Brad Hollister - Director of Business Development Announces Launch of http://www.freightaccess.com

CHICAGO, IL:
August 31, 2010

Freight technology provider Freight Access, Inc. announced the company was nearing the anticipated discharge of the world's first freight marketplace. The software technologies provider happens to be in research and development for more than two years to produce a system pertaining to virtually all stakeholders in the freight, cargo, transportation, trucking and logistics industry. Brad Hollister, the firm's co-founder and Director of Business Development said "As a transportation executive who has a broad range of industry experience, we have identified the elements on the industry which cause problems for the stakeholders. We have focused on developing a suite of low cost solutions to help fellow transportation professionals have access to real time data to make informed and sound business decisions."

Freight Access, Inc. (http://www.freightaccess.com) has chosen to focus on exploring the difficulties of the freight industry from multiple points of view as well as included solutions to them in to the completely new and widely anticipated tool for only $11 per month. Freight Access, Inc. boasts their vision of really helping the lives of transportation professionals from making day-to-day features better, helping dispatchers and traffic managers to make much better use of company resources together with choose only beneficial supply chain partners and lowering risk in exploring new partners.

Hollister explained "There are a lot of mis-conceptions in the industry pertaining to reducing transportation costs. Most former freight and carrier executives elect to take a position as a third party logistics provider or supply chain consultant, who are ready to teach shippers and manufacturers how to reduce transportation costs. The problem is these freight professionals themselves do not understand the forces the market plays on the freight industry, as they have come from a single carrier who focused on getting freight and adjusting pricing up and down to attract new shippers. These former LTL (less than truckload) and truckload vice presidents typically come and offer to take a freight profile, a company benchmark, and then send out a request for pricing with all carriers to get a 'bid' from all of them. The largest pricing requests I have seen include 150 or more carriers and take months to analyze. A seriously antiquated approach, which provides seriously limited results. The approach at www.freightaccess.com is different. Let's do this for every shipment. Let's get a new Request for Pricing for every single shipment sent out. This way carriers and owner operators win by filling empty trucks and shippers are able to benefit by filling empty capacity in real time."

Freight Access, Inc. has recognized a pattern in the transportation industry throughout carriers during the past market cycle. Numerous Owner Operators have recognized that finding freight that pays for itself to transport is actually quite difficult, therefore often times these independent truck drivers find themselves working for one or several third party logistics firms or even larger carriers. These ltl carriers or truckload carriers have a primary interest in minimizing the actual amount the truck drivers are being paid so that their profits increase and in many cases owner operators find the amount they are actually being compensated for a shipment is barely able to cover costs of driving. In addition, many third party logistics firms have sprung up who aren't paying out drivers within tolerable terms, if at all in a few instances.

The freight industry may be desiring the low cost tools supplied by Freight Access.com for some time. Steve Obregon, Owner Operator from Obregon Trucking in Wisconsin is a strong supporter of Freight Access's platform. "I've looked at what they're doing and can't wait to get going on it. I am sick of sitting for days for one of my brokers to call me with a load. I constantly call them to say you got one yet, you got one yet? It will so nice to find a load before I even get to the place and also to look about if I'm making or losing money on it."

Freight Access, Inc.'s freight marketplace technology is currently concluding beta testing. If you're interested in becoming a beta tester, contact Freight Access, Inc. by calling 312-450-3020 or by emailing a request (with "BETA TESTER REQUEST" in the subject line of your email) to marketing@freightaccess.com.

http://blog.freightaccess.com/2010/08/freight-access-com-freight-marketplace-set-to-be-unvieled/

Cheap Freight Prices Leave Marketplace as Capacity Tightens and Shipments Increase for LTL Carriers

Frozen Food Express Industries (Dallas located refrigerated truck food carrier with truckload, less than truckload freight, and third party logistics solutions) released their financial outcomes for the second quarter of 2010. Frozen Food Express is truly a top nationwide leading temperature controlled truckload and less than truckload carrier in the domestic United States. The main focus of the carrier is to haul temperature controlled along with frozen perishables for the health care, confectionary, and food markets. The carrier also operates a third party logistics (3pl) division so as to exceed demands of shippers as well as other freight brokerage customers.

