Sharing the load - Collaborative Transportation Management

Canada, the second largest country in the world – about 5,000 km from Vancouver to Conception Bay – is one of the most challenging, high-cost countries in which to distribute goods.

Forty-two percent of the population inhabit five urban areas where manufacturing and distribution facilities face common transportation challenges. Meanwhile, disproportionate shares of transportation resources are required to service the balance of the population, scattered over 10 million square kilometers. The situation dictates a high use of less-than-truckload delivery, and all-too-frequently, pick-up and delivery trucks simply aren't full.

On top of this less-than-efficient system, the cost of moving goods across Canada is bound to increase. Fuel prices will inevitably rise. Driver shortages due to an aging population, attrition, and a lack of new entrants is already occurring. When the economy picks up we're going to feel these pressures even more acutely.

One solution to optimize productivity is collaborative transportation management (CTM) in which the traditional one-to-one relationship between a shipper and receiver, is replaced by a more efficient many-to-many approach. Shippers, receivers, carriers, and third-party logistics companies can gain tremendous efficiencies through cooperative forecasting, order consolidation, optimizing asset utilization, sharing routes, and streamlining carrier payment.