b'MAY 24 - JUNE 20, 2021TOP 50 NORTH AMERICAN LTL CARRIERS 5DAT truckload volume index slips 5% in April,AJOTs Top 50 LTL Carriersfalling from all-time high in March A. Duie Pyle Inc.Truckload freight activity declined last monthmile, 2 cents lower than in March, while the spotAAA Cooper TransportationbutAprilwasstillthesecondbusiestmonthonflatbed rate averaged $2.96 per mile, 18 cents higherABF Freightrecord for shippers, freight brokers and motor car- month over month. Anderson Trucking Serviceriers, said DAT Freight & Analytics, which operatesContractratesfortruckloadservicessched- ArcBest the industrys largest online freight marketplace anduled and planned transportation where the rate is DAT iQ data analytics service. negotiated well in advance and part of a larger com- AverittThe DAT Truckload Volume Index (TVI) reg- mitmenttomovegoodswerehistoricallyhighBison Transportistered 225 in April - down 5% from the all-timein April. The average contract van rate was $2.66Canada Cartagehigh set in March. The index is an aggregated mea- per mile and increased for the twelfth consecutive sure of dry van, refrigerated (reefer) and flatbedmonth.Inaddition,theaveragecontractrateforCentral Freight Linesloads moved by truckload carriers. A baseline of 100reefer freight was $2.78 a mile, 15 cents below theCentral Transportreflects freight volume in January 2015. average spot reefer rate.Its not unusual to see a decline from March toThe national average contract rate for flatbedClear Lane Freight ServiceApril, but truckload freight activity remained at his- equipment, which is used to haul construction mate- CRSTtoric levels compared to previous years, said Kenrials, heavy equipment and a variety of other indus- Day & Ross FreightAdamo, Chief of Analytics at DAT. The April TVItrial goods, was $2.96 per mile - $1.03 higher than was 39% higher than it was in April 2020 and Aprilin April 2020. On the spot market, the flatbed load- Daylight Transport2018, and 26% higher than in April 2019, indicatingto-truckratioaveraged95.7,meaningtherewereDayton Freight Linesunusually strong demand for truckload capacity lastmore than 95 loads posted for every available truckDependable Highway Expressmonth. Trucking companies are in the drivers seatlast month.with respect to pricing power. Theres a feeling among businesses that they areEstes Express LinesThe national average spot rate for van loads onat their ceiling for the price of logistics, Adamo said.Fastfratethe DAT One load board network was 8 cents lowerSpot and contract rates are high as we enter a period than the March average at $2.59 per mile, but thewhen truckload capacity is only going to tighten, asFedEx Freightsecond-highest monthly average van rate on record.produce and retail goods move ahead of the July 4Forward Air SolutionsThe national average spot reefer rate was $2.93 perholiday and back-to-school shopping season. Honolulu Freight ServicesJ.B. Hunt Transport Services(DIGITIZINGcontinued from page 4) before they occur. The end result of the process is anJP Express Serviceapp is an intriguing solution to an underrated prob- improvement in accuracy throughout the systemlem within the chassis business. The difficulty foranimportantfeatureforsecuringreimbursementsLandAir Express of New Englandthe chassis manager of the leased equipment is whatand managing cash flow and parts inventory.Landstar SystemhappenswhenatruckrollsthroughatollboothAlthough it is still early days for CIT, the divi- Lynden Transportand the truck for whatever reason, doesnt triggersionhasbroughtplugandplaytothechassis the passage through the toll gate. In that case, thebusinesswhich is no small feat. But as a work inMidwest Motor Expresstoll booths OCR kicks in to identify the motor car- progress, CIT is already looking into expanding theNew Pennrier and as happens often enough, the chassis platedivisions reach. Considering how fast the technol-ID rather than the truck is recorded. The toll roadsogy is changing with new sensors supplying inputs,Oak Harbor Freight Linesaccuracy level in such cases is often wanting andubiquitous mobile devices, Big Data and even theOld Dominionthe chassis leasing company is stuck with the unde- riseofEVs,CITsdecisiontobethetechnologyPilot Freightserved toll bill. And as a result, the administrativecompanyforthechassissegmentofthetrucking problem of verifying, paying and billing the toll billindustry is well timed. Pittsburgh Ohio Transportation Groupfalls on the chassis company. If handled manually,Primethe procedures can be a nightmare. CITs applica-tion digitally handles the problem. For example, the(ASSISTScontinued from page 4) R+L Carrierssystem can verify whether the chassis was at theandtheirthird-partylogisticsprovidersonLTLsRIST Transporttoll in question (which is part of chassis tracking)than before. This is primarily