The Company's CEO suggested the carrier had put a higher focus on service excellence and asset utilization. Mr. Stubbs believes that the focus on preservation of moneymaking clients will improve margins in truckload and increase tonnage and shipment count on the less than truckload (LTL) division as well. A combination of an exodus of competitors and reduction in available capacity has improved the freight transportation and logistics marketplace. These types of economic elements permitted Frozen Food Express to lower their pre-tax loss by more than 41%.

Even with revenue only slightly up 9%, the use of existing equipment, increase in pricing, and lack of competition permitted for these enhanced final results. Regarding the previous six months however, the operating revenue had dropped even more than 3%. Tractor productiveness (measured by revenue per truck per week) was additionally up by a lot more than 4% during the quarter as the market has appeared in order to turn in the favor of the freight carrier. In 2009 Frozen Food Express mentioned they had made the decision to park a portion of their particular existing tractors until finally the marketplace came back. Now the carrier appears to be putting all of them back into operation as the industry continues to recover.

Shippers have in addition been prepared to react to the freight marketplace additionally. Carrier management say they have found a willingness on part of the shippers and logistics firms to adjust pricing in order to reflect the tightening marketplace. Truck Drivers returning to work will certainly aid the transportation industry returning to profitability as freight prices advance off of historically low levels. A lot of freight carriers have put into practice cost-saving techniques, as losses throughout the last number of years have been growing. Throughout second quarter of 2010, the majority of carriers have seen much better results from a combination of a positive freight pricing environment and results of these carrier cost saving techniques.

Frozen Food Express says a significant component of its success through these turbulent economic times have been the employees loyalty to the company and willingness to look for new efficiencies in virtually all phases of the operation. The carrier continues to possess a good cash position devoid of financial obligations outside of its credit agreement. Frozen Food Express possesses almost seven million dollars in cash, 83 million in investor equity and simply no outstanding debt. While the carrier is in a solid position to weather out the economic climate, the management is dedicated on continuing to manage its assets utilization as well as seek out even more operational efficiencies.

It seems freight carriers have regained a foothold in the transpiration industry. Several Carriers and third party logistics firms have reported far better than expected earnings and narrowed losses due to tightening capacity and lowered overhead. An economic recovery inside the freight industry definitely appears to be underway. Let's hope the momentum allows a continual economic recovery not only for freight and transportation, but also for the broader economy.

Full Story Here: http://blog.freightaccess.com/2010/08/less_than_truckload_carriers_see_freight_marketplace_improving/
FULL STORY HERE

Air Freight Volume Spikes 38% in 2010 as Air Carriers and Freight Forwarders Back in Black.

Its difficult to disagree that 2010 has become a very difficult year pertaining to transportation, freight, cargo and logistics industries. The majority of carriers, steam lines, railways, and truckers had been confronted with diminished freight volume, slim profits, and nearly all have experienced hard lay offs. A single section of the marketplace has performed surprisingly well on the other hand: Air Freight.

Air Freight volumes have increased almost 40 percent through the first six months of 2010. Global freight trends have indicated that Air Freight, and Freight Forwarding have exploded at almost three times the rate of ocean forwarding (ship cargo) for the first half of 2010, to the satisfaction of nearly all air freight management. The majority of freight forwarders would welcome this steep increase in business after 2009 which in turn proved to be a year of reduction in shipping and freight tonnage.

Transport Intelligence has announced that Air Freight is up more than 38% during the first six months of 2010, even while Ocean Freight Forwarding is up a mere 13 percent. Although most would accept any kind of good move in volumes at this point, the actual point that Air Freight reported such significant advances relative to Ocean Cargo leaves the marketplace in a holding pattern when waiting in order to watch if freight distribution can return to a lot more traditional levels. Transport Intelligence believes the increase in all these trends followed by freight carriers and cargo shiplines decision to limit capacity will be certainly putting pressure on shippers and their third party logistics companies to pay greater costs of operations. Transport Intelligence's Report may be found here (http://blog.freightaccess.com/2010/08/annual-global-freight-forwarding-report-2010-from-t-i/).

