HTS Logistics Reduces the Cost of Booking Freight by 90% with C4's Digital Carrier Engagement

Having two parts of a transportation unit - asset and brokerage - HTS Logistics quickly found themselves with the opportunity to scale as their customer supply chains enhanced and improved. Well positioned for growth, they often had the first shot at coverage, increasing their spot opportunities.

For a transactional brokerage that spent a lot of time in the spot market, HTS’ top challenge was sourcing carriers to fit their customer and operational demands consistently. Relying heavily on load boards put carrier utilization and retention to the wayside as the time spent sourcing capacity increased with every spot opportunity.

After an annual review of their load to carrier ratios, option rates, and time spent sourcing, they realized the next best step was to start procuring for coverage rather than booking one load at a time.

New Approach to Canvassing Carriers

The first layer to address their challenge with sourcing capacity came with Cargo Chief’s CRM capabilities and extensive carrier base.

Within the first 30 days of integrating, HTS saw a 6% increase in carrier coverage coupled with 7,500 newly discovered lanes. With McLeod Software's TMS and Cargo Chief’s instantaneous C4 carrier sync, HTS drastically grew their coverage capabilities, giving them a new approach to canvassing carriers while contributing to their nearly 200 count load growth. 

By expanding their carrier base and overall coverage, they could now not only take on new freight in new coverage zones but also identify which carriers to prioritize to drive carrier retention.

Freight Booking Assembly Line 

For freight brokers like HTS Logistics, sourcing capacity is often just the tip of the iceberg. Unlocked capacity identified with machine learning that uncovers new lanes for procurement gave way for a new operational way of booking freight through an assembly line approach.

HTS identified three teams prioritizing time:

1. Delta team with all access pre-booking

2. Futures team, looking at coverage 1-2 days out

3. The Digital team that navigates through same-day freight in a digital sense

Within the first 30 days of using Cargo Chief’s Digital Freight Matching module with McLeod, HTS saw a 40% option rate pulling in more than 1,300 carrier replies, up from zero when compared to load boards or manual outbound activity with little digital distinction.

The return on digital engagement helped lay the path as part of HTS’ plan to scale and pre-book more freight by gaining more market insight to improve decisions.

The Return on Quality 

Looking beyond the uptick in options came quality, defined as getting to the point of negotiation and price after carrier qualification has been met.

On average, when it came to quality options logged in McLeod, HTS Logistics saw that around 38% of total carrier replies were viable options, surpassing other Digital Freight Matching and Capacity tools by three times. 

C4 not only expedited the option process for HTS' coverage team but did so at 1/10th the cost versus the traditional way of booking freight. Proof that the return on quality was high and effective now allows their team to work with more qualified options, with less work and time spent sourcing.

Altogether by expanding their coverage, gaining digital engagement, and reducing the cost of obtaining quality options, HTS Logistics has adopted a scalable program, giving them the operational agility to execute against their customer and operational demands.

Schedule a demo of Cargo Chief's C4 platform today and start elevating how you book freight.