Innovate, Automate, and Transform with Transflo.

But between the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), U.S. Congress, and state legislation, changing rules and laws can feel like flood-level precipitation if your company isn’t up on the latest developments.  Regulatory issues were a huge point of discussion at the recent Truckload 2024 conference, held by the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) from March 23-26 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville. 2023-24 TCA chairman Dave Williams, the Senior Vice President of Equipment and Government Relations at Knight-Swift Transportation noted that, “Every time we turn around there’s something that ends up bringing a significant challenge.” One such challenge in the transportation industry is navigating changing labor rules governing independent contractors, which have made business difficult for owner-operators and carriers that use them, particularly in California. However, several other regulatory and legislative items were brought up in TCA’s Highway Policy Committee and Regulatory Policy Committee at Truckload 2024, each of which held sessions on March 24.  Let’s look at four items addressed by the committees at Truckload 2024:   1. Truck parking The lack of available parking for trucks has been a topic of much interest in transportation for several years now. In a January webinar, TCA Senior Vice President of Government Affairs and Safety David Heller called parking the “No. 1 issue” for professional drivers and cited research showing that the average driver loses $5,000 per year in productivity looking for safe parking. Furthermore, the November 2021 infrastructure bill passed by Congress and signed into law by the White House lacked dedicated funding for truck parking.  The federal government and Congress are now addressing the issue, though. In January, the federal Department of Transportation announced $300 million in funding for truck parking in seven states. Currently, Congress is considering the Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act, which has bipartisan support and 61 co-sponsors across the House and Senate. It would fund $755 million in new truck parking projects over three years.   2. Nuclear verdicts and tort reform Since 2010, the frequency of $1 million+ crash judgments against fleets has skyrocketed, while the frequency of fatal crashes per hundred million large truck miles has declined. To discuss this trend and how litigation can be taken advantage of by lawyers, Lee Parsley, general counsel at Texans for Lawsuit Reform, spoke to the Highway Policy Committee.  Just one verdict can cause a carrier’s insurance rates to soar or force it out of business completely. In 2023, at the state level, Florida, Georgia, and Iowa took action and either passed comprehensive tort reform or laws that directly address trucking litigation and protect carriers from frivolous or inflated judgments. However, some regions may not have judicial systems that are as likely to side with a carrier, so this issue is worth keeping an eye on.   3. Speed limiters In 2016 and 2022, the FMCSA proposed – and later rescinded – rulemaking that would force large commercial vehicles to be equipped with a speed limiter. While another limiter proposal was expected at two different points last year, it now seems certain to arrive in May. If the rule is not pushed back again, carriers and drivers will get plenty of opportunity for public comment on the proposal. It could be years before potential enforcement begins.  But that’s not the only speed limiter rule that could have a massive impact on the industry.  In California, state Sen. Scott Weiner has introduced legislation that would limit speeds on every new vehicle sold in the state starting with the 2027 model year – effectively, only two years from now. Almost 1 of every 8 people in the country lives in the Golden State, but the rest of the country often goes along with California automotive rules, whether it be from states piggybacking on the more stringent laws or because automakers deem it too expensive to sell more than one version of a car or truck.   4. Side underride guards In April 2023, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) published an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) for studying the effectiveness of mandating side underride guards to trailers. In that report, the government estimated that installing side underride guards on trailers would cost up to $1.2 billion per year. The ANPRM also estimated that 17.2 lives could be saved, and 69 serious injuries prevented annually.  Industry professionals don’t quite see the cost-benefit analysis of this rule as safety advocates do, as this would also decrease fuel efficiency by adding weight to the trailer. For fleets, a telematics solution like a sensor or side camera could conceivably warn a driver when an object is at the side of the trailer at a fraction of the cost.  Regulations and laws are unpredictable. Transflo isn’t.  Anticipating the exact laws and regulations that will affect transportation can sometimes be a fruitless endeavor – much like trying to nail down if that afternoon storm in May will bring tornadoes or a quick drenching. This year, an upcoming presidential election and the potential for some of these federal rules to be revoked next year makes the regulatory atmosphere that much more unstable.  What won’t be changing is Transflo’s commitment to products that make life easier and safer for fleet managers, industry executives, and drivers, whether you have 10 trucks or 1,000. Our telematics solutions, including ELDs, dashcams, and asset trackers, offer customizable integrations and fleet management platforms that allow a carrier to take safety and fleet maintenance steps on its own terms.   If you’re interested in learning more about telematics or any of Transflo’s products for carriers and drivers, contact us today. 

