Transportation networks are always in flux as volumes change, consumer demands vary, and the economic environment ebbs and flows. Real-time data and ongoing compliance management can help navigate slight variability, but when network footprints evolve more dramatically, shippers should strive for enduring solutions.
When adding a new supplier to their operations, one client turned to Breakthrough’s CapacID offering to ensure the capacity on new lanes was cost-competitive, while finding optimal network fits for carriers.
With Network Changes Come New Analyses of Carrier Service and Fit
Breakthrough clients recognize the value of a data-driven, efficient, and fair transportation ecosystem. When a carrier’s capacity fits into a shipper’s freight flows, it leads to better service, better rates, and stronger working partnerships.
When this client added a new supplier to their supply chain, it introduced new lanes that altered their existing freight network flows. Traditionally, new lanes are either put out to bid during a traditional RFP or simply allocated to existing carrier relationships. But not all capacity is the right capacity for a shipper’s freight. To ensure that the newly routed capacity aligned with the client’s budgeted goals and the new origin and destination freight flows, they used Breakthrough’s CapacID capability.
Finding Natural Fits for Capacity Increases Service Levels and Decreases Price
Breakthrough’s shipper and carrier dataset is representative of more than 16 million annual shipments, giving a comprehensive view of the wider freight ecosystem in the United States. By analyzing carrier footprints throughout our shipper network, Breakthrough identifies carriers with naturally available capacity on specific lanes, promoting a more optimized and cost-effective ecosystem.
For this client, Breakthrough identified carriers with available, or unused, capacity that moved through the new supplier’s origins and destinations. Breakthrough provided a carrier scorecard for these lanes based on several key features: service performance along the lane, backhaul opportunities, and Breakthrough’s proprietary SMRT pricing rate guidance, among others.
Transparency Into Carrier Characteristics and Performance Informs Better Partnerships
Breakthrough created a qualified list of recommended carriers for the client—prioritized first by existing carrier relationships, then by new carriers with a higher likelihood of excellent service and a lower rate. With a list of optimal network matches, the client could make procurement decisions to maintain a more cost-effective strategy from the outset with contracted, asset-backed carriers.
As a result, this client introduced four new-to-them asset carriers who are now hauling 42 percent of the volume on these lanes. On average, rates were 13 percent lower than other carriers on that lane.
Better Data and Greater Insight Available At Your Fingertips
The CapacID module within the FELIX platform lets shippers search for carriers based on several factors like origin and destination data, DOT number, carrier name, or specific lane. FELIX then populates a list of best-fit carriers and each of their unique profiles for that lane. Shippers use this list, paired with Breakthrough’s proprietary price guidance methodology, to verify the carriers that fit their needs. With FELIX, shippers have access to transparent information that provides an accurate representation of a carriers’ network and how well it fits with their strategy.
