The transportation industry is changing in a major way. While reasonable fulfillment pipelines are accessible to more businesses than ever before, a transportation company can no longer stay competitive just operating with business as usual. Any transit business that wants to succeed needs to be aware of new technological advances and adapt their policies accordingly. Here are some of the biggest changes and challenges looming on the horizon.
The New York Shipping Exchange
More businesses have access to shipping options than ever before, but they also have more options to be selective. The New York Shipping Exchange is right on the horizon, and it will serve as a comprehensive directory of companies available. With their simple search function, customers can easily find the best shipping rates, and there are a number of filters they can use to narrow down the results according to their needs. Customers can search according to availability, transit times, and storage space and find the cheapest rates within those criteria. That means that transportation companies will need to put their money where their mouth is, and transparency will become a necessity. This means that prominence and good marketing simply won’t cut it anymore, and companies that can’t trim down their operations without keeping rates low will be left in the cold.
Electronic Logging Devices
Fortunately, there are new means that companies can take advantage of to keep their rates affordable. ELDs can cut down on paperwork in a serious way and also reduce delays in shipping times and lost money that comes from misplaced freight. But this also creates a higher barrier to entry, and that could lead to larger companies getting larger while smaller freight companies wither on the vine. The highly tracked nature of these packages also means that truckers will no longer be able to work “unlogged hours”, and the costs for labor will almost certainly rise as a result.
Uncertain Rates
It’s a simple truth that larger companies can undercut their smaller competition by offering lower rates, and we’ve seen a worrying trend of rate drops in the industry lately. With the sort of transparency that NYSHEX is going to bring, that’s only going to become worse. Megaships are right on the horizon, and they’ll allow the companies who can afford them to slash rates even more, creating a rougher marketplace for smaller companies than what they’re already dealing with.