AI drive at C.H. Robinson making its way to its 4PL arm, Managed Solutions

C.H. Robinson’s turnaround since the start of 2024, evidenced most clearly in its rising stock price for more than a year, has been attributed to many factors, a strengthening freight market certainly not being one of them.

(C.H. Robinson stock hit yet another 52-week high Wednesday at $128.46 and is up about 24.6% just in the last month).

Management at the giant logistics company has been consistently on-message about their technology gains, citing growing use of AI to drive processes more efficiently (and with fewer workers) as a key reason for the way it has outperformed its peers.

Much of the talk by C.H. Robinson CEO Dave Bozeman (NASDAQ: CHRW) in calls with analysts and other forums has focused on the impact of AI in the company’s primary business, its brokerage operations in its North America Surface Transportation (NAST) segment.

But the company this week is announcing the adoption of an AI-driven tool, the Always-on Logistics Planner, in its 4PL offering C.H. Robinson Managed Solutions. Managed Solutions at C.H. Robinson is under the heading of All Other and Corporate in the company’s earnings report, along with such operations as Robinson Fresh, which buys and sells produce.

Managed Solutions was formally launched in 2024, though its offerings were not new. Rather, the creation of the group brought together various services C.H. Robinson already was offering, including its TMS product and other parts of a full-service 4PL.

Defining a 4PL

In an interview with FreightWaves, Jordan Kass, the president of Managed Solutions, said the Always-on tool is not an offering that needs to be purchased separately. Rather, it runs as part of the company’s tech stack that drives its 4PL services.

Kass described the various offerings that now make up Managed Solutions as having previously been a “pure play 4PL.” Asked for a definition of a 4PL, Kass said a survey of a room of logistics professionals asked for a definition “might come back with 15 different answers.”

“The reason is because customers don’t want a one-size fits all approach,” he said. “They want a tailored solution.”

But more specifically, Kass said, he described a 4PL as operating out of a technology control tower “whereby they’re working across many supply chain trading partners.”

What Kass called a “continuum” of services for Managed Solutions’ 4PL product can be as basic as the TMS products where C.H. Robinson competes with companies like Blue Yonder. But Managed Solutions also competes in what Kaas called “the other end of the spectrum” with “a full venue of services, moving up and down the continuum.”

More formally, in the company’s 10-K filing for 2025, C.H. Robinson said Managed Solutions was created “to address a growing gap in the marketplace for shippers wanting seamless access to 4PL services, 3PL, managed transportation and TMS technology from one provider.”

Not the same as automation

Kass described the Always-on tool as a “digital teammate” that will run often behind the scenes to get tasks accomplished if no human being is around.

“The work isn’t going away,” Kass said. “We’re just putting forward a digital teammate to manage and execute the end-to-end logistics process to facilitate better supply chain orientation.”

Kass described Always-on as not the same as an automation process. .“It’s not simply automating a task,” he said. “We’re focused on the entirety of the process, because our customers are dealing with more disruption than they ever have before with less resources. It is very additive to the process.”

Driving the process is agentic AI, what Kass referred to as “a fleet of agents.”

While some of that agentic AI capabilities are being drawn from the broader work on AI that C.H. Robinson has been implementing, Kass described the Always-on tool as “unique, discrete and distinctly new.”

But the group got there in part–and will move forward–by leveraging the capabilities of the C.H. Robinson technology, Kass said. “The bigger point here is that if the brokerage group builds a capability, or our group builds a capability, because we’re all on one platform, our customers get the benefits of those capabilities,” he said.

System already has been operating

The Always-on capability is now built into the Managed Solutions system and is operating. C.H. Robinson is using this week to announce its launch, but Kass said Managed Solutions customers have been using it within their systems for about two months.

“On the 4PL side, we’ve already got 100% customer adoption,” he said. “Customers are wildly excited about it.”

Kass’ description of what the tool can do sounds similar to what other C.H. Robinson executives have been saying about their capabilities in NAST, as well as other logistics personnel in general when they discuss how AI has impacted their businesses.

“When a customer now has a question like where is my shipment, it will be picked up by the Always-on logistic planner and that question will be answered,” Kass said. Other questions sent at all hours–with Kass making the point that there really is no such thing in Always-on as “after hours”–will be answered.

