Loadsmart has raised an additional $19 million for its Smart Drayage initiative designed to improve the flow of freight through American ports.
The money comes from Ports America, the largest terminal operator and stevedore in the U.S., joining container ship and supply vessel operator Maersk as an investor. In total, Loadsmart has received $53.4 million in funding for the initiative.
The Smart Drayage initiative is an effort to help the drayage industry rethink the flow of shipping containers through terminals and develop a free-flow model that will improve the movement of goods at America’s ports.
“We need to rethink how goods are moved more efficiently,” said Mark Montgomery, president and CEO, Ports America, in a press release announcing the investment. “Streamlining the drayage movement benefits our trucking community with faster turn times while providing cargo owners with better visibility and more efficient container retrievals.”
In practice, the company said, this model would change the industry from a container-specific to a container agnostic model. Truck drivers will be given the best container available when they arrive at the port. Loadsmart estimates that this will reduce the time to get in and out of the port by at least 25% and will reduce container shuffles by 50% for port operators.
To move to this new model, the Smart Drayage initiative will make use of data, expertise and industry knowledge of major industry players, according to Loadsmart.
Loadsmart also announced its new Loadsmart Drayage Instant Booking service, designed to help small- and medium-sized shippers book drayage trucks. The service is available through Loadsmart’s website and for enterprise accounts Loadsmart offers an API integrated solution.
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