Loadtap rolls out track and trace load matching offering

Loadtap, a Silicon Valley-funded startup providing real time track and trace load matching for 3PLs and freight brokers, announced this week that its track and trace solution has been formally introduced to the market.

The company said this offering enables customers to focus on exception management through track and trace data in tandem with power machine learning algorithms for its 3PL and freight broker customers to handle real-time load matching. A core driver of Loadtap’s technology focuses on layering machine learning and blockchain through its track and trace offerings, which it said can reduce the time spent by 3PLs and brokers matching a truck for a single load from hours to minutes.

Loadtap Co-Founder and CEO Param Sandhu told LM there were various factors for the company’s move to roll out this track and trace offering.

“What drove me into doing this was actually through my own experience,” he said. “I had started up a trucking company from scratch and grew the business to doing couple million in revenue. I realized the inefficiencies in the industry right off the bat, and as we were trying to scale, I realized that there as a bigger problem here; lack of digitization and technology. While operating our trucking company, our customers, who were primarily freight brokers and 3PLs would constantly call us asking where our trucks were whether it was for any freight we were hauling or if they were trying to find a truck for available freight. They were constantly using primitive tools like phone calls, emails and fax in a world where AI is penetrating our everyday lives.” 

When asked to offer up the main end user benefits of Loadtap’s track and trace offering, Sandhu explained that it allows customers to benefit from what he described as very accurate exception management that was built from the ground up with the vision to be able to track 100% of their shipments, not just high value or time sensitive ones.

Another key factor, he said, is that the offering is app-less, which, in turn makes it easier for drivers to adopt the technology, removing the need to download another app on their smart phones.

“We're using the track and trace technology for our clients to help them with predictive load matching,” he said. “Instead of making 40 phone calls to find a truck, now the shipment can get matched with a truck in three phone calls.” 

Sandhu outlined a typical situation in which Loadtap’s track and trace offering is used.

“Let's say an agent within a freight brokerage is looking for a truck going from Dallas, TX to Seattle, WA, that needs a 53' Dry Van trailer, and needs to pick-up the load tomorrow before noon,” he said. “Before our system, this process would take 40 phone calls and hundreds of emails. With our system, the shipment gets matched in three phone calls. This is achieved with our machine learning technology behind the scenes that runs highly-refined algorithms on real-time and historical data.” 

In an increasingly competitive marketplace replete with established and emerging players, Sandhu said that Loadtap’s  biggest competitive advantage is its predictive matching algorithms that find the most qualified trucks for available freight at lightning speeds. And from the carrier side, he said the experience is extremely frictionless because of Loadtap’s app-less technologies to get truck location and to communicate with drivers and dispatchers. He also noted that the company’s technology works on a medium that every driver and dispatcher is familiar with and uses on a daily basis, text messaging. 

Looking ahead, Sandhu said that Loadtap is focusing on scaling its track and trace business while also doing load matching pilots with a select few clients. ELD Integrations are also in pipeline to further expand its  app-less model, he added.

Greg Carter, chief technology officer for 3PL GlobalTranz, said that track and trace technologies are becoming universally accepted and applied and Loadtap’s vision is that track and trace is a foundation to even more meaningful predictive load matching.

“The Loadtap strategy and roadmap aims to deliver increased value from a track and trace platform today and adding real-time, predictive capacity planning back to their clients,” he said. “This will allow multi-level freight matching – point a-to-point b but also point b-to-point c.”