Dive Brief:
- Schneider National is offering bulk shippers the ability to book loads online, the company announced last week.
- The carrier expanded its FreightPower online marketplace to offer bulk shipment load quotes and booking and tracking capabilities for shippers, the announcement said.
- Schneider says the move will improve shipper access to capacity. Bulk shippers, which primarily ship freight by train, have faced capacity issues and transportation delays as railroads grapple with crew constraints.
Dive Insight:
Schneider rolled out FreightPower last year, touting the marketplace’s on-demand access, personalized reports, push notifications and order favorites, which allow shippers to save previous commodities, shipment orders and contacts for future reference.
Digitizing and automating Schneider’s businesses is a significant focus for the freight and logistics giant, President and CEO Mark Rourke said during a Q2 earnings call. Relying on technology has been a way to cut costs throughout the network by making operations more efficient.
“We're seeing it start to bear fruit, particularly in our logistics business,” Rourke said. “But we're bringing those same digital tools to get to the long-tail shipper and carrier in our other segments, whether it be bulk trucking [or] intermodal.”
For TL and LTL hauls, the marketplace contains dueling platforms: one for shippers and another for Schneider’s more than 36,000 vetted carriers.
But the company, which has offered bulk shipping for more than 50 years, primarily uses a private fleet of company drivers and trucks for its bulk service, Senior Vice President of Bulk Jason Howe said. He declined to disclose the size of the fleet.
A Schneider bulk freight brokerage is in its infancy, but it will eventually join the FreightPower marketplace to connect non-company drivers with loads, Howe said.
“I certainly look forward in the future to us expanding FreightPower on the carrier side for bulk carriers,” he said. “But we're early in that process, and I think that'll come down the road.”
Bulk shippers can still get quotes and book loads by calling or emailing a Schneider customer service agent, Howe said.
“To be able to do it via an app on the phone or through a portal on my laptop – that's certainly preferable for a growing number of our customers,” he said.