In logistics, AI is being used today to bring productivity to a new level, with a significant amount of traditional manual work in the back office being reduced or automated thanks to AI-powered products. But most of the story of AI in logistics and trucking is yet to be written.  To separate fact from fiction in logistics AI adoption and development, Transflo Chief Product Officer Justin King joined the panel, “Beyond the Hype: Industry Leaders Chart the Future of AI Deployments” on Feb. 28 at the McLeod Software AI Conference in Birmingham, Alabama. Vooma Co-Founder Jesse Buckingham and Parade VP of Product Lindsay Watt joined King on the panel, moderated by Seth Clevenger of Transport Topics.  Here are three takeaways mentioned by King and the panel:  1. Humans aren’t going anywhere, but the nature of work will change. Predictions about autonomous trucks populating the freeways and AI handling every aspect of the shipper-carrier or driver-broker-carrier relationship may have a place in science fiction, but they’re not realistic now. Instead, the current role of AI in logistics lies in taking over time-consuming, everyday tasks.  During the panel, the experts mentioned a variety of opportunities for AI in the sector that can improve upon traditional workflows. To that end, AI models trained by a variety of data sets can approximate human decision-making power for many lower-risk decisions. Some use cases include:  Document processing  Document scanning  Chatbots to answer drivers’ questions  Driver safety risk  Fleet maintenance  Optimizing freight bids  Identifying trends  The panelists mentioned that the near future of AI in logistics should be a collaborative one, with humans in charge and using AI to get things accomplished, leaving brain power to more complex problems and important business relationships. Furthermore, human-AI collaboration will require a degree of additional workforce training to ensure employees understand and use the technology in the best ways for the business. 2. Al adoption may take time for organizations to adopt. While AI can help logistics and trucking companies save money and time, implementing it may make employees throughout the organization wary. On the management side, AI will evolve very rapidly in the coming years, which will make adapting and pivoting to new capabilities crucial.  This is why King and the rest of the panel believe it’s imperative for companies to clearly communicate the problems can be solved with AI and reassure the workforce that they – not any AI platform – are the most important parts of the business.  “It starts with leadership… and being intellectually curious, right?” said King. “If you’re running an IT department, for example, asking your QA folks, ‘Hey, have you used any sort of AI tool to debug this code?’”  King also mentioned that small-scale experimentation of AI tools across the board at a company can produce a “force multiplier” effect, leading to higher-quality code, a better overall product, and greater trust in AI as its capabilities evolve.  Meanwhile, carriers and brokers who are apprehensive of AI or want to hold on to the technologies of yesterday too long run the risk of being outpaced by the competition and having significant obstacles to AI development once the technology becomes inevitable.  “As with any new technology, the companies who embrace it early on and use it, even in small ways, don’t expect it to change the business overnight,” said King. “But even if you’re deploying it in small ways and you’re leveraging some technology of software to help your business, you will be on the forefront of your competitors.”  3. LLMs can help fuel the data engines of tomorrow. Without access to lots of data – and good data, at that – AI models don’t go anywhere and offer little value to logistics companies. Brokers and carriers typically have massive amounts of data in a transportation management system, but not all of it may be accurate or structured in a way that’s conducive to AI development.   Thankfully for those organizations, large language models (LLMs) used by a skilled and experienced technology provider will make it feasible to validate and clean up data for use in a practical, time-saving AI model powered by machine learning.  “Using AI to create the dataset is actually one of the most interesting opportunities that we have right now,” said King. “Historically, it would have been very costly to capture all of the data off of the documents. But now, using OCR (optical character recognition) and AI, you can do that in a fairly cost-effective way.”  How Transflo approaches AI  The Transflo team takes a customer-focused and sustainable approach to AI. They use multiple AI models, including LLMs, that are trained internally. The team also favors progressive AI development that takes time to learn and analyze customers’ business needs so they can deliver solutions that save time and money.  Transflo’s Workflow AI solution has helped customers drastically slash the time spent on formerly manual processes like billing and data extraction. In the case of Overland Park, Kansas-based freight brokerage Ryan Transportation, Workflow AI’s deployment saved up to two hours of daily work for every employee, which enabled staff to better utilize their skills and focus on more strategic work.  To learn more about Workflow AI and how Transflo’s solutions can help move your logistics business forward, contact sales today.  

