Ryder System (NYSE: R) is adding the technology platform from Trucker Tools to its brokerage division to help support carrier engagement and digital process automation.
“This engagement fully aligns with our strategy of engaging innovative, forward-thinking technology partners that can further enhance our service offerings,” said Dave Belter, vice president and general manager of global transportation management solutions for Ryder. “Trucker Tools delivers improved freight transparency and visibility for our shippers and carrier partners, as well as drives efficiencies and reduces costs, all while enhancing service levels through automation.”
Trucker Tools offers cloud-based real-time shipment visibility, capacity planning, freight matching and automated booking software for freight brokers and small-fleet truckload carriers.
The inclusion of Trucker Tools within its brokerage division will give Ryder customers access to predictive freight matching, Book it Now, automated shipment tracking and digital document scan and send, Trucker Tools said.
“We are excited to welcome Ryder’s freight brokerage operation to our platform,” said Prasad Gollapalli, Trucker Tools’ founder and chief executive. “Especially in these times, brokers need to explore every avenue to reduce costs, every opportunity to streamline and optimize how they do business and help their carriers be more productive.”
Trucker Tools predictive freight matching offers real-time capacity visibility and streamlined workflows to analyze, present and secure the load matches with the optimal carrier. According to Trucker Tools, the software “considers a variety of real-time factors and historical data to drive decisions, including the carrier’s profile, current or soon-to-arrive location, proximity, lane and load preferences.”
The algorithms also consider the carrier’s next stop and use that information to rank available reload opportunities.
“Without trucks, the freight sits,” added Gollapalli. “Those brokers who do the best job of collaborating with and supporting their carriers will be the ones who are best prepared for success when the market turns. We look forward to helping Ryder successfully navigate this journey.”
Trucker Tools’ Book it Now functionality allows carriers to accept and confirm an offered load with Ryder’s brokers. Available information during the booking process includes real-time loads with pricing. Accepting a load is a simple one-click process for acceptance and confirmation.
The software also offers real-time shipment tracking data that will be integrated into Ryder’s transportation management system via the Trucker Tools mobile app. The app utilizes a smartphone’s embedded GPS capability to communicate updated location information every five minutes.
The Trucker Tools driver app also offers drivers the ability to snap a picture of documents and send those through the system, speeding the invoicing and billing portion of the process.
Belter said the addition will help Ryder’s brokerage customers cover more loads and improve tracking, but it will “open the door to more capacity choices for our customers and at competitive pricing.”
Ryder is the second big customer Trucker Tools has added in the past month or so. In early June, the company announced that Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ: WERN) had added the company’s suite of freight management and carrier engagement tools.
“Supply chain visibility is critically important, particularly in these unprecedented times, and that visibility is enabled by being highly connected with alliance carriers,” said Andy Damkroger, Werner’s associate vice president of logistics strategy, in a statement at the time. “Trucker Tools is very focused on driver and carrier convenience, bringing to independent truckers a set of app-based features and functions not typically available from a single third-party logistics provider. We believe the combination of Werner’s in-house capabilities with Trucker Tools provides a unique, advantageous benefit to our carrier partners and customers.”
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