Freightflow TMS for Produce Shippers, Completes Integration with Trucker Tools Smart Capacity®

Integration strategy augments digital freight management capabilities for growers/shippers of fresh fruits, vegetables, other perishable agricultural products

Trucker Tools, which provides a full portfolio of digital freight management tools and mobile apps for truckload carriers and brokers, has completed integration of its platform with leading transportation management software (TMS) provider Freightflow.

Reno, Nevada-based Freightflow is a cloud-based TMS built primarily for produce grower/shippers and brokers to manage the complex transportation needs of the perishable produce industry. Its software is currently used by grower/shippers, wholesalers and distributors, and produce-focused 3PLs to plan and execute timely transportation of goods to market while driving efficiencies and costs savings.

Trucker Tools provides trip planning, shipment visibility, predictive freight matching, automated booking and digital document management solutions for brokers and carriers involved in truckload transportation.

According to Butch Peri, founder and chief executive of Freightflow, the integration enables Freightflow customers to seamlessly post available loads in Smart Capacity^® and quickly find a matching carrier. Capacity providers, using the Trucker Tools mobile driver app, can then accept the load, book it automatically, set up automated tracking and submit electronic documents to speed load management and payment. Shipper and carrier also benefit from an expanded pool of available carriers, with both grower/shipper and carrier working on a common, proven digital management platform that automates many formerly manual tasks.

More than 95 percent of Freightflow’s traffic moves with refrigerated carriers, he noted. “Reliable, constantly updated in-transit visibility is critical for produce goods,” Peri said, adding that the Trucker Tools app updates shipment location status as frequently as every five minutes. “That combined with predictive freight matching and one-click booking really helps our customers streamline workflows, respond faster to the carrier, and reduce the overall time it takes to book and tender a load. That’s a significant benefit to all entities, the grower/shipper, wholesaler, distributor, 3PLs and carriers.”

Freightflow has embraced the approach of evaluating and adopting best in class third-party technology offerings to complement and extend the capabilities of its platform, Peri noted. “We’re not going to invest development dollars reinventing the wheel,” he explained. “We ask ourselves ‘what are the best tools that will benefit our customers,’ and then we integrate them into our platform. We find that in many cases both time to market and time to value are accelerated through this strategy.”

Peri added that in an industry that is profoundly changing, “rapid deployment and intuitive ease of use, particularly with mobile apps, is more important than ever. And, as the industry continues to evolve, we want to partner long-term with providers who have proven development skill, have awareness of where the market is going digitally, and have a road map to get there,” he noted. “We’re looking not just at what Trucker Tools can do with us today, but over the next 10 years.”

Launched in 2013, the Trucker Tools mobile driver app has been downloaded by some 1.7 million truckers and is actively used by nearly 190,000 small-fleet operators of 10 trucks or less. Nearly 350 freight brokerages and 3PLs use the Smart Capacity^® digital freight-matching, automated booking and load tracking suite.

Kary Jablonski, Trucker Tools chief executive, noted that interest in the Trucker Tools mobile app remains strong among owner-operators and the small fleet truckload community, as it has continued to rank as one of the top downloaded apps in any given month in transportation. “We are pleased and excited to be teaming up with Freightflow and bring to the table proven tools that will help produce shippers and distributors find and manage capacity more efficiently.”

The Trucker Tools mobile app is available for Android- and Apple-powered smartphones and is provided free of charge to independent truckers and small fleets. In addition to predictive load-matching, capacity visibility, automated booking and tracking, the all-in-one app has 17 of the most sought-after resources and tools drivers want for managing their business while on the road.

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