Trucking Freight Futures arrives in Chattanooga

Freight Alley in Chattanooga was the scene on the afternoon of February 21, when executives from FreightWaves, Nodal Exchange, DAT and K-Ratio presented the Trucking Freight Futures roadshow. Trucking Freight Futures debut on the Nodal Exchange on March 29.

For a recording of the live stream and a copy of the slide deck, click here.

Carrier companies native to Chattanooga and from across the country attended the event to learn about the mechanics and applications of Trucking Freight Futures in the logistics field.

“This will impact our primary customer base,” said Brad Young of Trimble Transportation. “Many of our customers are in the lanes listed by the futures exchange.” Trimble Transportation provides onboard computing and communication to provide carrier managers data-driven business intelligence.

During the question and answer session, an interesting point was raised by Jill Guess of the Philadelphia-based Prism Financial Group.

“Do you see these futures contracts becoming a part of portfolios?” asked Guess. Craig Fuller, FreightWaves’ chief executive officer, replied that the freight market served as a barometer for the U.S. economy. Since every commodity-focused firm is exposed to freight, investors may seek to acquire freight futures contracts for their portfolios.

Following the question and answer session there was a networking event where attendees voiced their perspectives of the roadshow and Trucking Freight Futures’ impact on their field.

“From a shipper perspective it will be extremely beneficial in managing transportation cost,” said Meghan Gillespie of Beemac Trucking.

“I’m excited about this stuff,” said Ryan Doherty of freight broker Arrive Logistics. “I’m interested to see the lane pricing and see if I can put my 16 years of experience to the test.”

“It’s [Trucking Freight Futures] the way of the future,” said Peter Serodino of barge operator Serodino Inc. “The intermodality of barges, rail and trucks is important to us.”

“I think it’s very interesting and it was a compelling presentation,” said Mike Beckwith of Coyote Logistics. While he attended the roadshow for his own interest, he planned to report what he learned to Coyote’s leadership to build its interest in Trucking Freight Futures.

“It’s [the Trucking Freight Futures roadshow] been very informative for us,” said Billy Rutledge, director of strategic partnerships at Porter Billing Services, which provides capital solutions for transportation. “The mechanics were well explained.”

Mark Spicer of Orbcomm, an internet-of-things provider and member of the Blockchain in Transport Alliance, also reported that he enjoyed the presentation.

Companies attending the Trucking Freight Futures event at Freight Alley also included C.H. Robinson, FedEx, Gartner, Hub Group, J.B. Hunt, Macquarie, Pax Logistics, PepsiCo, Premier Logistics, Redwood Logistics, Schneider, U.S. Xpress, Uber Freight, XPO Logistics and several others.