It is no secret that 2019 has not been kind to the trucking industry. In 2018, 310 freight companies were forced to close down. During the first half of 2019 alone, that number was approximately doubled, showing 640 closures. Looking at data like this, you can understand why the trucking industry is looking for ways to diversify and adapt, to stimulate the LTL industry. With Celadon, one of the industry titans in North America closing their doors, there have been more than a few eyebrows being raised around the industry. In times like this these, communication is key for maintaining peak efficiency across all operations.
Convoy, a freight broker, has progressed towards 100% automation of the brokerage process. Convoy introduced an automated load matching service almost one year ago, but today they introduced a fully automated load pricing service. By combining the load matching with the load pricing service, Convoy hopes to increase communication efficiency by streamlining the cumbersome negotiation and bid process. What normally would be manual, time consuming work, can now be handled within minutes.
Like all industries, there needs to be a continual evolution to accommodate the changing demands, regulations, customer expectations, and service. As we are all finding out, no matter how large the freight entity is, they are not exempt from current industry stressors. The automation network will also help more efficiently plan logistics, keeping maintenance and operation costs down. Users are really warming up to the idea of this “digital freight” concept, especially since it helps cut down on the dead/empty transport miles. 100% automation has been achieved in major markets, such as Atlanta, Dallas, and LA. Time will tell, if these tech savvy adjustments will have a definitive impact on the freight industry.
https://blog.guttmanenergy.com/2019-not-the-year-trucking-needed
