The manufacturing industry in the United States is enormous today, and goods ranging from automobiles to computer parts to clothing are produced across the nation. These goods need to be moved, however, and carrier companies can deliver them by truck all over the nation with such methods as LTL shipments and more. On the logistical side, transportation management software is used by modern freight brokers to ensure that carriers and shipping clients find each other and work out a fair deal, and transportation management software should always be up to date and ready to run smoothly. With this transportation management software, a broker can track a truck’s progress toward its destination and alert both the customer and the shipper alike on its progress. All of this keeps everyone “on the same page,” so to speak, and can make problems easier to take care of together.
Cargo Deliveries
How much shipping across the United States is all this transportation management software keeping tabs on? While freight brokers are not concerned about the contents themselves or the logistics of owning a truck, they will be interested in the sheer amount of cargo being moved and its total value. The numbers show that there is certainly plenty of cargo (and total value) being moved, giving freight brokers and their transportation management software just as much work to do. For a recent example, data from the U.S. Department of Transportation, the total value of freight being moved is due to grow from $882 per ton in 2007 to $1,377 per ton in 2040. A lot of this value is also due to e-commerce, the act of buying and selling goods online. Carriers today are shipping more good for e-commerce than ever before, and many freight broker jobs may involve a truck carrying items bought online by countless buyers. Today, the American e-commerce revenue total is $423.3 billion and is still growing form there. Full truckload and LTL alike are forcing carriers to adjust to these changes to the retail industry, and freight brokers are bound to want to keep up.
A freight broker is, put simply, the middle man between a shipper who has cargo and the carrier company that will deliver it (typically by truck). Carriers need constant work to make their profits, and shippers won’t want to wait for long to find a trustworthy carrier to deliver their cargo to impatient customers. For these reasons and more, a freight broker company will step in to arrange a fair and profitable partnership between shippers who urgently need carriers, and carriers who need a steady flow of work. These freight brokers will not only arrange the partnership for delivery, but also keep track of the vehicles’ movement and possibly predict when they will arrive at their intended destination.
Many vehicles today have GPS trackers in the, and this geospatial data is invaluable. Many industries today make use of geospatial data to track the location and movements of objects such as private jets, company cars, and even laptops and cell phones, and this can be useful for ensuring that an employee is behaving as expected, or making sure that vehicles are not lost or stolen. Freight brokers may make use of today’s growing field of geospatial data analysis, and this field is due to grow rapidly in the coming years. Vehicles may be recovered if they are lost in a storm or if they are stolen by criminals or pranksters, but this is not the only use for such tech. Today, freight brokers may use geospatial data analysis (whether in-house or not) to monitor the movement of a carrier’s vehicles during a transaction. This vehicle’s movement and location can give a good sign as to its probable arrival time at the destination, and the truck’s movement (or lack thereof) and the drier’s own communications may explain to all parties if a problem occurred. If a truck suffered a breakdown, or if it got stuck due to bad weather, the freight broker company may share this data with all interested parties. Repairing a truck or clearing off the road will be jobs for different parties, while the freight broker keeps track of financial and transportation information.
