MTMC SPEEDS UP FREIGHT CARRIER QUALIFICATION PROCESS
The U.S. Military Traffic Management Command is developing a Web-based program to approve carriers to transport Defense Department cargo.
The program will reduce the approval process to about 24 to 48 hours instead of several weeks. “By doing this, we’ll bring more qualifed carriers in a faster paperless fashion,” said Maj. Donna Johnson, chief of the automation branch of MTMC’s operations division.
A test of the program will run for the next 90 days before it’s fully implemented. Carriers in the following categories will qualify: common, hazardous materials, bulk fuel, shipper agents, freight forwarders, air freight forwarders, brokers, and transportation protective services.
MTMC, the ocean and over the road logistics management unit for the armed forces, has been qualifying freight carriers since 1991.
“No longer will MTMC maintain file cabinets filled with the qualification packets of MTMC’s 600 carriers,” the agency said. “In the past, prospective carriers complained about the difficulty of qualification and the steps required for completion.”
“Formerly, the qualification took 13 individual forms and certifications. Now the qualification will require just three documents,” MTMC added.