By Seth Clevenger, Staff Reporter This story appears in the April 8 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.
The founders of freight brokerage Partage LLC said they have launched an automated, Web-based brokerage service that allows shippers to enter their load information, get a final rate on the spot and book capacity without speaking to a broker.
The new company, Buytruckload.com, was set to open its online brokerage tool to shippers on April 8, said co-owners John Labrie and Sean Devine, both former executives at less-than-truckload carrier Con-way Freight who went on to start Partage in May 2011.
Devine described Buytruckload.com as “a Priceline for truckload.”
“Instead of having to wait for someone to call you or e-mail you back, it’s all instant,” he said.
Shippers can book dry-van, flatbed and refrigerated truckloads, as well as partial truckloads for dry-van and refrigerated shipments, the company said. The online tool also can price complicated requirements such as multistep loads and team-transit requirements.
Buytruckload.com arranges shipping primarily through for-hire truckload carriers but also works with some LTL carriers for partial truckloads and private fleets with backhaul capacity, Labrie said.
The Chicago-based company said it has no sales force, leading to cost savings that it passes on to shippers.
“We think the cost advantage that this approach provides is going to allow us to be not only the most convenient source of capacity but also the lowest priced option in the market — and this is a market where people typically buy on price,” Labrie said.
With automated freight brokerage, shippers can save an average of $100 on a $1,300 load, he said. “We believe there is a $3 billion aggregate savings opportunity for the U.S. industrial economy as automated brokerage becomes more common.”
Buytruckload.com also offers a free carrier search and purchasing survey on the site.
Labrie said the online services at Buytruckload.com are unique in that they take shippers through the entire pricing and booking process for loads.
“There are certainly tools out there that will provide pricing assistance to shippers, but there’s nothing that will provide a live quote on a real shipment and then allow them to book that shipment with a capacity provider,” he said.
Other companies that offer online freight-matching services include Getloaded Corp., Internet Truckstop, TransCore 3sixty Express, 123Loadboard.com and Check Freight Broker LLC.