due to the heightenedRoadrunner Freightor whether the toll booths OCR generated a mis- useofe-commerceanddisruptionoftraditional identification. Further the system can, on confirma- retailing and the supply chains that serviced them.Saia Motor Freight Linetion, generate an invoice to the trucking companyFreight brokers and logistics providers that wereSchneider Nationaland payments as necessary. By digitizing the entireprimarilyfocusedontruckload,withthee-com- Southeastern Freight Linesprocess, the chassis manager requires fewer peoplemerce boom, theyve been pulled into LTL to ser-to handle the inquiries, do it faster and save moneyvice their customers, Thompson said. Swift Transportation(i.e. no late fees) on a business segment dogged byThat familiarity builds on itself with 3PLs andTFI Internationalchronic misinformation. freight forwarders, Thompson believes.Tforce Freight (formerly UPS Freight)Perhaps the most difficult segment of a chassisWeve seen great interest from shippers, but fleet managers business is M&R (maintenance andeven more so, the early interest is definitely from theTransAmerica Express Logisticsrepair). Keeping the chassis on the road is the key tologistics providers and the freight brokers, he saidTransportes Castores de Baja Californiasuccessfully maintaining fleet performanceto para- explaining: It maybe seemed a little alien to them phrase New England Patriots coach Bill Belichickwhen all they focused on were truck loads or truck- TST Overland Expressthe greatest ability in fleet management is avail- loaded intermodal. But now that they have startedWard Transport & Logistics Corp.ability. And if there was a postscript to the maxim,shipping LTL, they realize, hey, I dont have to buyWerner Enterprisesit would be availability at a reasonable cost. Thatsa whole truck if I can just buy pallet spaces. Ive got what CITs system is designed to deliver. significant savings. Those buy rates and sell rates,XPO LogisticsCCMsyearsofexperienceinmanagingtheirthats what logistics providers are focused on. Xpress Global Systemsown chassis fleet enabled CIT to develop a system thatAs demand for trucking grows, shippers are beingYellow Corpleverages data into a cost efficient management system. forced to broaden their network of carriers, understand-Therearemanyelementstokeepingafleeting they can no longer rely on one or two trucking com-working but basically it falls into two categories:panies to accommodate the capacity they need. Thatnow offering financial incentives to shippers who maintenanceandrepair.Whilemaintenanceisexpansion carries with it a need for more knowledgecan communicate electronically with carriers.largely a routine, the need to respondto damageabout not just individual carriers, but LTL in general.Originally, SMC3 was called Southern Motor and execute a repair can come at any moment. IfLTL is kind of a unique bird, said Thompson. WeveCarriersRateCommittee.Itwasfoundedinthe each operation exists in a job silo, the amount ofseen tremendous, tremendous interest in that just even1930s and served as an organization that compiled work invested in tracking, delivering and paying forin the last four or five months. and published tariffs for Florida truckers. The orga-parts, tracking actual work done, billing and relatedAt the same time, the LTL supply chain is under- nization began to fashion rates-related software for expenses can be overwhelming.going its own kind of educational soul searching. AsLTL shippers in 1998. Byunderstandingwhatconstitutesroutinein other areas of logistics, the pandemic has height- Czar Lite, which gives shippers the ability to maintenance(andnotexceptionmanagement)enedtheneedformoretechnologywithinLTL.select carriers based transport rates, still exists.CIT was able to build a model that codifies andPaperlesshandovershavebecomeasafetyissue.In 2005, Southern Motor Carriers unveiled Bid-digitizes each feature in the system. It enables theKeeping everyone in the loop from remote locationsSense, a bid procurement application. This allows fleet manager to recognize patterns in job-process- becomes a necessity. shippers the ability to evaluate carriers. Two years ingandrecognizewheretheredundanciesoccur.Yet, said Thompson, only about 15% of LTLlater, the company changed its name to SMC3. In Thesystemishighlyconfigurable. Alertscanbebills of lading are electronically processed. Theres2016,thecompanyunveileditsSMC3platform, built and programmed into the reporting, not onlya long way to go, but, Thompson said, its also awhich, through application programming interface, to improve M&R efficiencies, butalso to help keepmatterofshippersunderstandingthebenefitsofor API, enables Web-based services to shippers and chassis on the road by heading off potential problemsinvesting in technology. Some carriers, he said, arecarriers alike.'