The other strength AI’s promoters like to feature is that it isn’t just performing tasks on its own. The questions that come in at “after hours” for the employees will see the “tactical execution” performed by the agentic AI tools in Always-on, “and then our logistics talent gets to do what they love to do best, which is to solve problems, save customers money and improve performance.”

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Intermodal drags down rail freight in latest week

Gains in commodity rail shipments were outweighed by slowing intermodal traffic that dragged U.S. carload freight down in the latest weekly data.

Total U.S. rail traffic of carloads and intermodal units was down 0.8% for the week ending August 23 from the same week a year ago, according to the Association of American Railroads.

Commodities were up 0.6% y/y, while intermodal volume was off 1.9% from 2024.

Four of 10 commodity groups were better, led by grain, up 9.2%, and motor vehicles and parts, up 6%. Farm products excluding grain, and food, increased 4.1%, while chemical shipments improved by 0.4%.

Decliners were led by petroleum and petroleum products, down 9.9%.

For the first 34 weeks of 2025, U.S. cumulative carload volume was ahead 2.6% y/y, while intermodal units gained by 4.2%. Total combined traffic increased by 3.5% from 2024.

North American weekly volume on nine reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads was up 5.3% y/y; intermodal units improved by 5.9%. Total combined traffic was 5.6% better. North American volume for the first 34 weeks of 2025 was up 2.7% from a year ago.

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Find more articles by Stuart Chirls here.

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Gulf Coast ports post mixed July results: Houston, New Orleans up, Corpus Christi down

Cargo flow remained constant at ports in Houston and New Orleans, but slowed slightly in Corpus Christi, Texas, due to less outbound shipments of crude oil during the month of July.

Port Houston sees strong container gains

Port Houston handled 392,829 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in July, a 21% increase compared to the same month in 2024.

Container imports totaled 210,933 TEUs, up 24% year-over-year, while loaded exports rose 19% to 187,367 TEUs. Port officials noted exports, driven largely by resins, have steadily grown throughout the year.

Through the first seven months of 2025, Port Houston moved 2.56 million TEUs, a 6% year-over-year increase.

“July’s volume performance reflects our port’s commitment to providing a low-cost, high-service, low-risk gateway and demonstrates that our customers are trusting us with their cargo during these uncertain times,” Charlie Jenkins, Port Houston CEO, said in a statement.

General cargo volumes at the port’s public terminals rose 10% year-to-date. Steel imports surged 41% in July to 520,309 short tons and are up 8% so far this year, totaling 2.7 million short tons. Overall tonnage across public facilities reached 32.6 million short tons through July, a 6% increase from 2024.

Vessel calls rose 3% year-over-year in July to 684, while barge calls increased 6% to 355.

Port of New Orleans grows containers, breakbulk cargo

The Port of New Orleans reported handling 42,061 TEUs in July, up 16% year-over-year. Breakbulk tonnage rose 17% to 80,515 short tons.

Spokeswoman Kimberly Curth said copper imports—both breakbulk and containerized—have been a key driver of growth this year.

Top exports include plastic resins, chemicals, and synthetic rubber. Imports were led by chemicals, coffee, wood products, heavy machinery, and equipment. Steel and natural rubber topped the list of breakbulk commodities.

Corpus Christi crude oil exports slump

The Port of Corpus Christi recorded 16.4 million tons of total freight in July, down 8% year-over-year. Crude oil exports fell 13% to 9.4 million tons, while crude imports dropped 28% to 532,319 tons.

Petroleum shipments climbed 8% to 5.5 million tons, and dry bulk cargo rose 14% to 617,230 tons. However, chemical bulk cargo declined 12% to 239,783 tons, and bulk grain shipments tumbled 60% to 108,603 tons.

The port handled 418 barge calls in July, up 4% year-over-year, while ship calls declined 9% to 187.

DHL expands Asia Pacific cold chain network with dual-certified facility in Malaysia

DHL Global Forwarding is expanding its cold chain logistics capabilities in Asia Pacific with the opening of a dual-certified pharmaceutical facility at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). The move strengthens DHL’s position as a leader in healthcare logistics, while also addressing rising demand for temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical transportation across the region.

