Freight Marketplace

What is a managed marketplace?

Managed marketplaces are digital platforms that facilitate live, interactive connections between shippers and carriers while offering the operational backbone of a more conventional brokerage.

Marketplaces permit:

•  Shippers to find carriers to move their products.
•  Carriers filter through loads from multiple sources.
• Real-time pricing and capacity.
• Customer-carrier matching.
• Online support.

As a result, carriers no longer need to place numerous phone calls in order to fill their vehicles or learn more specifics about a load. Additionally, it could decrease their “empty miles” and boost productivity.

Marketplaces give shippers access to a wide range of carriers and make it simple for them to get bids. The carriers are all well verified because the industry is supervised, and in some markets, they are rated based on service. As a result, shippers can make use of a large number of carriers available on a conventional load board while also benefiting from the security offered by a more carefully cultivated pool of drivers.

Integrations have become a popular feature of transportation management systems (TMS) as well as managed marketplaces. Rather than having to learn how to use a new platform, many businesses are now able to integrate these new tools and features into their current TMS and existing portals.

Integrating enhancements into pre-existing platforms creates a shorter learning curve and speeds up adoption for users. This translates into less time figuring out how to use something and more time actually using it.

Tracking and visibility

Real-time tracking is another benefit that certain platforms provide, giving shippers important visibility. While shippers can constantly check in on the position of their freight whenever convenient, drivers are spared the inconvenience of reporting their location and ETAs. This is especially helpful—and perhaps even required—when moving commodities across international borders.

The case for cross-border technology

Mexico is notorious for being a region where freight can become lost or unheard of until it arrives at its destination. Known as the “black hole” of freight, Mexico does not have the same ELD regulations as the United States or Canada. A cross-border shipment is a multi-party process with numerous handoffs on both sides of the border.

A typical Mexico-U.S. northbound shipment can involve up to six people just to effectively communicate a truck’s location:

1. The driver
2. The dispatcher
3. Mexican fleet manager
4. U.S. fleet manager
5. Logistics provider
6. Typically, a rep from that same provider

This same group of people would be responsible for communicating location on a southbound leg as well. What you get are hours of waiting and multiple phone calls before a shipper knows where their freight is. By the time that happens, the location has already changed. This wastes time and money can create freight safety concerns, and ultimately, hinders a supply chain’s effectiveness.

Shippers and carriers can increase visibility and eventually profit by keeping a tighter grasp on their freight and reducing the number of parties involved in their international supply chain by being proactive about using tracking solutions.

TrustedTrucks is an example of a B2B marketplace for road freight logistics. Carriers and Forwarders come together on TrustedTrucks to manage their orders with streamlined workflows that increase efficiency and speed up payment times. Try it out for yourself today.