The Annual Global Freight Forwarding Report written by Transport Intelligence noted an increase in volume for the transportation marketplace felt by freight carriers, which followed a 23 percent drop in 2009 from 2008 shipment volumes. It seems this unpredictability in volume has not been simple to accept for freight forwarders and cargo carriers. Just six months ago a lot of of these third party logistics providers and airlines were concerned about how to sustain operations at trim staff levels and now they are actually slammed with far more freight shipments than they may handle with existing resources.

The freight marketplace is anticipating a balancing time period back to more historical freight volumes as well as absence of such shipment volatility. Most manufacturers have forgone conventional supply chain inventory because of to a range of factors such as absence of accessible company capital. The absence of inventory helps to explain the spike in air freight traffic. It appears that inventories will come back to regular levels throughout the up coming few years. Transportation Intelligence believes it will require until 2013 to be able to come back to pre-2013 levels especially in Europe.

Improved Security of Freight Cargo poses minor problems during first week of enforcement.

This week, the federal regulations requiring 100 percent screening of air cargo moving upon passenger aircraft went into effect. The majority of Freight Forwarders experienced little if any effect, as a lot more than 95 percent report no troubles throughout this first week. A lot more than 709 surveys were sent to the Air Freight Association looking to gain feedback concerning the actual simplicity of integration. Simply five percent of participants noted major complications adhering to the new guidelines, which were not correlated to any particular airline nor any airport.

The transition came at a really excellent period for the air freight marketplace as August is usually a slower month for airlines and freight carriers. The AFA attributes this smooth transition to the educational efforts and preparedness procedures put forth by the AFA, federal government, and numerous freight forwarders to ensure integration has been done properly.

FULL STORY HERE



By Brad Hollister

Less than Truckload Carriers Appear to Have Worst Behind Them as Finding Freight Becomes Easier

If we were to select one sector of transportation that went through the toughest economic situation within the last calendar year, we definitely select Less Than Truckload Carriers (LTL carriers). With top Freight Companies such as Fed Ex Freight and Con-Way laying off workers in addition to posting losses, at this time there is no doubt Less Than Truckload Carriers have struggled.

Challenged by large fixed-costs on one hand and freight capacity plummeting almost 30%, we foresee a really difficult path ahead for the Ltl carrier industry. One of the problems is over capacity and empty trucks, despite freight quotes falling and cheap freight starting to be commonly available. Many experts happen to be concerned what could take place once government stimulus money injections cease and the actual supply chain demand from logistics companies, freight brokers, and shippers is left to a much more normal, un-subsidized level.

The actual question uncovers quite simply to lower freight quotes to find freight for empty trucks, or to continue to run trucks with empty space. All Stakeholders in the Freight Industry: Shippers, Freight Brokers (Logistics Professionals), Owner Operators and Carriers alike are inclined to agree with the fact that Less than truckload quotes tend to be going up.
Freight Executives from Pitt Ohio Express have stated there is simply no point in looking to expand frontiers when you do not have the freight load capacity in order to fulfill demand. Analysts disagree that raising freight load volume, increased tonnage, and better LTL carrier discipline are all creating a better outlook for the growth of the Less Than Truckload segment.

On the other hand, various other analysts consider that the likelihood of losing some carriers over capacity will not become a significant concern. "Most carriers have been running lean for the past 36 months." said Brad Hollister of Freight Access, Inc. "We have heard of the troubles of some of the larger carriers for sometime, but it appears that bond holders are not willing to cut their losses quite yet and are being patient in monitoring performance. This may have to do largely because of the state of the overall economy. Not only is there a lack of other investment opportunities, but there is virtually no market for liquidating assets, particularly in the used truck market."

Presently, it seems the LTL Carriers in the freight industry have definitely made it through a very difficult period. "Most companies are lean right now and virtually all are announcing better than expected results, which will continue to strengthen the sector going forward." said Hollister. Brad Hollister went on to say "The question remains who fast will rates continue to raise going forward as demand increases. It is the age-old question of raising rates sharply to capture profits or more moderately in order to regain market share. It appears that every carrier has a different philosophy so it will prove to be a marketplace filled with opportunities over the upcoming months."