The 38,000-square-foot site is the first within KLIA’s Free Commercial Zone certified for both 15–25°C and 2–8°C storage, adding a new layer of flexibility for manufacturers and distributors of pharmaceuticals, biologics, and vaccines. The hub carries both IATA CEIV Pharma certification and DHL’s Air GxP certification, underscoring compliance with the industry’s most stringent standards.

A Cold Chain Facility Designed for Growth

The KLIA facility represents a significant step in DHL’s push to expand its pharma supply chain infrastructure. Features include dedicated cold rooms, secure storage cages with restricted access, automated environmental monitoring, and reefer truck transfers to maintain integrity from pickup to delivery.

DHL officials say the site is designed to reduce turnaround time, minimize third-party handling, and ensure compliance with Good Distribution Practice (GDP) standards. It also incorporates sustainability measures such as energy-efficient compressors and refrigerants with lower environmental impact.

“Malaysia is strategically located to serve as a regional hub for global medical technology companies, and the fast-growing market is expected to reach a value of $4.5 billion by 2028,” said Praveen Gregory, Managing Director for Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei at DHL Global Forwarding. “Our cold chain infrastructure in KLIA has consistently delivered high standards in pharmaceutical logistics since 2023, and as demand across Asia Pacific accelerates, we are ready to lead with best-in-class facilities and expertise.”

Asia Pacific Healthcare Logistics on the Rise

The expansion comes as Asia Pacific’s healthcare logistics market continues to surge. A Data Bridge Market Research report projects that the sector will grow from $17.6 billion in 2022 to $29.5 billion by 2030, a compound annual growth rate of 7.1%. That growth is being fueled by aging populations, rising chronic disease prevalence, and increasing demand for vaccines and biologics.

DHL is positioning itself at the center of this trend. The company currently operates 37 Air GxP-certified stations and 12 IATA CEIV Pharma-certified facilities across the region, including hubs in Singapore, Tokyo, Seoul, Sydney, and Shanghai. The new KLIA hub further solidifies Malaysia’s role as a strategic node in the global healthcare supply chain.

DHL’s Long-Term Play in Life Sciences

The investment aligns with DHL Group’s Strategy 2030: Accelerating Sustainable Growth, which identifies Life Sciences and Healthcare as a core growth sector. Earlier this year, the company announced a €500 million regional investment in compliant storage and pharma infrastructure across 15 Asia Pacific markets.

For DHL, the new KLIA facility is about more than just capacity. It is part of a broader effort to provide future-ready logistics solutions that ensure critical healthcare products move across borders safely, securely, and sustainably.

With demand for temperature-controlled logistics in Asia Pacific showing no signs of slowing, DHL’s latest investment highlights how global forwarders are racing to build out infrastructure in one of the world’s fastest-growing healthcare markets.

Cold Chain Technologies expands Asia Pacific presence in cold chain logistics

In a calculated series of enhancements, Cold Chain Technologies (CCT) is reinforcing its presence across Asia Pacific (APAC) by combining its global expertise with heightened regional capabilities to better serve pharmaceutical, airline, and third-party logistics (3PL) clients facing the challenge of reliable temperature-controlled logistics.

The announcement marks a significant growth phase for the company following its recent acquisitions of Tower Cold Chain and Global Cold Chain Solutions (GCCS). CCT intends to build on these to ensure seamless global access to its passive parcel and pallet solutions

In Japan, CCT has proactively inaugurated a new logistics hub in Tokyo. At the same time, the company has appointed Hubnet as distributor for its Reusable Pallet range, another signal of deeper localization and efficiency in supply chain operations.

In China, CCT is scaling up an existing partnership with Shanghai-based TWS, entrusting the distributor with full responsibility for CCT’s comprehensive portfolio, a move that reflects confidence in TWS’s capabilities and an emphasis on coherent service across the Chinese market.

Beyond East Asia, CCT is rebranding and consolidating operations in two vital markets: “CCT Australia” and “CCT India.” These regional arms leverage the existing infrastructures established through GCCS.

In India, this is evidenced further by plans for a new manufacturing facility in Mumbai and a prominent product presence at the Cold Chain Unbroken conference in Hyderabad in September 2025.

