FREIGHTWISE SUSPENDS OPERATION OF PUBLIC EXCHANGE

FREIGHTWISE SUSPENDS OPERATION OF PUBLIC EXCHANGE    FreightWise Inc., the Web-based transportation marketplace that aimed to serve buyers and sellers of over-the-road trucking and intermodal services, suspended operation of its public exchange on Feb. 5.
   “As a company, we're not shutting down, we're retrenching” said Greg Fox, president and chief executive officer of Fort Worth, Texas-based FreightWise. “We will continue to operate; we merely suspended the public exchange.
   Fox said the exchange had not performed as expected, due to “weak shipper adoption, compounded by the economy. Shippers are focused on survival, not innovation.”
   FreightWise, which started trading last October, was set up by Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. BNSF has since been joined in the venture by General Electric Co. and Canadian National.
   Fox said FreightWise will work with its investors to determine alternatives, including an emphasis on “private exchanges” for its investors and other interested parties.
   'In a private exchange, it could be set up for many-to-many, many-to-one or one-to-one.,” Fox said.
   He held out that FreightWise might revisit a public exchange.
   Meanwhile, the company notified its primary carriers and shippers “one-on-one” earlier last week. Other customers were contacted by e-mail, phone and fax, Fox said.
   “We completed all loads, transactions and payment, prior to shutdown,” he said.