Ray Sciuckas, president at Fastmore Logistics, joined FreightWaves to talk about how Fastmore pairs technology with people and processes to tackle challenges across a variety of modes. Sciuckas began his multidecade career in the international freight forwarder space, focusing on expedited freight. What led him to found Fastmore Logistics in 2005 was the premise that “growth of on-demand inventory created a new expedited segment, but service levels offered by carriers didn’t meet customer expectations.”
Fastmore began initially as an asset-based expedited carrier, transporting shipments ranging from 10 to 10,000 pounds, Sciuckas said. “Over time that evolved into us getting a bigger fleet, which included dry van truckloads. No matter how much we grew, the fleet was never big enough to handle the demand. By then we had established a decent name in the industry and the freight forwarder community. This led us to a focus on solving real challenges and managing domestic transportation for freight forwarders, rather than dealing with a fleet.”
For Sciuckas, the focus on asset-light over assets came from personal experience: “To this day, I believe that owning a fleet of trucks … gives customers a false feeling of safety and control. Through purposeful carrier vetting and end-to-end visibility, we can focus on real solutions and provide even better service.” To achieve that goal, Fastmore was an early pioneer in adopting visibility technology, long before the rise of modern FreightTech visibility platforms.
A foundation built on early technology adoption
Creating a tech-driven brokerage in the mid- to late 2000s was no easy task, partly because many of the tracking systems were only in use at the largest carriers. “The early adoption was very challenging because we had to change how carriers operate and set new expectations of what a good experience looks like,” Sciuckas said.
In the freight forwarding and expedited space, speed and visibility are critical. For air import shipments, there is a narrow window for delivery, whether the delivery is destined for the end user or a warehouse. Fastmore specializes in having real-time visibility and focuses on anticipating those challenges that may impact its customers and carriers.
But technology is just one part of the process, Sciuckas said. It’s also crucial to train the right people and create the right process to handle these complexities.
People and processes
Carrier vetting has evolved over the years as technology and customer needs changed. Sciuckas said, “Carrier vetting was previously a very simple: You had a truck, a motor carrier number and a certificate of insurance — you were good to go.”
Today, it’s not enough to say you are connected to tens of thousands of carriers who have run loads in your system; customers want visibility, transparency and relationships over transactions.
What sets Fastmore apart is its commitment to quality. “Surprisingly, too many of our clients still have an old approach to vendor selection. That’s where we can provide more value to them by handling all the carrier vetting,” added Sciuckas.
“Our value is in identifying the correct carrier that matches not only availability and rate, but will also be safe, reliable [and understand] all of the requirements.”
To handle the added demands of expedited freight, Fastmore built up both manual and system processes to identify at-risk carriers early and often.
Over the years, Sciuckas notes that good carriers stand out. “Preferred carriers are going to be very direct with communication, and transparent throughout the process.”
Visibility is now table stakes in the expedited space. If a carrier commits to the visibility requirements, the next step is to see whether the carrier is approaching the relationship in a transactional nature or a collaborative one.
“Are they just saying yes to agree [to the requirements] to get this next shipment, or really looking at it as a long-term relationship, and follow through our process every single time?” Sciuckas said. “It’s not enough to have a tech-driven vetting process. You must also involve people to vet carriers against quality standards.”
The end state is that Fastmore is a provider of choice while the carrier is capacity of choice.
Higher expectations are a two-way street. “We recognize that what we ask for is lofty, so we meet them halfway. We must create some efficiencies for the carrier to make it easier for them to work with Fastmore.”
As a result, Fastmore consistently maintains nearly uninterrupted end-to-end electronic tracking for all expedited loads.
Combating fraud and keeping data honest
Fraud and cargo theft is not a new trend in the industry, but it is even more elevated in the soft freight market. Fastmore sees a greater number of bad actors getting creative with their tactics.
“Identifying trends early and mitigating their subsequent risks is a daily topic of conversation at Fastmore. This job is never finished. We must stay vigilant, understanding that what worked yesterday will not work tomorrow. We look for solutions in our experience and technology to combat the new trends.”
Looking at trends, one thing that also stands out is how fraud impacts almost every segment of the supply chain. “Recent discussions with our top clients reveal that most of them have been affected in some way by fraud or cargo theft. There’s a race to mobilize and mitigate it.”
Technology still cannot solve these issues. Sciuckas reiterated the importance of training staff to look for subtle changes, such as a new dispatcher or the absence of one who was previously the main point of contact. Training staff not to take needless risks with freight is another factor.
“Carrier vetting, fraud and theft prevention, risk mitigation — [these] encompass part of our core competencies and services that we invest in,” Sciuckas said.
To learn more, visit www.fastmore.com.