“We’re leveraging the strength of our global portfolio – pallets, parcels, thermal covers, and digital solutions – together with strong regional capabilities across APAC. We encourage those interested to register their interest,” said Amardeep Chahal, Senior VP, Marketing & Corporate Development at Cold Chain Technologies, in a news release.

With these developments, CCT not only deepens its footprint but also signals to the cold chain logistics industry that it intends to nurture a more immediate, agile, and regionally grounded service model.

These developments signal more than geographic growth; they suggest that connectivity between production, distribution, and service delivery is becoming more integrated, efficient, and customer-centric across the fast-growing Asia-Pacific corridor.

EU-US pact to steady trans-Atlantic trade, forwarder says — with one exception

The eagerly awaited official framework for the EU-U.S. trade truce has been released, signaling a halt in the escalating tensions that have burdened trans-Atlantic trade, and should help steady container flows, said forwarder Kuehne & Nagel.

While not yet legally enforceable, the agreement maintains the 15% tariff on most European Union exports to the U.S. and the 27.5% duty on automobiles. These tariffs will remain in place until Brussels implements reciprocal tariff reductions on a wide array of American industrial and agricultural products.

For container shipping, the implications are significant but nuanced, said Paolo Montrone, global head of trade, Sea Logistics, for Swiss-based K&N (OTC: KHNGY).

“In the near term, cargo flows on core EU–U.S. lanes should stabilize, particularly for pharmaceuticals, industrial goods, and agricultural commodities spared from further escalation,” Montrone wrote in a note to customers. “This could bring more predictable volumes to carriers serving the North Europe–U.S. East Coast and Gulf routes.”

However, Montrone said a delay in car tariff reductions continues to strain automotive exports, a key driver of high-value westbound cargo.

European car exports to the U.S. dropped 16.8% decline in the first six months of this year from 2024. Germany is the largest European exporter to the U.S., totaling $34.9 billion in vehicles and parts in 2024

It’s also an open question how higher landed costs of EU goods will affect U.S. consumer demand.

“If price sensitivity drives a shift toward more affordable options, where such options exist, domestic or Asian suppliers may gain ground. This could lead to a plateau or even a decline in westbound volumes, particularly in consumer-driven segments such as food, wine, and mid-tier manufactured goods,” he said.

The forwarder’s overall container volumes increased by about 2% in the first half of this year from 2024, but EU to U.S. demand was relatively flat due to currency and tariff effects.

More extensive negotiations aimed at a comprehensive agreement covering standards, digital regulations, and market access could further reshape trade patterns and foster growth, Montrone said. Until then, carriers must contend with a market characterized by policy unpredictability and swift tariff adjustments. This necessitates flexible capacity planning to ensure services remain aligned with fluctuating demand.

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Ceva Logistics loses high-value shipments amid rise in cargo theft

A white Ceva truck moving toward camera on a bridge.

Crime rings have targeted Ceva Logistics in eight separate incidents over the past year in which tractor trailers filled with high-value electronics valued at more than $18.3 million were stolen, according to a person with inside knowledge of the situation.

The thefts stem from repeated breakdowns in security policy, often related to outsourcing loads to unvetted motor carriers and leaving trailers in unsecured warehouse yards, the source told FreightWaves.

Ceva Logistics, the sixth-largest third-party logistics provider in the world by revenue, is not alone in being victimized by multiple cargo thefts. Freight-related crime is on the rise. According to Verisk CargoNet, cargo theft activity in North America increased 27% year over year in 2024, with $455 million worth of goods stolen in 3,625 reported incidents. The number of cargo theft incidents is likely much higher because many shippers are reluctant to report losses for reputational or security reasons.

Verisk provides risk management services to the global insurance industry. CargoNet is a product that helps members prevent cargo theft and recover stolen freight by facilitating secure information sharing between participating companies, business partners and law enforcement.

Cargo theft incidents in the second quarter increased 13% from the same period a year ago and 9.8% from the first quarter, Verisk CargoNet reported. Thieves took $64 million in freight, with warehouses accounting for more than 40% of the stolen trailers.

“We have clients that will wake up one day and realize they’ve got 20 or 30 thefts of the same commodity that are upwards of a million plus dollars each. And a couple days ago, we had seven loads of energy drinks stolen from one victim carrier. So it’s not unusual to have these clusters of high value theft,” said Keith Lewis, vice president of operations for Verisk CargoNet, in a phone interview.

