Forager and project44 have teamed up to solve one of freight’s biggest challenges: creating real-time seamless visibility for freight as it crosses to and from Mexico.
The partnership is aimed at creating a new standard of cross-border transparency, said Matt Silver, CEO and co-founder of Forager.
“Businesses that ship domestically already expect a high level of visibility on all their loads, but historically that expectation of transparency stopped at the U.S.-Mexico border,” Silver said. “There’s this industry belief that Mexico is the blackhole of freight and that it’s impossible to know where your truck is once it leaves the U.S. We don’t buy that.”
The new partnership combines Forager’s cross-border freight management platform — SCOUT by Forager — with project44’s global Advanced Visibility Platform. Forager’s customers will now be able to leverage automated, real-time tracking data to manage their supply chains across the U.S. and Mexico, Silver said.
Forager is a Chicago-based cross-border logistics technology company founded in 2018. Forager launched SCOUT — the company’s instant cross-border booking and pricing platform — in October 2019.
More than 6.5 million commercial trucks crossed the U.S.-Mexico border during 2019, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
The top five international gateways for trucks included:
- Laredo, Texas — 2.73 million trucks.
- Otay Mesa, California — 990,312.
- El Paso, Texas — 795,295.
- Hidalgo County, Texas — 653,251.
- Calexico East, California — 393,032.
Vernon O’Donnell, chief product and services officer at project44, said the work that goes into “tracking the movement of goods internationally is enormous.”
Many carriers currently rely on manual tracking processes such as calls and emails to drivers to keep track of trucks at the border or as they travel through Mexico. Another method for some carriers is to use satellite tracking on their trucks to support visibility as their freight crosses through Mexico.
“Our partnership with Forager eases that burden on shippers and carriers by automatically stitching together shipment information — regardless of which side of the border,” O’Donnell said. “Our customers need a single view of real-time, high-fidelity information where shipments are to manage their production, inventory and transportation networks.”
project44 is a Chicago-based supply chain visibility/management solutions provider founded in 2014 by Jett McCandless. The company is connected to over 175,000 carriers worldwide and supports all transportation modes and shipping types.
The integration with project44 allows Forager’s network of cross-border carriers to track via electronic logging device (ELD) — cutting down on unnecessary calls and emails to drivers, Silver said.
“Our customers will benefit significantly from increased cross-border visibility, but automating the tracking process will also remove a huge weight from our carriers’ shoulders,” Silver said.
Forager will also be launching a new cross-border load board in 2021, alongside other carrier-focused solutions.
“Naturally, we want the experience of our carriers to be just as efficient and seamless as it is for our customers. SCOUT is a marketplace with two sides, and this partnership with project44 serves both,” Silver said.
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