Transportation network Lanehub recently announced Backhaul Assist, a feature that will allow shippers utilizing private fleets or dedicated contract carriers to market available capacity to other shippers.
Lanehub launched in September 2016 as a collaborative network allowing shippers and carriers to match recurring freight lanes on an ongoing basis. Backhaul Assist is an expansion of the services the company already offers.
“From office space to automobiles, sharing and collaborating is becoming the norm in today’s businesses,” Mark Hackl, CEO and founder of Lanehub, said. “At a time when there is a shortage of truck capacity, and many private and dedicated fleets have trucks that still run empty or with inconsistent freight, using the collaborative nature of Lanehub and Backhaul Assist will increase utilization and reduce costs.”
The Backhaul Assist feature lets shippers with empty mileage in their private or dedicated fleets maximize their efficiency by matching with other shippers’ consistent lanes. The platform works to identify opportunities for shippers with fleets to achieve their target margins while providing the partner shipper with asset-based capacity at a price that allows them to save money, according to a Lanehub media release.
Lanehub Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Chandler Hall said the network’s current users have seen success when forming these types of partnerships. The new feature is intended to formalize the process and give more shippers the chance to leverage private and dedicated fleets faster, easier and in a more transparent manner.
“We created Backhaul Assist because we found that while many for-hire carriers are paying attention to the spot market, shippers are expanding their private and dedicated fleets to address their capacity issues and looking for partners with reliable, recurring lanes to help get their trucks home,” Hackl said. “Backhaul Assist is for those that are bringing trucks to the table and need a partnership to collaborate in a simple and transparent manner to meet their mutual needs.”
He emphasized that Lanehub is focused on helping its users build ongoing relationships in order to gain efficiencies in the long-term. It is not focused on the spot market.
Not only will Backhaul Assist market available fleet capacity and simplify price negotiations with a focus on mutual benefit, it will also keep a performance scorecard once a partnership is underway and track revenue share credits and debits for those working with dedicated fleets, according to a Lanehub presentation announcing the new feature.
Backhaul Assist also gives members the option to work with a third party manager who can accelerate onboarding, streamline communication and management tasks and find alternative opportunities for a shipper when a match is not available.
Currently, there are about 70,000 shipping lanes in the Lanehub platform, and over 80 percent of them can be matched, according to a Lanehub media release.