Almost two years ago, we described how many trucks were “stalled” due to fuel prices thanks to the highest inflation in more than 40 years and the geopolitical supply pressures of overseas conflicts. While both fuel prices and inflation have begun to level off (as of early 2024), problems continue for many fleets and brokerages trying to operate in the post-pandemic environment. But there is another problem that we haven’t discussed – fuel payments. In theory, fuel payments are supposed to make lives easier across the supply chain by advancing money for fuel upon load pickup. But even that approach has been constrained by the technologies of yesterday. A new era of fuel payments is required for brokers and carriers alike to reach optimal efficiency. In this blog, we’ll look at the typical cost of fuel, where fleets run into issues with fuel payments, and explore how new tech can keep trucks on the road and lessen fueling problems. The Prohibitive Cost of Fuel A Class 8 truck holds up to 150 gallons of fuel. As of late February 2024, the average price of a gallon of diesel in the U.S. is $4.109. If a driver is filling up with 100 gallons, the cost of a fill-up is approximately $411, but could climb up to $470 to $560 in a state with higher diesel prices. Assuming fuel economy of 7.2 miles per gallon as mandated by the federal Environmental Protection Agency in new trucks made after 2014, that 100-gallon fill can take a driver about 700 miles. For older trucks running closer to 6 mpg, the mileage is likely closer to 600 to 625 miles. Of course, the length of a haul can vary widely based on carrier needs and freight. According to American Trucking Associations as of February 2024, the average length of haul in the for-hire over-the-road truckload segment is between 450 to 500 miles. Depending on fuel mileage, that equates to an average fuel cost of anywhere between $270 to $325 per segment. Regardless of fleet size, those costs quickly multiply day after day and eat into margins. When Traditional Fuel Payments Can Falter If the cash flow required to keep trucks fueled and rolling was the biggest hurdle related to diesel, that would be challenging enough. Unfortunately, several sources of pain may arise in the fuel advance process, including: Fraud Fees Reconciling funds First, and most crucial, is fraud. Physical fuel cards that look like debit or credit cards are susceptible to card skimming devices that can steal important data, such as a physical card number and its security info. Furthermore, card skimmers are often placed at gas pumps and may be discreet or altogether imperceptible to the driver. A physical fuel card or traditional check may also get lost, which could put it in the wrong hands. Similarly, physical PINs that remain the same between transactions have a greater likelihood of getting stolen than digital methods where a specific PIN is used for a single transaction. While the process of a traditional fuel advance is simple in theory, there are fees levied on the broker or carrier for the service that can eat into profitability. In the broker space, reconciling unused advance funds using traditional fuel advance methods like cards or checks can be time-consuming and difficult. Fuel Payments in a New Era The days of fuel payments headaches may soon come to a merciful end. With Transflo Wallet, the industry can take advantage of the first all-digital fuel advance platform. This new secure technology means that drivers can access fuel advance funds using a smartphone and a one-time-use, fraud-resistant PIN. Advances with Wallet also feature lower fees, fuel discounts, reduced fraud risk, and real-time visibility of funds, and can be used at 14,000+ truck stops nationwide. And you won’t have to unnecessarily pay for more expensive gas. Wallet includes maps that list diesel prices in the driver’s current area, so the lowest price is within reach. While Transflo Wallet is available for carriers, it can provide unique value for brokerages. Even though some brokers have used traditional advances for years, Wallet’s easy-to-use functionality breaks down the barriers to entry for smaller brokers and streamlines the existing process for larger brokers. Additionally, a portion of the per gallon discount offered by Wallet can be recovered by the broker, potentially putting thousands of dollars back in brokers’ pocketbooks. Keeping freight on the road doesn’t have to be difficult or rely on payment methods that have been around for generations. With Transflo, a better method for fuel advances is available today. Get in touch with us to learn more about the new era of digital fuel advances.

