Over the past couple of years, the LTL carriers have made significant changes that have affected their rates and pricing with shippers. They have become more sophisticated in gathering data AND more importantly, how they use that data in their pricing decisions.
While you may be aware of these trends, few people know them like David Ross and that’s why we recently dived into important questions for LTL shippers in a new interview. David Ross is currently the EVP for Roadrunner and is considered to be an industry expert. Prior to joining Roadrunner earlier this year, David had a distinguished career on Wall Street for 20 years and served as the Managing Director and Group Head of Stifel’s Global Transportation & Logistics Equity Research Group.
In this interview, David shares some important insights about the LTL sector. For example, in noting that there hasn’t been a new LTL carrier of any consequence added to the LTL mix in the last 30 years, and the LTL consolidation that has occurred during that time span, David helps shippers understand why they should expect to see tight capacity into the foreseeable future.
He also underscores some points that we have addressed with our interviews with other LTL Carrier CEOs such as Rob Estes (Estes Express) and Darren Hawkins (Yellow). LTL carriers have a wealth of data from their dimensionalizers, ELDs and geofencing apps that enable them to know how much space a shipper’s freight is taking (down to the inch) and how much time (down to the minute) their assets are being used to service a shipper’s business.
Add it all up and today the carriers are much better at calculating accurate operating ratios for each customer and quantifying how much money they are making on your business. If they are seeing an unacceptable operating ratio, they can be and will be very aggressive in seeking rate increases.
Finally, David shared some very important thoughts about what it means to be a Shipper of Choice and to have “Carrier Friendly Freight.”
At this critical time for shippers, it is more important than ever to know your freight—and your carriers—before conducting a sourcing event. If your company lacks the data, or doesn’t know how your freight patterns align with the carriers you are currently using, TranzAct has some great tools for you. For almost 40 years, TranzAct has been helping shippers shed light on their shipping activity and has a proven track record in helping shippers lower their costs and improve their supply chain capabilities.
So if you have any questions after listening to the interview or could use help with your LTL shipping, we encourage you to get in touch. Having negotiated billions of dollars of LTL freight, we know the carriers in the marketplace and how to match you with the right team.
BY MIKE REGAN, CO-FOUNDER OF TRANZACT
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