In a recent webinar held in partnership with FreightWaves, Trucker Tools’ Product Manager Jessamyn Quint and Software Engineer Byron Garcia discussed the integration partnership between Trucker Tools and FreightWaves SONAR. Joined by FreightWaves’ Customer Success Team Lead Kent Bakker and Ryder System’s Group Director of Freight Brokerage Kevin Clonch, the webinar centered on how brokers, drivers and small carriers can leverage SONAR’s real-time rate data from within Trucker Tools’ Smart Capacity broker platform and driver app.
How Brokers Can Access SONAR Rate Data in Trucker Tools’ Smart Capacity
Freight brokers can access SONAR rate data in the Load Detail screen and via the Carrier Activity screen within Trucker Tools’ Smart Capacity digital freight matching platform. SONAR rate data is shown on all reefer and dry van loads in Smart Capacity with single pickup and destination points. To access SONAR rate data within Smart Capacity, you must connect your SONAR account with Smart Capacity. If you’re not a current SONAR subscriber, you can sign up for a free 14-day trial in Smart Capacity. Once connected, SONAR rate data will appear labeled as TRAC data in Smart Capacity.
“TRAC stands for Trusted Rate Assessment Consortium,” Bakker said. “TRAC exists because we had a lot of customers come to us over the last couple of years saying that current spot market pricing tools weren’t quite cutting it for the increase volatility in the market. At that time, we weren’t really a rate provider in the space, so we turned that around and asked to partner with companies in order to provide this rate value. Through this consortium, we’re getting rates from a lot of large brokerages. We currently have 17 brokers and we’re continuing to grow that. We’re measuring about $15 billion worth of freight annually in the spot market. What the brokerages in the consortium are sending us is what they paid for the truck as of yesterday. It gets to us and we push that out the very next day so that it’s timely information. It’s all about putting good, clean data in so that we can get good clean rates for you and your teams to make accurate decisions based on current market conditions. Within Trucker Tools’ Smart Capacity, you can view SONAR’s low, high and current rates.”
How Drivers and Carriers Can Access SONAR Rate Data
“The access point for carriers and drivers for SONAR data and insights is through the Trucker Tools mobile app,” said Quint. “Where you’re going to get access to all this data is via the load screen when you’re looking at available loads posted on the Trucker Tools driver app. In order to view SONAR rate data, you’ll have to accept SONAR’s terms and conditions. Access to SONAR data on the carrier side is completely free, as is the Trucker Tools app. On the carrier/driver side, we actually gain access to some additional SONAR data and insights that are not present on the broker side.”
Within the Trucker Tools driver app, users can quickly see whether a load is coming out of or heading into a hot or cold market. The fire icon indicates a hot market that favors drivers and carriers, while a snowflake icon indicates a cold market that favors shippers. Drivers and carriers also can view information on inbound tender, volume index, inbound tender rejection, head haul index and other market info. The fire and snowflake icons and other SONAR insights make it easy to see who has the negotiating power in a given market. Drivers and carriers with 50 trucks or less also can view SONAR TRAC average, high and low rate data in the Trucker Tools app.
The Benefits of SONAR’s Real-Time Rate Data
According to Clonch, the integration between FreightWaves SONAR and Trucker Tools’ platform provides brokerages like Ryder with real-time rate data that is unmatched by other pricing tools.
“The TRAC system and the integration with Trucker Tools can be used by any and all brokers regardless of size or whether you’ve got your own pricing tool,” Clonch shared. “We’ve developed our own internal pricing tool, but what this does and I think what differentiates FreightWaves data from its competitors’ or even pricing tools that can be built in-house is that access to real-time data as early as yesterday. That’s especially important when you think about how quickly some markets move, especially in traditional produce regions as storms or other macroeconomic factors occur. Rates can change as quickly as an hour in some cases. That real-time rating is the biggest differentiator. Also, it takes some of the guess work out of it for the folks on the floor.”
Clonch added that Ryder’s use of SONAR data in Trucker Tools’ Smart Capacity platform takes the friction out of negotiations with drivers and carriers and increases automation and transparency for all parties involved.
FreightWaves subscribers, watch the webinar on demand.
Schedule a free demo of the Trucker Tools-FreightWaves SONAR integration.
