We recently announced real-time visibility for truckload as a standard capability, without any extra transaction or integration fees, for all of our managed transportation services and Transportation Management System (TMS) customers. We are thrilled to be the first to provide real-time visibility as a standard within a TMS solution as part of our commitment to deliver an unprecedented level of service and value to our customers.

We also want to raise the expectations within the logistics industry itself. We believe real-time visibility should be an industry standard and a fundamental part of transportation management.

What Can You Expect from Real-Time Visibility?

To deliver this service, we will be leveraging Descartes MacroPoint as our real-time visibility partner. Seamless incorporation of Descartes MacroPoint into our TMS and managed services solutions will enable us to deliver consistent and reliable real-time shipment tracking for hundreds of thousands of carriers. In addition, we will be placing an enterprise level real-time control tower within reach for shippers of all sizes and scale.

The integration of real-time visibility extends our ongoing efforts to apply the benefits of machine learning and data science to help shippers take a more predictive and proactive approach to supply chain management. Real-time visibility combined with our existing predictive risk analytics capabilities will enhance service predictions and enable us and our customers to more proactively manage potential supply chain disruptions.

The Benefits for our Customers

Including real-time visibility as a capability for our entire logistics services and technology offering delivers significant benefits to customers, including:

• Access to best-in-class, real-time visibility. With this new offering, we will be able to provide current and future customers with unprecedented coverage and drive new consistency and efficiency in their track and trace execution.
• Automatic real-time visibility from a single vendor. By building Descartes MacroPoint into our TMS and managed services solutions, customers no longer have to purchase a real-time visibility solution from another vendor.
• Greater supply chain visibility and efficiency. Customers will now be able to view a large percentage of their freight with greater efficiency and coverage at a lesser overall cost, resulting in superior differentiation and immediate return on investment.

Implementation and the Future

We will begin to roll out the solution for truckload shipments in the U.S. and Canada by January 2020 and will expand the offering to Mexico and other geographies, as well as other modes in the future as part of our vision to deliver superior, full, end-to-end real-time global visibility as standard practice. There is much more to come!

Learn more about freight tracking. 

The post Introducing Real-Time Visibility: A Standard for All of Our Customers appeared first on Uber Freight.

Within the last few years, less-than-truckload (LTL) rates and capacity have fluctuated. Many carriers have shifted from the traditional National Motor Freight Classification (NMFC) rate-setting formula to density-based pricing, which prices freight according to the amount of space the shipment uses in the truck. This new pricing model, along with other recent industry trends, has had a significant impact on shippers – making it important to understand the new pricing methods for LTL shipments, what’s currently happening in the LTL industry, and some of its key market challenges.

Current LTL Pricing Methods

According to The National Freight Traffic Association, the NMFC is a “standard that provides a comparison of commodities moving in interstate, intrastate and foreign commerce, similar in concept to the groupings or grading systems that serve many other industries.” Using this model, commodities are grouped into 18 freight classes—from a low of class 50 to a high of class 500—based on an evaluation of these characteristics:

• Density
• Handling
• Stowability
• Liability

More recently, the LTL industry has incorporated density-based pricing, which considers the actual weight of a particular item, classifies it and determines how much volume it will take up in a trailer. The first step many carriers have taken is introducing “Dimensioners” into their network to efficiently capture the density of each shipment as it travels through their network. This helps the carrier better understand the actual cost incurred for each shipment in order to more accurately price each account.  This method is comparable to how large parcel shipping companies such as UPS and FedEx determine their costs to ship products.

Challenges within the LTL Market

So, what does this mean for shippers? With more and more carriers adopting density-based pricing, new challenges have appeared for shippers who have lightweight shipments or bulky items that take up a lot of trailer space. And with the new pricing model, LTL carriers are requiring shippers to pay additional fees and are increasing the pressure to accurately measure shipments.

Some other challenges currently being faced by shippers in the LTL market include:

• The LTL industry is trending overall toward more frequent, smaller volume shipments. This is exacerbated by the “Amazon Effect”, as there is a greater number of smaller volume packages—instead of fewer bulkier packages—that are expected to be shipped within one or two days.
• Capacity has tightened significantly since May of 2017 across all equipment types. And with more frequent deliveries with more volume, many LTL carriers are having trouble covering all of these shipments.
• Recent natural disasters have made these LTL market challenges all the more difficult for shippers to overcome. Hurricanes Harvey and Irma as well as earthquakes in Mexico have caused additional delays in shipments and pulled further capacity out of the network.

One industry that is seeing the brunt of many of these LTL shipping challenges is the chemical space. During the winter months (November to May)—especially in the Midwest—many customers ship water-based products that freeze at 32 degrees. And as it currently stands, the LTL reefer market is very saturated, and with capacity already more limited, these chemical shipments have had trouble being filled.

LTL Shipping Solutions

One potential solution for LTL shipments is to co-load with other shippers, as consolidating in a multi-shipment environment can truly bring a number of benefits in this particular market. Uber Freight’s OptiPro program provides an optimization opportunity for shippers with under-utilized capacity through a multi-faceted collaboration network. Through this collaborative approach, multiple customers who are shipping products to the same region can build dynamic multi-stop truckloads. And a great shipper match results in:

• Transportation cost savings
• Reduced working capital
• Inventory improvement
• Greater order fill rates
• More frequent deliveries
• Increased flexibility to support customers

Collaboration has long been a focus in the transportation industry, but its realization has been a challenge because of the manual processes and lack of scalability. Uber Freight continues to strive toward creating an environment in which we are looking load by load across our whole customer network to see exactly where and how we can save our customers time, capacity time and money.

To learn more about Uber Freight’s OptiPro program with Managed Transportation, connect with an expert.  To learn more about Uber Freight’s Shipper Platform LTL freight shipping services capabilities, connect with a LTL sale team at ltl-sales@uber.com or sign up today for an instant LTL quote.

Check out Uber Freight’s density calculator to calculate freight density, estimate NMFC freight class, and optimize LTL shipping costs.

The post LTL Trends and Challenges: Density-Based Pricing appeared first on Uber Freight.