Truck heists either take place over a period of time during which the logistics provider that tenders shipments to partner carriers doesn’t realize that “because of sloppy business practices all these loads we’ve shipped for the past month haven’t been delivered. Or, it could be they get hit in a lightning fashion for many loads over a couple of days,” he said.

FreightWaves recently reported on the theft of a truck trailer under Ceva management that contained $15 million in Apple products and AMD semiconductors. Police in Reno, Nevada, recovered the empty trailer, but have not indicated any progress in the investigation. The trailer had a GPS tracker from Austin, Texas-based security provider Overhaul, but it was not activated, the source said. The theft has the hallmarks of inside collaborator since the GPS was not activated, the yard was unsecured and the trailer was stolen within an hour of arrival, according to the person with knowledge of the situation.

In May, two people were arrested for stealing nearly $288,000 worth of Apple watches and MacBooks from a truck on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, according to local news accounts. The source said Ceva was responsible for transporting the load.

Ceva Logistics has also suffered several other losses of high-value shipments in the past year, the person familiar with the company’s transportation operations and security said. They include:

August 2024 — A $5.9 million shipment of Verizon TracFone mobile phone equipment in Plainfield, Indiana. The source said Verizon subsequently terminated its contract with Ceva.
November 2024 — $750,000 shipment of Lenovo computers stolen in Fontana, California.
December 2024 — $838,000 in Apple products stolen in Fontana, California.
February 2025 — $1.1 million in Apple products in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
March 2025 — $1.1 million in Apple products in Sacramento, California.
April 2025 — A $212,000 shipment of Lenovo computers in Fontana.

Ceva Logistics, which provides end-to-end contract logistics for customers, uses several methods of truck transportation. It has a fleet of company trucks and drivers,company trucks operated by independent contractors and outsources loads to independent carriers.

It is standard practice for Ceva to use motor carriers on an approved list, but some of those transportation providers violate their contracts by hiring unapproved carriers or truck brokers to executive the move, the source said. In those cases, Ceva cannot enforce its security policies.

Double brokering is a common practice in the trucking industry, but it has also become an avenue for criminal enterprises to pose as legitimate carriers through use of fake documentation and driver identities to steal cargo, or trick the shipper into paying them instead of the legitimate carrier. Fictitious pickups often involve inside information to know when, and where, a load is ready.

Alison Jahn, head of marketing and communications for Ceva Logistics North America, did not respond to a reporter’s query about the truck thefts and Ceva’s security practices. Apple’s media department also didn’t reply to a request for comment on the rash of thefts under Ceva’s control.

Another popular trucking scam, said Lewis, is altering a scanned bill of lading to reflect a new piece count or weight. When a retailer issues a purchase order to a manufacturer that is spread across dozens or more loads and is regularly receiving pallets on an open ticket an unscrupulous trucker can siphon off some loads without the consignee realizing it for weeks or months.

The person with close knowledge of Ceva’s operations said many of the thefts stemmed from violations of other security policies, such as allowing unauthorized trucks or drivers into the yard or not verifying proper identification.

Ceva is self-insured and pays out losses with its own money, the source said.

The insider described Ceva as slow to hold managers accountable or plug security gaps, such as at the Sacramento warehouse where a CCTV system has not worked since late December. Since the February heist there, the company has been using trailer-mounted mobile cameras from ECAM.

An audit on Ground Operations’ adherence to security policy for high-value goods, obtained by FreightWaves, shows that truck heists have been a problem at Ceva for years. The document shows a $7.3 million loss of Western Digital hard drives for a load outsourced to HKL Express in 2020 when trailers were parked in an unsecured yard. Between 2021 and 2023, Ground Operations’ audit grades for security ranged from poor to fair.

Meanwhile, Ceva’s North American headquarters building in Houston was infiltrated by thieves seeking copper earlier this month. The source said a back door to the employee parking lot was left propped open because employees don’t like to check in with badges at the front desk, allowing thieves to get inside and steal some goods. The building is supposed to have higher security standards as a Transportation Security Administration certified cargo screening facility for air cargo shipments.

