In a recent conversation with Let’s Talk Supply Chain, Dennis Lane, Travis Barnier, and Mark Picarello delved into the key trends and solutions shaping intermodal trucking and container drayage. Here are some of our takeaways from the session. You can watch the entire conversation below or on Let’s Talk Supply Chain’s YouTube channel here.

The State of Drayage Today

The traditional perception of drayage as a mere logistical step in the supply chain is evolving. Organizations now recognize drayage as a key element of the entire intermodal shipment lifecycle, so innovators and technology providers are stepping up to revolutionize the capabilities of drayage operations. From enhancing visibility and workflow efficiency to tackling compliance issues and cost reduction, new drayage technologies are driving transformative change in the industry.

Collaboration emerges as a pivotal force driving progress in both the drayage and supply chain sectors. It encompasses cooperation among internal stakeholders, external partnerships, clients, and even competitors. By fostering collaboration, organizations can navigate challenges more effectively and capitalize on opportunities for growth and innovation.

Trend 1: Digitization Revolutionizes Operations

Digitization in drayage involves the transition from manual processes to automated, digital solutions across all aspects of operations. This includes internal operations, customer interactions, and connectivity with external partners.

The key effect of digitizing is removing manual touchpoints. Processed manually, the average drayage move can require over 20 manual touchpoints. With the right system and digital processes, that can be reduced to just 3 or 4 touchpoints. When scaled across thousands of orders, the efficiency gains are tremendous.

When a company undergoes digitization, it helps the business overcome taxing operational challenges and begin to reap the benefits of streamlining the quoting and booking processes, improving invoicing accuracy, enhancing communication and collaboration among stakeholders, and optimizing resource utilization.

Organizations should approach digitization strategically, considering factors such as budget, time frames, and staffing capabilities. Prioritizing key areas of improvement and adopting a phased approach can facilitate smooth implementation and maximize returns on investment.

Trend 2: Collaboration Enhances Industry Dynamics

Collaboration in both drayage and supply chain management involves synergistic efforts among various stakeholders, including internal teams, external partners such as marine terminals, railroads, trucking associations, clients, customers, and even competitors within the industry.

As the critical link between maritime and inland transportation, intermodal trucking is collaborative by nature. Sitting at the intersection of multiple modes of transportation, it is important for drayage operators to play a role in facilitating collaboration. Often, collaboration emerges when transparency, trust, and communication are demonstrated from the moment a business relationship starts.

3 ways carriers can promote collaboration are:

• Execute operations digitally in software developed specifically for container drayage and intermodal moves. When the lifecycle of an intermodal shipment is managed digitally, carriers have access to every piece of information in one place, which makes it significantly easier and faster to communicate shipment information with customers. Keeping sensitive information secure digitally instills trust.
• Reduce manual communication during the quoting process. Give customers 24/7 access to your rates through a secure online system, display capacity upfront, and maintain standard quotes that are clear and accurate for all charges and accessorials.
• Use digital tools to maintain visibility on intermodal equipment when it is parked and stored. Opt to use an online marketplace to book storage space, and work with supplier yards that have the level of security needed.

Collaboration between stakeholders and carriers improves operational efficiency and productivity, enhances problem-solving capabilities and innovation, increases industry resilience, facilitates greater adaptability to change, and strengthens client and partner relationships.

Trend 3: Interconnectivity Fuels Innovation

Interconnectivity is both a facilitator and byproduct of collaboration. System interconnectivity with up-stream and down-stream supply chain partners allows for more fluidity in data flow, thus enabling collaboration in a technical capacity. It is also a byproduct of collaboration, as new solutions are often developed due to existing collaborative business relationships that innovate together.

Currently, customers are more likely to scrutinize drayage companies on the quality and accuracy of their shipment data, than on their on-time performance of container deliveries. This is indicative of a broader emphasis on data-driven decisions within the supply chain. Therefore, there is a pressure on drayage companies to maintain clean, constant, and accurate data that they can easily share with customers.

Beyond having company data digitized, this involves interconnectivity with other systems and data sources. To be flexible and meet the needs of their customers, draymen need to invest in technology that is capable of interconnecting with a variety of systems to provide the level of visibility that customers require.

The Impact of Digitization, Collaboration, and Interconnectivity on Drayage in 2024

The future of many drayage companies hinges on enhanced collaboration among stakeholders and the strategic integration of technology. From leveraging transportation management systems (TMS) to real-time tracking capabilities, companies can offer their customers a better overall experience while optimizing their own processes.

