Trucking software firm targets small haulers

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by Paul Schreiber|ret||ret||tab|

SBJ Reporter|ret||ret||tab|

pschreiber@sbj.net|ret||ret||tab|

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Targeting small trucking firms with less than 20 trucks, Load Solutions Inc. launched April 30 an online program to make return trips more profitable.|ret||ret||tab|

As it is, smaller trucking firms typically work with freight brokers to secure loads to take back to their point of origin. These firms, however, charge anywhere from 10 percent to 30 percent to find a load for return truckers, said Jason Bates, president of Load Solutions.|ret||ret||tab|

Through Load Solutions' Web-based program, online subscribers can find possible return loads from more than 170,000 nationwide shippers near their drop-off point through searches based on distance or ZIP codes, Bates said. The cost to subscribe is $74.95 a month. |ret||ret||tab|

"This program allows the small trucking companies to have all those shippers and manufacturers available to them at the touch of a key stroke," Bates said.|ret||ret||tab|

Matching shippers with freight companies is the central idea, said Billie Cleek, programmer for ES Systems Inc., the company that designed the program. |ret||ret||tab|

There are two utilization methods: The trucking firm subscribing to Load Solutions' program can input its own list of regular shippers, thus expediting the transfer of account paperwork through the program's e-mail, or the trucking company can search a general list of shippers to find return loads.|ret||ret||tab|

For example, say a truck takes a load to San Antonio with no return freight scheduled. The program would indicate towns in the area based on ZIP codes and/or a certain mile radius from the point of delivery, Bates said. It tells the operator the shipper's address and the distance in miles to reach them, he added. |ret||ret||tab|

Trucking companies can send Load Solutions "their trucking authority, their insurance and their W-9," Bates said, which is scanned and stored online on Load Solutions' server under a "my info" link. Thereafter, when a trucking company is dealing with a new shipper, the firm can go to that link and e-mail the necessary information to the shipper instead of faxing it. |ret||ret||tab|

The software has a patent pending, based on a concept arrived at by Bates. ES Systems maintains the Web site, Bates added. Business expenses to develop the program, as well as promoting the company through advertising, will run about $100,000, he added. Advertising will include banner ads on trucking-related Web sites and through contacts at trucking trade shows, Bates said.|ret||ret||tab|

Bates said he couldn't reasonably provide a 2004 revenue forecast. In the first five days after the site's debut, he secured seven subscribers, he said.|ret||ret||tab|

One such enrollee is 17-year-old Delta State Truckers Co-op in West Helena, Ark. Valerie Rose, CEO of the 10-truck firm, said she heard about Load Solutions through its banner ad on www.truck miles.com. |ret||ret||tab|

"My desire is to reduce the usage of brokers and to increase being able to go direct," Rose said. |ret||ret||tab|

Her first search online yielded names of shippers offering return trips for her trucks in the field. She said, however, getting shipments from some of the contacts she made would require getting Delta State's name established so shippers will use them in the future. |ret||ret||tab|

Load Solutions April 30 launch came one day after Bates officially ended his relationship with Cross Creek Trucking. He was a founder and co-owner in that company since its beginning in April 2002. Bates hadn't been involved in Cross Creek operations since Nov. 3, he said, adding that the separation was based on operational differences. |ret||ret||tab|

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