Full Story Here>. Full Story here: http://blog.freightaccess.com/?p=137

Less than Truckload Carriers Applaud the Exit of Cheap Freight as Capacity Tightens

If we were to choose a single segment of transportation which went through the worst financial situation during the last twelve months, we must pick Less Than Truckload Carriers (LTL carriers). With top Carriers such as Fed Ex Freight and Con-Way laying off personnel in addition to reporting losses, there is no question Less Than Truckload Carriers have struggled.

Challenged by high fixed-costs on one hand and transportation demand dropping virtually 30%, many of us expect to have a tough path ahead with regard to the Less than truckload carrier industry. One of the problems is over capacity and empty trucks, even with freight quotes falling and cheap freight becoming commonly available. Many experts happen to be concerned just what will take place once government stimulus capital injections cease and the supply chain demand from logistics companies, freight brokers, and shippers is left to a much more natural, un-subsidized level.

The question turns up quite simply to lower freight quotes to find freight for empty trucks, or to continue to run trucks with empty space. All Stakeholders in the Freight Industry: Shippers, Freight Brokers (Logistics Professionals), Owner Operators and Carriers similarly are inclined to agree that Less than truckload rates are increasing.
Freight Executives from Pitt Ohio Express have now acknowledged right now there is simply no point in seeking to expand frontiers if you do not have the freight load capacity to fulfill demand. Analysts content that boosting freight load volume, increased tonnage, and better LTL carrier discipline are all creating a better outlook for the growth of the Less Than Truckload segment.

On the other hand, some other analysts take into consideration that the likelihood of shedding a number of carriers over capacity will not become a major concern. "Most carriers have been running lean for the past 36 months." said Brad Hollister of Freight Access, Inc. "We have heard of the troubles of some of the larger carriers for sometime, but it appears that bond holders are not willing to cut their losses quite yet and are being patient in monitoring performance. This may have to do largely because of the state of the overall economy. Not only is there a lack of other investment opportunities, but there is virtually no market for liquidating assets, particularly in the used truck market."

At the moment, it seems the LTL Carriers in the industry have certainly made it through a demanding time. "Most companies are lean right now and virtually all are announcing better than expected results, which will continue to strengthen the sector going forward." said Hollister. Brad Hollister went on to say "The question remains who fast will rates continue to raise going forward as demand increases. It is the age-old question of raising rates sharply to capture profits or more moderately in order to regain market share. It appears that every carrier has a different philosophy so it will prove to be a marketplace filled with opportunities over the upcoming months."



Full Story Here>. Full Story here: http://blog.freightaccess.com/?p=137

Trucking Technologies Helping Truck Drivers to Overcome New Transportation Legislation

Electronic Onboard Recorder (EOBR) systems are being recommended as improved fuel management and planning systems, automation of driver logs for truck drivers, fleet driver accountability as well as data reporting which helps in several departments for carriers from planning / routing to payroll and mileage reports. Executives believe that mileage and fuel expenses may be reduced by close to TEN PERCENT in addition to the capability to objectively evaluate operations and better analyze truck maintenance records.
CR England had voluntarily moved to EOBRs more than one year ago. CR England recruits and teaches their own transportation drivers and had been exploring systems for making log books less difficult to maintain for new drivers, improving the Hours of Service infractions and making log books less difficult to manage from a distance. Together with proper evaluation and reporting, the firm was also able to make improvements to planning and make use of of their fleet and review fuel consumption in real time. The results CR England reported were nothing short of impressive. Log Book Infractions have been lowered by an unexpected 63% and the truck driver out-of-service rate declined by close to 75%.

CR England is looking to EOBR as its primary solution for compliance with CSA 2010. Executives believe that utilizing electronic log books can easily remove or reduce the majority of log book violations. In addition to decreasing Hours of Service violations, dispatchers can better manage truck drivers to ensure these people are able to curb fatigue as well as practice safer driver techniques while driving.

