business

Shipper CRM, Journey team up to improve customer experience

In a strategy to bring more efficiency to a freight broker sales workday, recruiting and training consultancy Journey recently announced its partnership with lead generation platform Shipper CRM. 

As a part of the partnership, Journey founder Will Jenkins has also disclosed that he has invested and will help advise the Shipper CRM team as they scale.

Jenkins explained to FreightWaves that he was motivated to join Shipper CRM co-founders Paul-Bernard Jaroslawski and Krystian Gebis, who also...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/shipper-crm-journey-team-up-to-improve-customer-experience

Automate operations but keep customer service personal

With advancements in AI and automation, many 3PLs, brokerages and other freight companies are tempted to automate everything possible. 

Customer experience, not automation, sets any freight company apart from its competitors, says Frank Kenney, director of industry solutions at Cleo.

“Many freight companies make the assumption that digitizing and automating everything they can is ideal, but shippers make decisions on customer experience, not just price and automation,” Kenney said. 

When there is...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/automate-operations-but-keep-customer-service-personal

CSX asks Supreme Court to renew antitrust lawsuit against Norfolk Southern

Class I freight railroad CSX (NYSE: CSX) has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to continue its antitrust lawsuit against Norfolk Southern.

Jacksonville, Florida-based CSX sued Atlanta-based Norfolk Southern in October 2018 claiming its competitor conspired with Norfolk & Portsmouth Belt Line Railroad Co. to set an excessive “switch rate” on dock access to the Port of Virginia. CSX said the switch rate of $210 per train car cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars since its...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/csx-asks-supreme-court-to-renew-antitrust-lawsuit-against-norfolk-southern

TriumphPay’s LoadPay a new tool in fierce battle to get drivers paid faster

TriumphPay is in the midst of a gradual rollout of LoadPay, a service aimed at owner-operators that will pull together the cross-section of services offered by the parent company, Triumph Financial.

“LoadPay at its core is a commercial bank account built for truckers,” Melissa Forman, the president of TriumphPay, said in an interview with FreightWaves. “We are a bank at our core that allows us to be able to do things that other providers might not be able to do, which means we can move money...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/triumphpays-loadpay-a-new-tool-in-fierce-battle-to-get-drivers-paid-faster

Credit position of BMO’s transportation clients worsens in the fourth quarter

The hefty allowances and provisions taken by trucking lender BMO in the third quarter did not slow credit deterioration in the fourth, and those financial steps to protect the bank against bad debt continued to rise.

BMO is a leading lender to the trucking sector, both in Canada and the U.S. Its quarterly earnings report, and its breakout of data on its lending sectors, including transportation, provides insight into credit conditions among borrowers. The transportation sector at BMO is believed...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/credit-position-of-bmos-transportation-clients-worsens-in-the-fourth-quarter

Despite tariff talk, CPKC expects to tap cross-border traffic growth

This story originally appeared on Trains.com.

PALM BEACH, Fla. — Canadian Pacific Kansas City CEO Keith Creel is confident that free trade will continue in North America despite President-elect Donald J. Trump’s threat to impose 25% tariffs on goods imported from Mexico and Canada.

U.S. trade with Mexico and Canada has grown since the Trump-driven United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement and went into effect in 2020, Creel points out. The pandemic,...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/despite-tariff-talk-cpkc-expects-to-tap-cross-border-traffic-growth

As dealmakers gather in New York, logistics merger activity holding up

The biggest names in private equity dealmaking will be coming together Thursday in New York for the one-day Benesch private equity conference, in a market that despite the easing freight recession has held up as measured by volume.

The transportation group of the Benesch law firm holds the conference every year soon after Thanksgiving. Virtually every key dealmaker in the logistics space attends, and the lineup is always filled with speakers who are in the middle of logistics deals that are...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/as-dealmakers-gather-in-new-york-logistics-merger-activity-holding-up

SONAR inks data partnership with Transfix

Chattanooga, Tennessee-based supply chain intelligence platform SONAR announced a data partnership with Transfix, a New York City-based technology and data solutions provider for the logistics industry.

SONAR’s extensive datasets on the truckload market, including rates, volumes and capacity information, will be used as inputs for Transfix’s Data Solutions suite, a machine learning and AI-enabled platform for brokers that allows them to quickly respond to RFPs with confidence, and win freight at...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/sonar-inks-data-partnership-with-transfix

HappyRobot’s $15.6M raise will focus on product development

HappyRobot, an AI-powered communication solution, announced Wednesday it has closed a $15.6 million Series A funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), with participation from Y Combinator, RyderVentures and other strategic investors. The company also disclosed a previous seed round but did not state the amount raised. This funding positions HappyRobot to further drive communications technology into the freight brokerage space.

“Today, the logistics industry underpinning our global economy...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/happyrobots-15-6m-raise-will-focus-on-product-development

FreightVana to acquire Loadsmith, grows drop trailer network

Phoenix-based logistics provider FreightVana announced on Wednesday it plans to acquire freight brokerage Loadsmith, further solidifying its position in the power-only logistics market. The acquisition, set to be finalized by the end of the month, will see Loadsmith’s employees transition to the FreightVana team, operating under its established brand. This move aims to enhance FreightVana’s capabilities and accelerate its growth in delivering technology-driven freight solutions.

“We both built...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightvana-to-acquire-loadsmith-grows-drop-trailer-network

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