Application Promises Reduction in Deadhead Miles

A new application introduced recently by FourKites can take advantage of capacity sharing among shippers and carriers to reduce deadhead miles, the company said. And now the company has formed a new business unit to help drive a "zero deadhead" initiative.

Shippers and third-party logistics firms use FourKites’ visibility platform to track in real-time shipments from anywhere within their supply chain. The software taps into shippers’ enterprise or transportation management systems, their carrier network’s dispatch and telematics systems to monitor shipment location and condition.

According to the company, their most recent application, predictive capacity management, takes advantage of the data FourKites collects to match trucks and shippers within the network. This allows shippers to find needed capacity outside of their usual carrier network helping carriers reduce deadhead or underloaded miles. The company believes such sharing could reduce shipping costs by 15%, based on the premise that about 40% of trucks on the road at any given time are empty.

While matching freight to capacity is not a new concept, FourKites contends that traditional matching technologies and load boards failed to proactively forecast truck availability, based on predictive data science, and ignored whether matches could feasibly be executed, based on real-time conditions, such as delays at stops, traffic congestion and disruptive weather events. FourKites said is solving both of these issues with its tracking network and real-time data analytics.

While the FourKites platform is used across all transportation modes, the FourKites PCM product will initially focus on truckload shipments.

The company also announced that Kristopher Glotzbach, formerly of Uber Freight, had joined the company to head up the new business line as vice president, predictive capacity management.