Transparency and visibility within the supply chain are key drivers of collaboration. By sharing data and leveraging interconnected systems, stakeholders can adapt more effectively to market fluctuations and operational challenges, improving operational efficiency, customer satisfaction, and retention.

Technology adoption is not exclusive to large enterprises. Smaller carriers can also benefit from cost-effective solutions such as TMS platforms offered via software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, driver mobile apps, rate management and quoting software, online truck and container parking and storage, and more. These solutions offer an immense ROI and enable small businesses to streamline operations and compete more effectively.

Future Trends and Challenges

Looking ahead to 2024 and beyond, several trends are expected to shape both the intermodal trucking and supply chain landscape. These include the continued digitization of processes, the adoption of AI-driven automation, the emergence of dynamic pricing models, and challenges such as driver classification issues and regulatory changes.

As drayage and the global supply chain landscape continues to evolve, embracing digitization and fostering collaboration emerge as critical strategies for success. By harnessing the power of technology and collaborative efforts, organizations can overcome challenges, drive innovation, and build a more resilient and efficient intermodal trucking ecosystem. In the ever-evolving world of supply chain logistics, staying ahead requires a commitment to embracing change and leveraging collaborative solutions for a brighter future.

Beyond Drayage TMS Live with Let’s Talk Supply Chain

Our very own Dennis Lane, Travis Barnier, and Mark Picarello were featured on a Let’s Talk Supply Chain LinkedIn Live with Sarah Barnes Humphrey to talk about these topics in depth. To listen to the full conversation, watch here!

In today’s highly competitive freight market, drayage companies are competing for both freight loads and the drivers needed to carry it. With freight volumes showing signs of increasing, drivers remain in short supply. Retention is also a concern, with over 60% of drivers leaving a company before the end of their second year and 30% of them departing before the end of their first. To win business, intermodal trucking carriers need to operate as lean and efficient as possible. They need to pick up and deliver loads on time with transparency to maintain customer relationships. To attract and retain drivers, operations should be as driver friendly as possible.

The constant communications between dispatchers and drivers are a steady source of frustration for both. As a result, many carriers are forced to maintain a high ratio of dispatchers to drivers that increases the effort and cost for each move, which raises operational costs. Poor communication between dispatch and drivers can lead to a wasted day when a driver is turned away because of a missed or incorrect appointment. In addition, a driver needing to bring in shipment paperwork to the office is a significant, often un-paid, time commitment. It can also delay invoicing which can mean a delay for both the driver and the carrier getting paid.

As drivers become more tech savvy, over 95% of truck drivers have a smart phone, more drayage companies are turning to mobile driver apps to streamline the dispatch to driver communications that are mission critical for scheduling and completing every freight move, as well as, meeting high customer expectations for timing and traceability. They are leveraging the technology to increase shipment efficiency, improve in-transit visibility, speed up documentation, and expedite invoicing.

Two real-world examples of drayage carriers that use a driver mobile app

Small intermodal carrier using Profit Tools TMS: Twenty owner-operator drivers on a mobile app and currently completing nearly 750 mostly intermodal moves per month. With the app, dispatchers were able to reduce the number of calls to and from drivers, and drivers no longer had to check in at the office for delivery instructions – they can just pick-up and go.

Mid-sized carrier using Compcare VI: Operating in multiple terminals with over 3/4 of their 80+ owner operators using a mobile driver app to complete more than 4,000 shuttle moves per month. They have reduced manual work, and daily server uploads that require additional sorting. Now they have greater visibility on order completion, documentation upload is easier, and time-to-invoice is 80% faster.

How intermodal carriers are bridging the gap between dispatchers and drivers

Key processes of the shipment are executed with simplified, guided workflows that prompt drivers for their input. These include scheduling, load status updates, POD generation, and document capture. The workflows standardize operations with consistent steps for every move and ensure the collection of required information at each stage. Much of this communication and coordination would have been performed with manual, printed documents, and back-and-forth phone conversations. Office visits for document drop off to complete a delivery are eliminated.

All driver communication and documentation are done in the same place. When integrated to the company drayage TMS, all information is “pushed” to a single source of truth for the shipment where it can be accessed by dispatch to determine load status, by operations to respond to customer service requests, and by business leadership to maintain a pulse on daily shipment performance.

Because these driver activities are all performed without manual typing and keying, phone calls, and paperwork gathering, they are less prone to human errors and more time efficient. Drivers spend more time moving goods and less time going back and forth with dispatch – alleviating a constant source of frustration for both.

