The Modern Twist To Truck Quotes
In the world of trucking and logistics, a quotation or quote is monetary rate information to move certain goods from a loading point to an unloading point in a certain type of vehicle. But it can be more.
An RFQ or a Request for Quotation is a company asking for the price of delivery to move a set of goods from Point A to Point B in a particular vehicle and the associated terms.
It not only ties in the supply and demand of the trucking needs of a company but also the socioeconomic snapshot of the day. It involves critical data that ties in the events of the specific geography such as whether it's an Eid, a rainy day, a strike, a stormy day or a political rally, or a Hindu puja; These are important data points.
Spot rates are instantaneous freight rates for a given moment. And what makes them so valuable is their infinitesimal shelf life. Contracted rates, on the other hand, are fixed termly rates within a certain route. One valuable piece of data from contracted rates that could be extracted is that they include the risk tolerance of the quoter.
Loop Freight just went a step further and merged it with maps. Now it's not just rates and routes on an Excel sheet, but a whole lot more.
The technology essentially is to enable 3 critical items within a business process: Faster sales cycle, better customer service, scale transactions through automation. And these are the following ways a geo-mapped quotation will affect the 3 items:
Planning: Overall understanding of our client’s locations and building a repository of all Bangladesh industrial location data — Visually mapping these locations allows us to compare with our own aggregated vendor locations, our mobile dispatcher's locations, Loop’s offices, and hotpots (areas of most of Loop’s highest density of activities in terms of loading and unloading). Predictive planning becomes possible by creating what-if scenarios that involve increasing our reach in certain areas. For example, we could predict, with some certainty, which loading areas could we focus on next, in terms of operating power, based on the incoming demand.
Faster Decision-Making: Based on our planning, we are able to choose which accounts are most beneficial to pursue? Which accounts are not even close? Can we provide any competitive value?
Equipping our dispatchers with a geo-mapping quotation tool could allow them to make decisions on the fly regarding routes and connect with the right vendors. This is especially helpful when there is a new and unknown incoming shipment from one of our shippers.
Value to Clients: Attaining a better understanding of our customers’ trade routes is at the top of our priority list as a logistics company. With trade-route analysis, we are better able to understand where our likely unloading areas or depots are located in relation to a precise loading area.
How it saves time: Since all locations are prebuilt, and the quotation is approved once for the entirety of the term (3 months/6 months/1 Year), the client must only enter the booking once for every order. It roughly takes about 15–30 seconds. The routes and rates are fetched from the quotation-turned-contract, and the order is placed immediately. It is very convenient for the shipper to not try to negotiate when an agreement is already in place. And it is better for the Loop team to observe fixed demand on select routes. That very transaction turns into a billing item automatically. Now in the near future, if billing is automated (and if the mandatory ‘challans’ are no longer required to be attached by law), all the operations team has to do is to focus entirely on the customer experience and execute the order in the best possible way. All back-office tasks would have been fully automated at this stage.
How does it affect lead times and how does it affect costs? Our clients can actually compare their locations with our aggregated “hotspots” (per week or month).
If they want to open up a new factory or warehouse, if it somehow falls within our hotspot regions, our trucking rates are probably going to be very competitive for you. We are an honest forwarder, we will not pursue your business if we don’t think we can add any value.
Keeping track of every update or change is critical. Any misrepresented information could result in us losing out on a deal.
Value to Vendors: Stacking trips from multiple clients → more trip density→ a significantly higher income opportunity for our vendors and a better allocation of their assets.
Data Analytics: This allows us to have a single and probably the largest repository of static rate data. This data could then be used as an index for routes, item type, truck type, and dates.
Loop Freight is a technology-enabled digital trucking network connecting shippers and transporters. Loop Freight is headquartered in Singapore with offices in Bangladesh in Dhaka, Chittagong, and Khulna.
Please visit www.loopfreight.io to sign up as a Shipper or a Transporter.
