Lanehub, a collaborative transportation network that helps shippers and carriers team up to optimize capacity on recurring freight lanes, is adding incentives to reward shippers that help their current carriers team up with other shippers that need them for a backhaul lane. 

Backhaul Assist Benefit Sharing gives shippers the ability to earn a benefit-sharing credit when they help their contract carriers connect with other shippers in the Lanehub Collaborative Transportation Network that have return freight that fills imbalances in the carriers’ networks.

“Backhaul Assist already helps private and dedicated fleets find consistent, well-matched backhaul freight,” explained Mark Hackl, CEO and founder of Lanehub. “With the addition of Backhaul Assist Benefit Sharing, shippers now have the ability to also help their contract carriers connect directly with new shippers and win recurring business on matched backhaul lanes.”

Say Procter & Gamble has a contract carrier that always hauls P&G goods outbound from Milwaukee to Cleveland, but the carrier has to find a backhaul to get the truck back to Milwaukee. Because P&G doesn't have a backhaul for their dedicated carrier, they are being charged more money.  With Lanehub, P&G can see a match with Williams-Sonoma that has freight going from Cleveland to Milwaukee. P&G can reach out to Williams-Sonoma and introduce them to the carrier. If Willams-Sonoma signs on with that carrier, P&G gets the benefit credit – and a cheaper contract, because it's considered a roundtrip haul versus just a headhaul. And the carrier keeps its trucks running loaded instead of searching for backhauls or deadheading, while drivers are happy because they have a secure/predictable routine.

Benefit Sharing is available to all shippers in the Lanehub Collaborative Transportation Network. Any carrier currently contracted to haul freight for an existing member of the Lanehub network is eligible. Once a carrier is registered and visible in the software, shippers will share new lanes that match with lanes the carrier is currently hauling. When a carrier starts hauling the new, matched freight, Lanehub collects a service fee from the shipper that obtained the capacity. The benefit-sharing credit is then allocated back to the shipper that helped provide the capacity by sharing their carrier. 

“Securing direct contract freight lanes with shippers can be more difficult for smaller and mid-size carriers, especially complementary lanes running in both directions,” Hackl said. “Consider us the eHarmony of freight. We are not a spot or transactional load matching service. Participating in our Collaborative Transportation Network is a way for shippers to collaborate and carriers to compete on their own terms for the long run.” 

Shippers using Lanehub include companies such as Anheuser-Busch, Bridgestone, Colgate-Palmolive, Land O'Lakes, Procter & Gamble, Smithfield Foods, Williams-Sonoma and others.