Improve driver and dispatch job satisfaction and intermodal trucking operations

Our own internal surveying of users of our mobile driver app shows that around 2/3^rd of drivers say it helps them do their job more effectively. According to one of the drivers surveyed, “This is how the job wants me to conduct my duties. When the app is working great. I’m having a great day and so is the job.” Another driver added “I love the paperless approach. Helps me do my job more efficient(ly).” More effective and efficient drivers are happier drivers. Happier drivers are less likely to move to another trucking company. A positive driver experience also makes is easier to attract drivers.

In addition, more efficient and effective coordination between dispatch and driver means dispatchers can better manage more drivers and shipments, allowing intermodal carriers to reduce overhead or scale business without adding operational resources.

Finally, shipments are made on time with better visibility, improving customer satisfaction with faster invoicing and quicker payment processing. This means carriers can keep the customers they do win and maintain healthier margins, stronger cash flow, and better bottom lines.

Envase Mobile has several features that improve dispatcher to driver communications and shipment documentation. These include: 

• Standardized workflows for the most common processes of a shipment that use step-by-step actions and simple prompts for driver input.
• In-app messaging that eliminates the need to go outside of the app to handle exceptions and stores all communications with the shipment for better auditing. 
• Digital documentation management for black & white and color documents, with low bandwidth support.
• Geo-fencing can trigger pickup and departure milestones with only driver confirmation.
• Finally, it connects seamlessly with Compare VI, Profit Tools, and GTG TMS, with more on the way for integrating transportation management with driver management.

For a consultation on how Envase Mobile can work with your TMS, please email david.hashimoto@wisetechglobal.com. 

Intense competition within the drayage industry is causing trucking companies and 3PL providers to lower their price resulting in more stress on their business and slower growth. They often don’t account for all the additional costs in their quoted price, leading to extra post-shipment charges that upset customers and slow payments. In addition, they struggle to quote consistently across their organization and between customers impacting lane profitability.

In a recent podcast, Let’s Talk Supply Chain’s host Sarah Barnes-Humphrey sat down with Travis Barnier, DrayMaster’s Business Lead to discuss the challenges drayage carriers face maintaining healthy margins, high customer service levels, and a strong bottom line – and how effective rate management helps build a successful drayage business. Below are some highlights from the podcast.  You can watch the entire episode here or on your favorite podcasting platform.

On how drayage trucking companies and 3PL providers can stay competitive.

“It’s a competitive market, and everyone’s fighting over what freight crumbs are out there! From a trucker’s perspective, we’ve seen an influx of smaller carriers since COVID… so truckers have to be running lean, agile, and responsive.”

Travis Barnier

In a competitive, post-pandemic market saturated with carriers and 3PLs vying for every load, the only road to success is giving customers a reason to choose you over others. Organizations that streamline operations, enhance agility, and respond effectively to market and customer demands demonstrate better business practices and stand to win more freight shipments. For truckers, this means becoming as lean, agile, and responsive as possible. For 3PLs, competitive strength comes from being accurate, informative, and organized.

In drayage operations, one of the biggest opportunities for optimization for both truckers and 3PLs is effective rate management. It is also one of the most complicated and challenging components of drayage management, as every quote is unique and time-bound based on fuel, accessorials, and surcharges that can change daily. When managed manually, drayage rates require a deep understanding of rate structures, attention to detail, constant updating and supervision, along with hours spent each quoting, back-and-forth phone and email communication, and manual comparison of rate history across various partners.

It is not uncommon for truckers and 3PLs to face challenges in comprehending their own rates and comparing them across partners. With large volumes of data from various sources, using disparate systems and manual spreadsheet tracking is not enough to integrate and manage this critical data effectively. Often this results in errors, inconsistencies, and confusion in rate calculations and quotes. Given the essential nature of a quote before securing any business, and the daily, weekly, and monthly frequency of quoting, drayage companies must have a thorough grasp on rate structures to succeed in negotiations and enhance their marketability. If your business can master this aspect of your operations, not only will you be ahead of the curve operationally, but leading the pack when it comes to your competitors.

On the capability of digital rate management platforms

Digital rate management transforms the way truckers and 3PLs navigate the competitive and ever-evolving landscape of freight transport, both increasing efficiency and saving time from quoting through to invoicing and collecting. It puts accurate and consistent pricing at the fingertips of salespeople across the organization, streamlines prospective customer communications without the back and forth clarifying accessorial charges and capacity to speed up approvals and scheduling.

