With advances in technology and new entrants into the freight marketplace, Truckstop.com restructured to both navigate and help usher in the digital movement of freight.
Talking with FreightWaves CEO Craig Fuller on the FreightWavesTV show “Fuller Speed Ahead,” Truckstop.com Chief Relationship Officer Brent Hutto explained how a range of businesses can benefit from the company’s new digital freight-matching marketplace.
Truckstop.com markets itself as “the #1 load board for growing your business.” The company provides logistics solutions for transportation professionals, including load planning, transportation management, real-time rates and negotiation tools, as well as a credit reporting entity — the largest in the industry, according to Truckstop.com — that helps industry experts find trusted freight partners.
The “Nasdaq of Freight,” as Fuller described the company, recently celebrated the release of Book It Now. Available on the Truckstop Mobile app, Book It Now enables freight brokers and third-party logistics providers (3PLs) of all sizes to add instant load board functionality to their business, according to their website.
Carriers are able to see the rate, pickup and drop-off information, as well as broker information all before booking a load, according to Truckstop.com. Once carriers are added to a broker’s preferred carrier list, their Book It Now loads will be seen on the Truckstop Mobile.
While Truckstop.com celebrates its expanded offerings, Hutto explained that Truckstop.com has no desire to become a freight brokerage itself. Doing so would alienate 10,000 of its brokerage customers, according to Hutto.
Hutto explained that although many private marketplaces have created their own innovative technologies, this siloing of data hasn’t helped the overall market. Truckstop.com’s goal is to provide a platform that works for all players in the freight-matching marketplace, including brokerages and asset carriers alike.
“It’s always been our mantra as a company to help every business succeed no matter their size,” Hutto said. “We develop technology that allows them to be able to digitally match freight, to automate the things that need to be automated.”
Hutto said Truckstop.com wants to be the data connection in the middle of the marketplace where many parties can digitally connect and be able to move freight openly within the system.
But he explained that technology is only as useful as how well you leverage it and said that looking at industry data is probably the most important advice he has to grow your business. “You can adopt all the technology and buy all the data you want, but if you’re not building it into your business, then you’re not getting its advantages,” Hutto said.
More freight is handled by brokers than ever before, according to Hutto. Twenty years ago, only 4% of freight in the market was brokered. Today, that number has jumped to 25-30%. With more freight in brokerage than ever before, the ability to forecast market trends has never been more important.
And while market capacity has stayed relatively stable for the past 20 years, Hutto argued that many other factors remain variable in the marketplace. He believes fully utilizing Truckstop.com’s market-forecasting tools will protect businesses from the harsh effects market downturns can have on unsuspecting companies.
“If you can anticipate a downturn, you can adjust for it,” Hutto said. “If you don’t anticipate it, then the markets are going to be harder.”
Understanding how to integrate products into your business that can help create efficiency is what Hutto stressed that all in the marketplace should focus on.
“How are you going to adjust to this industry as it digitally changes?” Hutto said. “It’s going to change.”
