When companies need to take their shipments to the spot market, it is hard to know what to expect. Historically, shippers have relied heavily on brokers to provide pricing and market information. The spot market is constantly in flux, however. Rates can quickly become dated and the lack of real-time transparency in these movements can result in lost opportunities for both shippers and carriers.
PostBidShip exists to help shippers and carriers to fairly price and coordinate spot shipments without the gray area. The Arizona-based company operates a neutral freight matching platform that can also interface directly and in real-time with companies’ internal ERP and logistics systems, including transportation management systems (TMS).
Companies can submit spot shipments to PostBidShip either directly or through these interfaces, with the platform then facilitating a sophisticated freight matching and reverse bidding process among the shipper’s trusted carrier network. Unlike the digital freight brokerage platforms in use today that can carve off a sizable portion of the freight spend, PostBidShip’s neutral platform model enables all operational efficiencies and financial benefits to go directly to the shippers and carriers.
PostBidShip’s platform allows shippers and carriers to work together directly and in real-time, avoiding the lost profits, slower response time and lost transparency inherent in working through brokers. The innovative company funnels day-fresh market intelligence from FreightWaves SONAR’s API as well as internal data analytics to its customers, ensuring shippers have in-depth understanding of market demand, as well as supply and pricing insights during the spot load process to ensure a fair price for both shipper and carrier.
“We now have this rich set of data that has historically only been affordable for the largest brokers or the largest carriers. We make this available seamlessly in real-time alongside a company’s spot loads, effectively democratizing this robust market data for companies of all sizes, mid-sized shippers as well,” PostBidShip Chief Technology Officer Michael Murphy said. “They now have far superior access to the most complete data that is out there, and can use it to configure behaviors they want to see in their spot load selection, tendering, and execution.”
Murphy said the platform’s market intelligence gives shippers a new sense of empowerment, allowing them to get more transparent and real-time information about market demand, capacity, pricing and volatility than ever before.
“PostBidShip is truly innovative in the way it is educating its clients while simultaneously empowering them with the data they need to make better decisions,” FreightWaves Director of Freight Market Intelligence Zach Strickland said.
Having access to SONAR data that is effectively “wrapped around” each shipments arms shippers with the power to figure out why some of their loads are popular while others are not, ultimately enabling them to make better decisions for their bottom line.
“Before shippers had far less real-time transparency regarding what was happening in the market, or they had someone who was curating this information before they saw it, sometimes not for their direct benefit. Now they have it in real-time. It no longer matters how big or small the company is or the depth of its IT capabilities,” Murphy said. “We’ve been working with companies that are in the $1 million space and companies that are in the $1 billion space. Surprisingly, they have common problems. They don’t have the visibility in the spot space to really know how well they’re doing. This gives them the capability to benchmark internally.”
Interacting directly with carriers allows shippers to experience the freight market as it actually exists, and that can mean significant savings in the long run.
“The release of PostBidShip’s real-time market intelligence has allowed me to understand market demand, as well as provides insight into my load level and strategies for working with carriers to ensure cost competitiveness,” according to one PostBidShip customer.
“When shippers utilize the platform, they can protect themselves from risks they did not even know they were exposed to in the first place. Market intelligence is a key part of this protection, as it can be used to drive cost savings and lead to greater efficiencies,” according to PostBidShip CEO Sam Levin.
Supply chains run smoother from top to bottom when each member of the process has transparent insight into what is happening around them. Technological advances and improving data quality have allowed for this kind of transparency in the logistics space. PostBidShip has made it its mission to deliver on those possibilities.