b'4American Journal of Transportation ajot.comCIT: Digitizing the chassis business (ASSISTScontinued fromheavyandbulkygoodsthat page 2) deliveryvanscanthandle. and president Frederick Hol- Almostallonlineretailers By George Lauriat, AJOT zgrefe said that SAIA in Jan- depend on outside carriers to uaryimplemented a generalmove their goods.Make no mistake about it.functions to address the fleetandintuitivelyunderstand- rateincreaseof5.9%.Con-The chassis business is tough.managersbasicoperationalabletoalltheparticipantstracts renewed in the quarterC hanges toLtL B usinessKeepingachassisavailableneedsandmore(seeToll- in the systemit might be acarried with them an averageMany LTL carriers have and knowing where the chas- ing below). So, when it wasbetter mousetrap, but every- rate increase of 9%, he said. inthepastoutsourcedlast-sis is (and has been) and whatdecidedtoopenCITasabody must immediately rec- LTLs arent simply reap- mile deliveries to others. But itwillbedoingnextisdif- standalonedivisionofferingognize it is a mousetrap anding free money, however. Inshippersand3PLsarenow ficulttotrack.Makingsuretechnologysolutionstothenot something else. fact, the move into Last MilepressuringLTLstoaccom-that it is road-worthy requiresmarket, the three overarchingis as much a major challengemodatetheirneeds.Whats constant care and attention toproduct offerings were AssetW orkaBLes oLutions and an added burden as it ismore, even those LTLs who detail and doing that all costManagement,MaintenanceAllthreeoperatingsuitesan economic boon.partnerwithothersforlast-effectivelyischallenging.andRepair(MandR)andshare common visibility, flex- I had a company presi- mile delivery must be on top Thats where CIT comes in. Billing Management.ibility,connectivityandscal- dent once tell me his companyof the process because once BackinApril,Consoli- canmakesixcommercialyou hand it off to a partner datedChassisManagementdeliveries in the time it takescarrier,yourcustomerstill (CCM), a well-known neutralittomakeoneresidentialexpects you to have visibility chassispoolmanagerbaseddelivery,saidThompson.to that shipment all the way inNewJersey,unveiledaAne-commerceshipmentto the end, said Thompson.newdivision,Consolidatedfor a carrier is much less effi- Thatmeansheightened IntermodalTechnologiescient than a dock-to-dock. planning and processing and CIT for short.Wereallawareofhowagreaterneedtoprovide As the name implies, CITthepandemicthruste-com- visibilitytoeveryonefrom is all about technology. Tech- mence,andbyextension,the shipper to the consumer. nology is not a word bandiedlast-mile, home delivery intoTheyve had to really invest aboutmuchwhentalkingoverdrive.UPS,FedExand,intechnologyandthestrat-about chassistrucks - yes,more recently, Amazon trucksegy, Thompson said.even the containers mountednow ply American streets to aTheres not a single LTL on the chassis, but in a busi- degree practically unimagina- carrierthathasbeenable nesslikechassispoolman- ble five years ago. And thatstoescapedealingwithfinal agement,legacysystemsonly going to increase. Marketmiles and the surge in e-com-working in data silos prevail.researchfirmP&SIntelli- merce and final mile deliver-CIT(seeCITInnova- Since CCM was alreadyabilitywiththeendgoalofgence,forone,inFebruaryies, Thompson believes.tions.com)isouttochangeoperatingasaneutralpro- drivingoutinefficienciesinpredicted that global last-mileAdd to this a change in that paradigm with a technol- vider, CIT early on identifiedprocesses.SomeoftheCITdeliverywillgrowannuallydistributioncenters,from ogy initiative built on a robustthe potential market for theseinnovationscanappearquiteby 20.3% during this decade. themega-warehousestothe platform that integrates chas- new digital solutions, includ- simplelikebeingabletoThisimpactsLTLcarri- smaller,moreregionaland sispooldataintocustomiz- ingequipmentproviders,manipulatecolumnstotheers in two ways: It lessens thelocalizedfacilitiesthatare ableuser-friendlysystems.motorcarriers,IMCs(Inter- order that best suits the individ- deliveries to retail stores andquickly springing up to better Andalmostasimportantly,modalMarketingCompa- ual users requirements (rathertheirlargedistributioncen- servelastmileandmore CITs products are designednies), railroad operators, andthanusingafixedframedtersandinsteadspreadsoutdiffuseddistribution.That to interface virtually with allterminal operators.format ) or simply the abilitydeliveries to a wider range ofmeansfewerfulltruckloads existing systems enabling forGiventhediversityofto use multiple types of mobiledestinations,developmentsandmorepallet-sizedship-widescale adoption. chassis fleet operators and thedevices. While other manage- thatbytheirnaturefavorments, said Thompson. Tom Martucci, the CTOrange of technological exper- menttoolsareveryuniqueLTLovertruckload.AnditSmallerdeliveriesto (ChiefTechnologyOfficer)tisemanagingthesefleets,such as the Toll Management,heightens the need for LTLsallofthesesmallerdistribu-of CIT in an interview withCIT had to build a platformthe end goal is still the same to become last-mile carriers. tion centers creates more LTL theAJOT,explainedhowthatallplayersinthenichegreater efficiencies. Consumers over the pastvolumebecauseitbecomes CITs platform was designedmarket could readily deployTheAssetManagementyearhaventjustorderedmore cost effective to buy a tobridgethegapbetweenwithoutsignificantinvest- suiteoffersTrackingandonline more groceries, clothespartofatruckratherthana high tech and low tech thatmentsinupgradestotheirMonitoring,Reportingandandtoysforhomedelivery.full truck-load, he explained.characterizestheproblemsexisting computer systems orAnalysis and the above men- ThepandemichastriggeredThese developments address facingchassisfleetmanag- staffing. In a sense CIT wastioned Toll Management.aboomineverythingfromthe other major changea ers.AsMartucciexplained,vested with building a digitalTheTollManagementhomefitnessequipmenttogreaterreliancebyshippers We [CIT] wanted to addresschassismanagementsystem(DIGITIZINGcontinuedhomeimprovementcon- (ASSISTScontinued on someofthepainpointsthatwasstillrecognizableon page 5) struction material. These arepage 5)ofthechassisleasingbusi-nessandwiththefirst-hand knowledgeacquiredinday-to-day operations at CCM. Single Source Solutions S3Learn how our S3 can empower your intermodal transportation program. Its the Single Source Solution that will pay dividends for you from ports and rails to warehouse and distribution solutions nationwide.Tom Martucci, CITsLETS CONNECT. 855-4ROADONE Chief Technology Officer One Kellaway Drive(855-476-2366)Randolph, MA 02368www.roadone.comAt its most basic, a chas-sisfleetmanagerneedsto knowwheretheequipmentSolutions That Connectis located at a given momentCorporate Headquarters(past,presentandfuture);Domestic Intermodal Trucking Solutions Regional Officestheymustkeeptheequip- International Intermodal Trucking Solutions Service Centersmentroad-ready;andmustContainer Terminal Solutions Northeast Regionbe able to manage payments.Midwest RegionRegional Dedicated Truckload Solutions South RegionCCMinoveradecadeWest Regionofmanagingitsownchas- National Transloading, Warehousing and Distribution Solutionssis fleet had used the experi-ence to develop a proprietaryReliabilityTenacitySafetyIntegrityLoyaltyplatformandaportfolioof'