The freight market has had to deal with a degree of whiplash over the last few years. The high-demand COVID era of 2020-21 saw thousands of new carriers and third-party logistics firms enter the market, eager to provide additional capacity and take advantage of higher rates.  Starting in 2022, that demand dried up precipitously, sending freight rates and tender rejections plummeting. This freight recession continues today and was one of the topics discussed at the Transportation Intermediaries Association’s 2024 Capital Ideas Conference, held April 10-13 in Phoenix, Arizona. The market slowdown has caused thousands of freight brokers and carriers to drop out of the market.  “This market right-sizing is painful. Regardless of whether it makes sense to get rid of some of the excess capacity in the marketplace, these closures obviously hurt people,” said TIA President Anne Reinke.  Fraud and transparency were two other significant topics addressed at the conference. During the past year, the association stood up a fraud task force and launched a quarterly fraud report to better educate member brokers/3PLs and encourage them to take action to fight double brokering and theft. Reinke estimated in January that fraud costs the industry up to $700 million in freight payments each year.  On the transparency front, TIA cited a statistic that 92% percent of carriers are unrated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Nine of 10 carriers across the country operating with no safety rating by the federal government is an untenable situation for brokers and 3PLs who rely on working with trustworthy carriers. The FMCSA has shown a willingness to change the status quo, but no industry consensus on how the ratings should be changed has yet emerged.  However, one especially compelling session at TIA Capital Ideas discussed the state of cross-border operations between the United States and Mexico. In an informal poll of attendees at the “Effective & Successful Cross-Border Operations” session held on Friday, April 12, half of brokers/3PLs said they currently operate in Mexico, while a number of those who don’t operate in Mexico indicate they want to in the coming years.  While that’s not exactly a scientific survey, it does signal that operating in Mexico is a growing subsector for the industry and that operating south of the border could be an option for many 3PLs going forward. Let’s look at three things to keep in mind when thinking about cross-border operations in Mexico.  1. Manufacturing is big in Mexico, and it’s only going to get bigger. Mexico’s status as a developing economy has made it a natural target for manufacturing over the past few decades, but recent market forces have accelerated that existing trend.  Trade measures taken against China in recent years have made Mexico more attractive to ship from for manufacturers due to lower tariffs and closer proximity to developed markets like the U.S. and Canada. According to the Mexican government, the country received a record $36 billion in direct foreign investment in 2023, much of which is attributable to companies nearshoring operations away from Asia. Additionally, Mexico was the U.S.’ top trading partner in January.  The trend is poised to continue for at least the next several years. 3PLs have the potential to do major business in Mexico, and building relationships with shippers and carriers early in the boom can give brokerages a huge leg up on the competition.  2. Risks are higher than the U.S., though. Doing business in Mexico isn’t quite as simple as putting up a new office across town. To say nothing of the bureaucratic aspects of starting a business in a different country, there are important differences involved with transporting freight in Mexico.  Mexican carriers are not required to carry the same amount of insurance as their American (or Canadian) counterparts, and any coverage they do have is likely to be based on the tonnage of the load and not value. This can lead to a situation where a high-value load from a shipper has minimal coverage.  Cargo theft is also an issue that is, unfortunately, on the rise in Mexico. In 2023, theft grew by 3.9% over the previous year, according to the country’s public security ministry. Shippers and brokers should also not expect the same visibility and service as the U.S. Oftentimes, stakeholders will receive updates on WhatsApp or only at truck stops near the U.S.-Mexico border. Additionally, there is no electronic logging device (ELD) mandate in Mexico. 3. Steps to mitigate risk are available – and imperative to brokering in Mexico. Traditional insurers have typically been hesitant to assure cross-border loads, which has often meant a 3PL takes its chances with minimal insurance or asks a shipper to sign a waiver of liability. However, given the freight and manufacturing boom in Mexico, insurers are becoming more receptive to insurance agreements. Brokers may be able to secure additional insurance on behalf of the shipper to cover the full value of the freight.  And while ELDs and other telematics are not required in Mexico, carriers that use them help guarantee a level of visibility and safety. One example mentioned during the session involved Nestlé, who had seven shipments hijacked in one week in Mexico. However, because the food and drink giant used tracking on those shipments, they were recovered.  These factors make it imperative for 3PLs to take proactive risk management steps that discern the best carriers to work with and employ specialized customer agreements with shippers.  Whether you work in one country or three, Transflo can help 3PLs work more efficiently.  Operating outside of the United States as an American broker or 3PL isn’t easy. Language barriers, customs issues, foreign laws, and the potential issues discussed in this blog may take up significant time and effort. But that doesn’t mean your partner carriers and shippers stateside will have time to wait.   For your more bread-and-butter freight, there’s Workflow AI from Transflo, which can reduce up to 97% of manual work and automate countless tasks. Then, your team will have more time to work with unique cases – or begin or continue operations in Mexico.  

