Digital freight broker FreightWeb has introduced a new service called Partial Truckload transportation. The company said Partial Truckload is a freight-matching service that fills a “much needed” niche in the freight market – providing an expedited service for shipping partial truckloads of freight.

The company stated that service offerings in the market force most shippers to pay for a whole truck's capacity, even when their freight may occupy only a fraction of the trailer, and said\ its new service provides a quicker, more efficient way of connecting partial truck load shippers with trucks that have available capacity.

According to FreightWeb, partial truckload shipments (PTL) are typically defined as loads of between 6 and 20 pallets, and that don’t fit neatly into typical freight service offerings-- adding that less than truckload (LTL) carriers are an unpredictable and often more expensive solution for larger shipments. Conversely, full truckload freight service is optimized for 26 to 30 pallet loads that use all the space in a truck, sadi FreightWeb.

This, the company said, leaves a gap for shippers that need to move a partial truckload of freight. Unlike with LTL and truckload shipments, there hasn’t historically been a way to get automated price quotes for PTL shipments. As a result, shippers that only need to ship half a truckload of freight often have to pay for the whole truck, or spend hours tracking down a quote.

“Trucking is a large and essential component of the U.S. economy that has seen relatively little innovation,” said Scott Jacobson, Managing Director at Madrona Venture Group, which has invested in FreightWeb and its new service. “The opportunities to apply technology to improve efficiency and reduce waste are tremendous. FreightWeb is addressing a particularly underserved segment of the market with a simple, easy-to-use service that is better for both shippers and carriers."

FreightWebs said its Partial Truckload service offers the speed and certainty of instant rate quotes and booking that shippers have come to expect from LTL and truckload carriers, while saving an average of 25% on trucking costs and reducing CO2 emissions by 35%.

“We haven’t historically been able to service our customers’ Partial Truckload needs with the speed, efficiency, and service level they expect for LTL and full truckload,” said Corey Peterson, director of branch operations at Circle Logistics. “FreightWeb provides an intuitive interface with fast and easy quoting, booking, and tracking. Their solution enables us to extend our relationship with existing customers, and broaden our offering to attract new customers.”

FreightWeb said it will also be shortly launching an owner-operator based Partial Truckload carrier operation across Southern California, Arizona, and Texas.

“We’ve spent 20 years obsessing over how to create the best possible Partial Truckload service,” said Will Payson, FreightWeb cofounder and CEO. “We’ve got the know-how, technology and focus to make Partial Truckload shipping easy, reliable, and cost-effective for our customers.”