Two years ago, Ceva Logistics selected Overhaul, a supply chain visibility, risk management, and security provider, to improve and optimize cargo security for its high-value goods in North America. Under the contract, Ceva proactively receives real-time risk alerts on every shipment to help prevent cargo thefts, as well as predictive intelligence. Overhaul also aids in the recovery of lost cargo, utilizing secure communications to send pertinent shipment details, location tracking and other information to law enforcement.

Overhaul boasts a 99.9% shipment protection rate.

The company reported a total of 525 cargo theft incidents in the U.S. during the second quarter, up 4% from the first quarter and 33% from the prior year.

(UPDATED 1:30 p.m. ET)

Click here for more FreightWaves/American Shipper stories by Eric Kulisch.

Write to Eric Kulisch at ekulisch@freightwaves.com.

Semi-trailer with $15M in Apple, semiconductors stolen in Nevada

Insider cargo theft cases rose in Q2, expert says

Beyond the Loading Dock: Optimizing Warehousing and Driver Safety with Altitude

In the logistics world, safety and efficiency are two sides of the same coin. Whether your drivers are at the warehouse, at a rest area or on the road, mobility insights can be instrumental for safer, more streamlined operations and supply chains at every turn.

Truckers are the backbone of the North American economy, but these vital workers often face operational challenges that impact their day-to-day safety and efficiency. The issues they encounter can range from a lack of truck parking to frequent bottlenecks on their routes. Let’s dive into some of the difficulties commercial drivers face and how commercial mobility insights can help optimize staging, streamline traffic flow and boost transportation safety.

The dwell time dilemma: How long are trucks truly waiting?

The time a truck spends at a warehouse for loading and unloading can have a lasting impact on both safety and efficiency. Staging, the process of organizing and loading or unloading commercial vehicles, is a critical step in the transportation lifecycle. Delays during this process can create a ripple effect throughout the entire supply chain.

Common challenges from unoptimized staging and truck parking shortages

Safety concerns: Inadequate space for staging can cause trucks to overflow into city streets, turn lanes or road shoulders, creating traffic congestion and safety hazards. Similarly, a lack of designated truck parking can force drivers to park in less-than-ideal locations like road shoulders or retail parking lots. Parking in these areas is especially dangerous overnight, when higher numbers of impaired drivers are on the road. In last-resort parking areas with inadequate security, there is also a greater potential for theft or harassment. Furthermore, if drivers are searching for a designated rest area but can’t find one nearby, they risk exceeding their Hours of Service (HOS) driving limits, potentially endangering themselves and others.
Lost productivity and earning potential: Commercial drivers are paid for their time on the road. If delays occur during staging, both drivers and companies can lose money. Drivers may wait in long lines at warehouses with little direction, resulting in wasted time and lost productivity.
Driver frustration: Inefficient staging can lead to driver frustration. When drivers feel like their time is being wasted, it can lead to increased turnover, costing logistics companies more money and time to acquire new drivers.
Dissatisfied customers: Staging inefficiencies can also damage a company’s reputation. Lengthened staging times delay deliveries, which can lead to lost business and a dismal reputation among customers.

Given these complex problems, there is a strong need for optimized staging processes and more overnight commercial parking. Asking critical questions can help you identify where to start:

Are staging locations or parking shortages impeding the flow of traffic?
Where are drivers sleeping if they’re parked overnight waiting for cargo?

Whether a truck is parked overnight waiting to receive cargo or a driver is taking their required rest hours, mobility insights can shed light on dwell times and overall movement tendencies.

Decoding truck movement patterns with mobility insights

Before a warehouse facility opens, trucks often try to be first in line for staging to get on the road sooner and make faster progress toward their destinations. Mobility insights can help you understand the entire process, from staging to where commercial vehicles are headed, showing how drayage trucks typically move products. Transportation analytics provide vital insights into how supply chains disperse from central ports or distribution centers and flow throughout a region. Warehousing and logistics companies can use these insights to pinpoint staging and parking inefficiencies and develop effective solutions.

The Altitude advantage: Insights that power better warehousing operations

Mobility insights from Altitude by Geotab provide logistics companies with a targeted approach to solve truck parking and staging deficiencies. The Altitude platform surfaces valuable insights on where trucks are coming from, where they are going and where they are stopping, enabling transportation leaders to pinpoint problem areas and measure the results of new strategies over time.