Not all stakeholders in transportation share CR England’s enthusiasm for this latest technology . Many have recommended use of extreme care for a lot of transportation carriers understanding CSA 2010. The new regulatory system for analyzing compliance with the new safety regulations gives openness to all parties as well as plaintiffs’ attorneys. The data accessible could lead to increased litigation as attorneys could attempt to relate accidents to driver scores and attempt to persuade courts to view carriers or drivers as historically careless, based upon just a handful of infractions.

New technologies will certainly continue to play an essential part in the freight industry in the on-going future. Several cutting edge load matching platforms, dispatch programs, tracking systems will certainly have effect on the way shippers, carriers, brokers, and owner operators conduct business in the future. It will be very important to evaluate technologies relative to new legislation for you to make sure you are in a position to understand the issues facing the industry so you may be able to position yourself favorably among your competition.


Brad Hollister is the Director of Business Development for Freight Access, Inc.. Brad Hollister loves Networking with Entrepreneurs, and learning about new business Opportunities. His professional focus on the freight and logistics industry as well as helping non-profit businesses.

Idling Laws Impacting Trucking Industry by Brad Hollister (http://www.freightaccess.com)

Can Truck Idling a Serious Cause for Concern?

New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection ran a check August 2008 to find idling trucks and found over 100 trucks in violation of the state´s three minute idling limit idling intended for freight owner-operators.

Your first infringement for idling past the three minute restriction in New Jersey is $200, the second infraction will be $400, and for additional violations you are looking at over $1,000 fines. This has come to be a very polarizing problem for many in the transportation industry and trucking industry.

New Jersey is not the state to start imposing tough laws of which restrict idling. A minimum of 25 have current no idling rules which will limit truck driver's ability to leave trucks idling.
Quite a few truck drivers find these idling laws harassing. If they are the actual owner-operators of the actual rig, they are actually responsible for any fine, (in some instances, violations could be as much as $25,000 or in possibly possibly larger, as in the case of Massachusetts).

Some drivers actually enjoy the effects because of no-idle regulations so that they should be able to unwind in a more quiet atmosphere once they are off the road. Several Shippers have actually taken issues into their own hands. Hunts Point Cooperative Market (the world's biggest food distribution center) utilizes a personal security force to be able to support the state's five-minute idling restriction. A spokesman for Hunts Point mentioned that they had 1000s of trucks in there a day and also states they discover less than a few violations each week.

Connecticut has been a little more lenient. As soon as a driver is determined in violation, the vehicle's owner will have to inform the state's Bureau of Air Management in order to make sure actions are in place to make certain it will never occur again.

Massachusetts idling law includes an added element of protection to it's idling law. The state limits idling to less than five minutes except throughout tasks including pre-trip inspections. This way drivers are not penalized for carrying out a in depth examination of their equipment. Massachusetts happens to be a stringent enforcer of these kinds of regulation in the past . In August of 2009, The EPA penalized Materials Installations (a household furniture distribution corporation) a tremendous $109,120, for violations which produced more than 1,000 total idling minutes between 2003 and 2004.

On the other hand, non-diesel machines aren't restrained. Many freight load drivers are not as worried with the outcomes of no-idling restrictions due to the fact they are able to sleep away from the sounds of the traffic. Other truck drivers see this regulation as a method to gather revenue.

Just how much air pollution actually end up being lowered by simply no-idling of trucks?
Simply how much of this legislation which is applicable simply upon freight load idling may have an effect on pollution in the city is actually a good question. This is dependent a lot on what statistic one looks at. “A lot of the air quality programs are local, so to understand the benefits you have to look at the local problem,” says Suzanne Rudzinski of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “In some areas it’s going to be more important than others.”

Global truck air pollution is actually moderately small compared to the complete motor pool in most urban centers. The actual problem is usually with certain areas of which are particularly impacted by freight and truck idling emissions. These areas may possibly gain considerable air quality from applying modest limitations of which don't need to result in substantial fines.

Brand new technologies have been released to provide a solution to several of these issues. Many drivers perceive the idling legislation as a matter of safety. The trucks usually need to be able to remain operating to heat and cool trucks while drivers sleep in safe conditions. The continuing legislation in the industry will continue to drive cost of doing business greater and make it more difficult for drivers in order to succeed in the difficult freight business.

By Brad Hollister
http://www.freightaccess.com