Dive Brief:
- KeepTruckin has released a feature called the Smart Load Board that matches freight from a group of newly partnered freight brokers with its carrier network, the fleet management company announced Tuesday.
- The broker and tech partners include Bennett, Convoy, Echo Global Logistics, Edge Logistics, EPES Logistics, Keller Freight Solutions, Page Trucking, Parade and Uber Freight.
- Carriers can choose to share their KeepTruckin location data with brokers who can then access it for the length of the trip and share the information with shippers, providing real-time visibility.
Dive Insight:
This is not the first partnership between KeepTruckin and a freight broker that aims to improve shipper visibility. Convoy and KeepTruckin partnered on an API earlier this year to share location data from KeepTruckin's electronic logging devices with Convoy's platform.
Freight brokers are increasingly looking for partners to post their loads, whether its a fleet management company like KeepTruckin or a transportation management application like Oracle Transportation Management Cloud, which Uber Freight partnered with earlier this year.
Partnerships like this put more loads in front of more carriers, helping a shipper extend its reach and access to capacity while also providing more load options for fleets.
The Smart Load Board will appear within the existing KeepTruckin app or web interface and will provide details on the shipment including rate, commodity and weight.
In a statement, Dave Menzel, the Chief Operating Officer at Echo Global Logistics, said the partnership with KeepTruckin will help "increase our access to capacity for our shippers."
Freight capacity is an especially valuable resource these days with a tight market driven by strong demand. One analyst told Transport Dive fleets might hold off on adding capacity until the pandemic is better under control, which means shippers could benefit from more carriers seeing their loads.
"We don’t see much capacity entering or returning the rest of the year, so as supply/demand remains tight, expect continued growth in the average freight bill," Cass wrote in its August report released last month.