Origin & Destination (O&D): Altitude’s O&D module shows the most common routes commercial vehicles take in a region and provides deeper insight into overall truck travel times. You can identify the most common routes taken by trucks and how long it generally takes them to reach their destinations.
Stop Analytics: The Stop Analytics module helps highlight commercial vehicle parking tendencies, including the most frequented dwelling areas and how long vehicles are at rest. Truck parking insights can also be broken down by vehicle class, industry, vocation and fuel type.
Regional Domicile Analytics (RDA): Where do trucks reside when a job is complete? RDA answers this critical question and more with comprehensive insights into travel distances, duty cycle stops and domicile stop lengths.

Streamlining logistics safety and efficiency with Altitude’s mobility insights

Having these rich insights from the Altitude platform is one thing, but how can they be used to improve operations for both logistics companies and their drivers? Four key use cases demonstrate how our data can help solve safety and efficiency challenges at all levels.

Data-driven freight parking planning: Effective truck parking site selection requires a balance between maximizing available space and maintaining easy accessibility for drivers. Studying insights on the most heavily traveled routes by commercial vehicles and where they are currently stopping enables organizations to identify the most needed or most feasible locations for new parking options. Supporting parking construction and planning with data ultimately makes drivers’ lives easier and their daily commutes safer.
Optimized staging: Altitude helps surface the staging inefficiencies currently facing commercial drivers. By observing traffic bottlenecks and truck backups at warehouses, logistics companies can better diagnose operational issues. Use transportation insights to develop targeted strategies that streamline truck staging, from optimizing times to preventing overcrowding.
Reduced congestion: Promoting equitable and efficient transportation for all is core to Altitude by Geotab’s mission. By providing transportation agencies and logistics companies with access to contextual transportation data, we help these organizations identify and solve key traffic problems in their regions. As a result, everyone benefits from easier access to smoother roads, with reduced travel times for all motorists.
Improved safety for all drivers: Reducing congestion and expanding freight parking helps to protect both commercial drivers and regular motorists. Developing insights-driven strategies to eliminate bottlenecks and build smarter truck parking areas can reduce safety risks for all road users.

Safety first, always: Protecting motorists with data-driven planning

Altitude by Geotab provides warehousing and logistics companies with unprecedented visibility into regional supply chains. By analyzing truck movement patterns and dwell times, companies can optimize staging areas, minimize congestion and reduce idle times. This translates to faster turnaround times, increased throughput and a more efficient overall workflow.

Beyond efficiency, Altitude prioritizes driver safety. By identifying areas of high traffic or prolonged wait times with our insights, companies can address potential hazards and improve the overall driver experience. Reducing unnecessary delays and optimizing workflows contributes to a less stressful environment for drivers, enhancing their well-being and job satisfaction. At Altitude by Geotab, we know the unique struggles facing the transportation and logistics industry. We’re dedicated to helping businesses in this sector protect and elevate their drivers with data-driven operational strategies. Our insights-backed approach to safety empowers you to create a secure and supportive work environment for your most valuable assets: your truckers.

Click here to learn more about Altitude by Geotab.

Qued uses AI to synchronize dock appointments

Qued, an up-and-comer in FreightTech, has been honored with FreightWaves’ inaugural AI Excellence in Supply Chain award, a recognition that underscores its pivotal role in transforming logistics through advanced artificial intelligence. In an industry fraught with inefficiencies and ripe for disruption, Qued has identified a significant pain point: the complex process of load appointment scheduling for brokers, third-party logistics providers (3PLs), and carriers.

Scheduling inefficiencies in supply chain processes can lead to a cascade of challenges, including late deliveries, detention charges, and penalties for failing to meet On-Time In-Full (OTIF) standards. In response, Qued has developed a pioneering platform that automates appointment scheduling, minimizing manual interventions and optimizing every aspect of the process. One standout feature of Qued’s solution is its integration with existing Transportation Management Systems (TMS). This seamless embedding not only eliminates unnecessary manual work but also delivers a unified scheduling experience that processes every appointment mode. By harnessing thousands of data points right from the TMS, Qued’s platform is equipped to determine the most optimal scheduling times efficiently.