For truckers, digitally managing rates means:

• A single source of truth for your tariffs and consistency across the whole organization.
• Storing and maintain drayage rates for all your services and service territories. 
• Clean and organized rates that improve record-keeping and allow for easy maintenance.
• Automated rates, available to customers 24/7, without a live person responding to emails or phone calls.
• More professional quotes generated with the click of a button that are customizable.
• Accurate quotes rate that don’t miss additional charges.
• Responding to RFPs in hours instead of days or weeks.
• Displaying capacity to partners upfront eliminate availability queries prior to quoting.

For 3PLs, it means:

• One centralized location for all drayage partners and their associated rates.
• Easy rate comparisons between partners with all known charges upfront.
• Standardized quote formats for clear communication and understanding of charges.
• 24/7 access to rates with one search, rather than emails and phone calls and waiting for a response.
• Minimized invoice discrepancies through working with carriers that provide timely and accurate quotes with all known charges upfront.

In a fast-paced industry like drayage, timely decisions are critical. Streamlining processes and reducing administrative burdens can be a significant competitive advantage. Digital rate management enhances visibility and transparency of the drayage quoting process, provides real-time lane availability and capacity, and gives stakeholders clear insights into the current needs of their partner network.

How DrayMaster helps businesses meet drayage demands today and down the road

DrayMaster has been assisting trucking companies and 3PLs overcome rate discrepancies, inaccuracies, and inefficiencies for close to 10 years. The platform equips drayage businesses with essential tools to navigate complex quoting challenges, mitigate rate reduction requests, and realize significant cost and time savings. Empowering drayage enterprises with data-driven insights so they can make well-informed decisions, pinpoint areas of improvement, and optimize overall operational performance. Enabling them to expand their operations, whether on a regional or global scale, by efficiently managing increased volumes and increasing supply chain complexities.

Listen to Episode 379: Use Effective Rate Management to Boost Your Business, with DrayMaster for the full conversation.

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DrayTech 2023 took place last week in San Pedro at a new venue, The Double Tree Hotel, which offered the ability to host more folks and end with a bang.   

This year, three big things stood out to the group of folks we had in attendance (four, if you count the contortionists).

Drayage is a Community

Even though many attendees were competitors, either as providers of capacity or TMS solutions, there is a tremendous sense of us all “being in this together.” This is true, regardless of whether the market is booming or bombing, and it is fantastic to see how many conversations at DrayTech start with some version of “How can we work together?”

For Envase, this meant highlighting the breadth and depth of our services, from TMS to Yard Support and Rate Intelligence to Automated Gates. Nearly all of our conversations focused on identifying hidden value, which is a key reason we’re always looking to expand our marketplace. We even delved into how the data we secure and retain for carriers can be used to lower insurance rates. We have many follow-up discussions coming but are excited about the partnership opportunities that came out of the event.  

The Freight Rebound… ?

About that freight rebound — We’ve all heard how a rising tide lifts all boats. But currently, the market is awaiting any sign of flooding.

On the main stage, many of the presentations and discussions focused on how carriers can remain viable as businesses due to the low rates and minimal volumes. Freight is cyclical; there will be a rebound. But it sure looks like it will be a longer cycle than is normal (one of the sheets we shared at the show was about how we can help carriers navigate the current environment. You can download it here). 

5-Ways-Envase-Helps-You-Manage-Your-Top-and-Bottom-Line-PDFDownload

Zero-Emission Vehicles (ZEVs)

ZEVs are coming, whether truckers want them or not.

The ride-and-drive portion of the event was terrific, with zero-emission vehicles from a host of manufacturers on site and available to be tested. In LA/Long Beach (and really, California all around), the mandate for Zero Emission vehicles is coming rapidly; we’re about seven months away from when new registrations will be limited to ZEVs.

The infrastructure isn’t quite ready yet. The vehicles are still being developed. But we’re at the point where you can see the finish line as more than some interesting concept.  

It isn’t a stretch to say this was the biggest and best DrayTech yet. Karla Sanchez and Melissa Summers from the Harbor Trucker’s Association truly outdid themselves this year. As for Envase, we’re already counting down the days until DrayTech 2024.  

Hope to see you there.   

DrayTECH 2023 Photo Gallery

Thank you to Marc Harris for the incredible work of documenting DrayTECH23 with stunning photography. All credits to Marc Harris for the photographs in this piece.