[City, State] – [Date] – In today's competitive freight market, information is power. To help shippers and carriers gain a competitive edge, freight forecasting consultancy FTR and leading online freight platform Internet Truckstop have announced a strategic partnership aimed at leveraging the power of big data analytics to provide market participants with more accurate market forecasts and regional transportation data. This collaboration will bring a "big data" revolution to the trucking industry, offering businesses unprecedented insights to optimize operations, reduce costs, and make more informed decisions.
A Powerful Alliance Creating a "Transparent Lens" for the Freight Market
The partnership between FTR and Internet Truckstop represents a powerful alliance, combining the strengths of both companies. FTR brings deep expertise and analytical capabilities in freight forecasting, having provided reliable market predictions and trend analyses to the industry for years. Internet Truckstop, on the other hand, boasts vast amounts of freight transaction data, processing millions of freight listings daily to offer real-time supply and demand insights.
By integrating Internet Truckstop's extensive freight transaction data with FTR's forecasting and analytical capabilities, the two companies will provide shippers and carriers with unparalleled market visibility—effectively creating a "transparent lens" for the freight market, enabling them to clearly see future market trends.
"For FTR, understanding the state of trucking, especially in the truckload sector, has always been a challenge," said Larry Gross, Senior Consultant at FTR, during the announcement. "This sector is highly fragmented and difficult to comprehend. To make sense of it, we need to go back to economic fundamentals and build models to understand what's happening in the truckload market."
Gross added that Internet Truckstop has opened a new window for FTR by generating big data. "This is a completely new experience for us because it provides massive amounts of data about demand in the trucking world and interregional demand, giving us a more accurate and useful window than any previous data source."
Peter Vomocil, Vice President of Marketing at Internet Truckstop, also expressed excitement about the partnership. "We have vast amounts of data and unique insights into the spot market that other industry players can't match," Vomocil said. "What excites us is that big data alone is just data, but big data with insights generates actionable information. For us, it's always about delivering maximum value not just to our customers but to the entire market. This partnership provides a fantastic opportunity to unlock the potential of data we previously didn't know how to utilize. We're thrilled that our data can create value in the market."
Eric Starks, President of FTR, explained that FTR's clients had previously identified a gap in the market, expressing a need for different types of information. "We've been working to find a way to fill that gap, and it's been on our radar for some time," he said. "When we started talking with Internet Truckstop, it quickly became clear how to address these gaps, and pursuing this collaboration made strategic sense."
Four Core Advantages to Empower Business Decisions
The services offered through this partnership will take the form of planning and forecasting products, providing four key advantages:
- Timely Regional Data to Track Supply and Demand Dynamics: Provides supply and demand data for specific regions, helping businesses stay informed about market trends and make smarter decisions. In a rapidly changing freight market, understanding regional capacity and demand is critical. For example, a company shipping goods from Los Angeles to Chicago can use this service to assess truck capacity and expected rates for that route. If capacity is tight and rates are high, they can explore alternative shipping methods or adjust timelines to reduce costs.
- Integrated Contract and Spot Market Data for Comprehensive Market Insights: Combines data from both contract and spot markets to give businesses a holistic view of the market, eliminating information silos. Traditional market analyses often focus on one market or the other, leaving businesses with an incomplete picture. This integration allows companies to better understand market trends and make informed decisions. For instance, a business can compare contract rates with spot market fluctuations to refine its transportation budget.
- Streamlined Planning Processes with Advanced Analytics to Optimize Spot Market Economics: Uses advanced analytics to simplify planning, helping businesses leverage the spot market more effectively to optimize operational costs. While the spot market offers flexibility, its price volatility introduces risk. This service enables companies to forecast spot market rate trends, allowing them to purchase capacity when rates are low and reduce overall costs.
- Spot Market Forecasts, an Industry First: Offers predictive insights into the spot market, enabling businesses to anticipate market shifts and prepare accordingly. This is an industry innovation, as spot market forecasting has traditionally been challenging due to factors like weather, economic conditions, and policy changes. By leveraging big data and advanced predictive models, this service helps businesses plan ahead and avoid cost spikes.
Data-Driven Innovation to Empower the Freight Ecosystem
Vomocil emphasized that Internet Truckstop's data, combined with FTR's analytical expertise, transforms raw data into actionable intelligence. "Our goal has always been to maximize value for the entire market, and this partnership unlocks the potential of data we previously couldn't fully utilize," he said.
Starks reiterated that the collaboration addresses a clear market need. "Our clients told us there was a gap, and we've worked diligently to fill it. Partnering with Internet Truckstop was the strategic solution we needed."
Looking Ahead: More Innovative Products on the Horizon
The partnership between FTR and Internet Truckstop goes beyond data and technology—it reflects a deep understanding of the freight market's future trajectory. The companies plan to deepen their collaboration, rolling out additional innovative products and services to empower the freight ecosystem and help businesses thrive in a competitive landscape. Over the coming months, they will introduce publications, forecasting services, and a range of new offerings. This big data-driven revolution in freight is just beginning.
About FTR
FTR is a leading freight transportation intelligence firm in North America, specializing in forecasting trends across all freight sectors, including trucking, rail, maritime, and air transport. Its predictions and analyses are widely used by industry players to inform strategic decisions, optimize operations, and manage risk.
About Internet Truckstop
Internet Truckstop is North America's largest online freight platform, connecting shippers and carriers with real-time freight information and transactional services. The platform processes millions of freight listings daily, providing a transparent and efficient marketplace. Internet Truckstop is committed to leveraging technological innovation to deliver greater value to the freight industry.