Internet Truckstop rebranded as Truckstop.com

While its day-to-day objectives remain the same, the online load board freight-matching service Internet Truckstop announced today it has a new name: Truckstop.com.

The company said that the Internet Truckstop name will not entirely be retired. Internet Truckstop Group, instead, will now become the “umbrella” brand,” comprised of Truckstop.com, uDrove, Real Time Freight, ITS Financial Services, D&S Factors, and Roady’s Truck Stops.

“We have reinvented the way we express our brand and brand values,” Truckstop.com Chief Marketing Officer Brent Hutto said in a statement. “The current brand is not reflective of our growth and of our technology focus. Just because the brand is changing, doesn’t mean the company is changing. We continue to have a deep commitment to our customers and to providing best-in-class customer support and transportation technology solutions. None of that is changing.”

Many industry stakeholders, including shippers, carriers, 3PL’s, and brokers, leverage Truckstop.com’s Market Demand Index (MDI), which measures loads compared to truck availability. An MDI reading of 8 or higher means truckload capacity is tight, which is favorable for carriers, and a reading under 6 means overall truckload capacity is loose and favors pricing for shippers. A reading between 6 and 8 is viewed as an equilibrium point.

In September 2014, Truckstop.com and freight transportation forecasting consultancy FTR announced a strategic industry partnership at FTR’s Annual Transportation Conference in Indianapolis, which the parties said provide shippers and carriers with myriad benefits, including market analysis and specificity for contract and spot freight segments by region and trailer type, with Internet Truckstop’s millions of load transactions meshed with FTR’s forecasting and analytical capabilities to provide shippers and carriers with what they described as a “unique picture” of the current balance of supply and demand between locations, as well as enable them to plan and base annual forecasts on condition for all types of trucks and regions.

These services are offered in the form of planning and forecasting products with four main benefits:
-timely regional data for capacity and demand;
-access to combined contract and spot market data;
-simplified planning with advanced analytics on spot market economics; and
-spot market forecasts, which the parties labeled an industry first