As we have covered in the past, over 600 trucking companies went bankrupt over the course of this year in the U.S. alone, including long-time established companies as well as smaller ones. The fact that these industry issues aren’t discriminating by company age or size is the reason for the entire trucking industry to worry. Equally concerning is the fact that many companies are still struggling to figure out where exactly things went wrong. Some blame things on a lack of available truckers, others say it is due to overregulation whittling down profits and efficiency. All of these issues revolve around the greater problem of a lack of forward-planning. This is what makes digital freight brokerage so important moving ahead.
As a start, we need to talk about the massive inefficiency issues currently present on the road. According to information from the American Transportation Research Institute, as many as 20% of all miles that are driven are considered “empty miles” that could be used to haul freight, but aren’t. This is largely due to communication/coordination breakdowns between drivers and carriers.
This contributes to trucking companies dying off for a variety of reasons. First, because most truckers aren’t getting paid for their empty miles, they end up leaving their jobs out of frustration. Newer truckers are trickling in at a slower rate to replace them, leading to the shortage that is hurting many companies. On top of this, the fact that there are wasted miles out there cut into the profits of the company, making it harder to keep running. This is compounded by smaller companies that don’t have the long-term contracts needed to make sure they will always have guaranteed work.
Digital asset-based freight brokerage is a way to handle these burning issues at the same time, by matching up carriers and loads easily based on factors like location, capacity, and timing. This leads to benefits both at the road level and to the carrier. Truckers get the ability to minimize their empty miles and have better communication with trucking companies. The companies have the ability to use the data gathered here to figure out problem areas in their supply chain. This is because with a traditional brokerage, issues with a shipment get recorded, but it takes a lot longer for the data to aggregate and for you to figure out patterns.
The carrier industry isn’t dealing with the conventional problems that a lot of other struggling ones are, like a lack of consumer interest. Instead, it needs to reinvent itself in order to better deal with the increased demand. Digitalization offers the way to make it happen, and perhaps the 600+ companies going bankrupt this year would see a different result if they took this into account earlier.
This is where Hwy Haul comes in, a digital platform designed to change the way loads are moved across the US, from the largest carriers to smaller mom-n-pop shops. Hwy Haul offers a comprehensive solution to address the issues like freight matching, real time load tracking, trip optimization and document management. With auto-match and real-time freight-tracking, you don’t need to waste time trying to communicate back and forth between suppliers and carriers to figure out what’s happening with your freight. In addition, this is essential for reducing empty miles and increasing driver income and job satisfaction. We can see the fate of trucking companies that failed to adapt to modern issues or adapted too late. Going digital can keep it from happening to you.
Our goal is to Connect Shippers to Truckers – Seamlessly! If you’re interested in learning more about Hwy Haul, contact us.