A key to Qued’s success is their use of generative AI and machine learning, which aids in understanding and responding to location-specific feedback through their email scheduling solution. This allows the system to learn and adapt to nuances, such as facility behaviors and carrier preferences, dynamically shaping scheduling strategies. The true extent of their platform’s efficiency is highlighted by their impressive exception rate: approximately 95% of appointments are confirmed autonomously, with minimal user involvement.

Qued’s AI strategy is not static; it has evolved from simple automation to embedding intelligence throughout the logistics experience. By forecasting potential bottlenecks and identifying exception-prone facilities even before issues arise, Qued has transformed its AI from a supplementary feature into a core component of its service offering. This predictive capability not only enhances the reliability of logistics operations but also drives significant improvements in operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.

The ROI for companies utilizing Qued’s technology is clear. Their innovative approach to appointment scheduling not only secures prime scheduling windows but also enhances lane profitability. By processing appointments seamlessly and swiftly, customers gain access to more desirable lanes, effectively reducing shipment delays and improving overall logistics efficiency. Beyond uplifting the scheduling facet of supply chains, Qued’s advancements have attracted the attention of the shipping community, who are eager to leverage Qued’s data insights to refine labor allocations and open additional prime scheduling windows.

A testament to their technological advances is the fact that Qued’s system scores appointment submissions in real time, predicting the likelihood of confirmations or rejections with precision. Such predictive analytics enable actionable insights, paving the way for a reportedly notable boost in OTIF metrics for their customers.

Moreover, their automated solutions offer actionable strategies for resolution, effectively cutting through the clutter of exception handling and significantly reducing response times. This capability has yielded measurable improvements in on-time performance, ensuring that scheduling inefficiencies do not spiral into costly errors or penalties.

Qued’s impact is exemplified through its collaboration with a large logistics provider, where they managed thousands of appointments across hundreds of facilities. Prior to Qued’s intervention, the scheduling process was marred by delays and potential errors. However, by tapping into AI’s strengths in pattern recognition and optimizing submission timings, Qued achieved an impressive confirmation rate exceeding 95% and reduced exception rates to below 5%. Moreover, these improvements were achieved without increasing the manual workload, highlighting the transformative power of artificial intelligence within the supply chain.

Qued winning the AI Excellence in Supply Chain award is well-earned, reflecting its innovative solutions and significant contributions to advancing logistics management. By turning reactive processes into anticipatory, streamlined operations, Qued not only enhances the supply chain experience but also sets a new standard for efficiency and reliability in logistics.

Motive and Fleetio expand fleet data integration

Hand tapping Motive fuel card at gas pump for fleet cost tracking and compliance.

Motive and Fleetio announced Wednesday an expanded integration that centralizes fuel, maintenance and telematics data to help fleet operators reduce costs and ensure compliance. The integration connects Motive’s AI-powered Integrated Operations Platform with Fleetio’s fleet maintenance system and includes automating data workflows by eliminating manual tasks. The result is increased operational visibility.

A critical challenge facing fleet managers is that fuel and service costs now comprise nearly 75% of operating budgets. The partnership works by introducing two key features: syncing vehicle inspection reports and fuel card transactions between the platforms.

“This integration brings together fuel, telematics and maintenance data in a way that helps companies not just react to challenges, but get ahead of them,” said Stefano Daneri, fleet ecosystem strategist at Fleetio, in a press release. “It’s all about turning data into action, action into uptime, and uptime into long-term performance.”

The Two-Way Driver Vehicle Inspection Report (DVIR) Sync creates a seamless defect resolution process that improves compliance while maximizing vehicle and driver uptime. When maintenance teams resolve an issue in Fleetio, the corresponding DVIR defect in Motive automatically closes, allowing managers to prevent unsafe dispatches.

The Motive Card Fuel Sync automatically imports fuel transactions into Fleetio, providing a single source of truth for cost tracking, budgeting and International Fuel Tax Agreement reporting. This connection between fuel spend, driver behavior and asset health gives managers unprecedented insight into one of their largest expenses.

The companies have collaborated since 2018 to unify maintenance and telematics data, including streamlined scheduling and fault tracking. Following the announcement, the combined partnership with Fleetio now manages over 1 million assets along Motive’s extensive telematics network.

According to the release, the partnership delivers one of the industry’s largest cross-platform datasets for benchmarking, predictive insights and AI-driven automation.