Editor’s Note: This story is part of a series about how carriers are using AI in their daily operations.
Dive Brief:
- LTL carrier Ward Transport & Logistics has integrated a rate module from software company Carrier Logistics Inc. into its transportation management system to automate LTL shipment pricing.
- Through the carrier's TMS, CLI's Fact Rate Engine uses contract details to automatically calculate shipment quotes, CLI Customer Success Manager Emily White told Trucking Dive in an email.
- The rating software also uses artificial intelligence to help boost carrier productivity, reduce costs and give shippers real-time visibility, according to a Sept. 17 press release.
Dive Insight:
The rate module has allowed Ward Transport & Logistics to handle more rate requests and secure shipments that could have gone elsewhere, Mike Zupon, the carrier’s VP of technology, said in the press release.
“Accurate rating is mission critical for LTL carriers,” Zupon said. The new rate module integrates dispatch and routing engines, cross-dock management and optimization tools into one system.
A rate engine automates a request for a quote. Correct prices are applied each time, which helps reduce disputes and friction between the shipper and motor carrier, White added.
Without the rate module, LTL pricing can be slow, manual and error-prone, White said.
“Shippers and motor carriers have created a very extensive and elaborate set of contract terms, which makes the process of calculating the price of an LTL shipment difficult, to say the least,” White said.
Each rate provision has rules ranging from basic to complex. For example, a shipper could have standard LTL class-based pricing, while another has rates based on the number or linear feet of trailer space taken up by the freight.
CLI has received positive feedback from customers which have achieved an auto-rating, a rate without human intervention, on 98% of shipments. Motor carrier customers have also reported winning more business because their APIs can respond with accurate rate quotes without delays caused by waiting for a human to manually review rates, White told Trucking Dive.
“The first step in the shipment lifecycle is often an automated quote back to the shipper,” White said.
Trucking industry players have been working to differentiate their services amid a freight market downturn, often using technology.
C.H. Robinson, for example, has integrated technology to automate the quoting process. The company uses generative AI to read emails and respond to customers with quotes.
White also said during a downturn in the market, shippers tend to move orders in smaller quantities via LTL rather than full truckload. LTL shipments at scale can be complex without a rate engine, and CLI’s service can help carriers alleviate that complexity.
