refrigerated shipments fell compared to December 2019 but volumes actually increased Flatbed freight volumes and the national average flatbed rate were both up slightly in January compared to December DAT projects that dry van spot rates will rise as much as 3 to 5 by the end of the first quarter and 6 to 10 by the end of the second quarter Spot freight index NOTE THE DAT TRUCKLOAD FREIGHT VOLUME INDEX IS BASED ON LOAD COUNTS AND PER MILE RATES RECORDED IN DAT RATEVIEW WITH AN AVERAGE OF 3 MILLION FREIGHT MOVES PER MONTH SPOT RATES INCLUDE FUEL SURCHARGES When technology fails Within a months period two of the industrys biggest load matching platforms experienced technical problems Malware hit Truckstop com sites right before Christmas causing problems that lasted for days DAT had an outage that lasted for a little under 24 hours Kingsgate Logistics noted on its blog the importance of having backup plans During the DAT outage its team still continued to cover loads finding multiple ways around the outage including using software that allowed it to search its own carrier database for load coverage Ryder brings truck sharing platform to Dallas Ryder System expanded its peer topeer truck sharing platform Coop by Ryder to the Dallas Fort Worth market a move the company said reflects growing demand for commercial vehicle sharing The Coop platform allows commercial vehicle owners to generate revenue by renting idle trucks and trailers to a network of trusted businesses In addition to Dallas Fort Worth it is also available throughout Georgia and Florida According to Ryder Coop generates average monthly earnings of 3000 for a single truck or 4000 a month for a sleeper tractor To date more than 1300 businesses have joined the program to list or borrow vehicles vans trucks tractors and trailers on the platform HDT MARCH 2020 26 WWW TRUCKINGINFO COM