TAMPA, April 17, 2024 – Transflo, a leader in transportation technology, is thrilled to announce its strategic partnership with Mastery Logistics Systems (Mastery). Mastery has built MasterMind® TMS, an enterprise transportation management system designed to connect systems, people, and data. This collaboration brings together two innovators to deliver seamless cloud-to-cloud (C2I) integration for enhanced efficiency and accuracy in freight management processes. The partnership leverages the cutting-edge platforms provided by Mastery and Transflo to implement real-time load and document integration driven by load events. This integration enables the validation of invoice documents using up to date data from MasterMind TMS, enabling auto-approvals, ensuring precise exception resolution and alerts, and providing 24/7 automation. MasterMind TMS offers a direct integration with Workflow AI to automate the invoice audit process, leading to faster processing times and decreased manual work. Automated audits for rates and necessary documents improve Days Payable Outstanding (DPO) and boost customer and vendor satisfaction. Mastery and Transflo partnered with a mutual customer to enhance their end user experience through a direct integration. Overall, the partnership aims to enhance billing and payable accuracy, improve back-office efficiency, and utilize live load events from MasterMind TMS for automated exception handling. This integration saves brokers time while accelerating the delivery of accurate data. Moreover, it reduces the technical burden on the brokerage’s IT team, enabling them to focus on strategic initiatives. “We are excited to partner with Mastery to bring unparalleled efficiency and accuracy to freight management processes,” said Renee Krug, CEO at Transflo. “By combining our expertise and technologies, we are empowering brokers, carriers, and vendors to streamline operations, reduce errors, and enhance overall customer satisfaction.” “Mastery is proud to partner with Transflo and continually provide MasterMind TMS users with integrated solutions,” said Danielle Prigge, Chief Commercial Officer, at Mastery. “Our partnership with Transflo was led on behalf of a mutual customer. The integration will help automate the document management process creating a hands-off experience for our end users allowing them to focus on exceptions. We are proud of the work done by all parties to make this solution possible!” About Transflo: Transflo® is a trusted industry leader in mobile, telematics, and business process automation solutions for the transportation sector in North America. Transflo’s customer-centric mobile and cloud-based technologies enable real-time communication for fleets, brokers, factors, shippers, and commercial vehicle drivers, digitizing 800 million shipping documents annually, representing approximately $118 billion in freight bills and 3.2 million downloads of the Mobile+ app. Organizations throughout Transflo’s ecosystem utilize the end-to-end solution suite and digital platform to increase efficiency, improve cash flow, and reduce costs. Headquartered in Tampa, Florida, USA, Transflo has been at the forefront of innovation in transportation software for over 30 years. For more information, visit www.transflo.com. About Mastery: Mastery is partnering with enterprise carriers, shippers, and logistics companies to seamlessly connect their operations and deliver ever-evolving solutions on a single transportation management system. MasterMind® TMS empowers you to thrive in complexity and deliver on your commitments. To learn more visit: https://www.mastery.net/ For media inquiries or further information, please contact: TJ Muehlfeld [email protected] Vice President of Marketing, Transflo