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GEN Logistics Launches Intranet-based Load Matching Service for TL Freight
New service uses Web-like interface but promises the speed of a private network. Company says it has signed on approximately 100 customers. Value added services include e-mail, freight payment
GEN Logistics, a startup based in Bethel, Conn., launched its ProVision load matching network last week. Aimed at truckload carriers, shippers and intermediaries, ProVision allows users to post available loads, submit bids and accept bids using an intranet connection.
As a result of an aggressive marketing campaign, the company has signed on "roughly 100" users, with "a few more carriers than shippers" so far, says Maria Barringhaus, vice president of marketing at GEN Logistics. She declines to name any of the customers. Prior to the commercial launch, the company beta tested the service with several users. The service focuses primarily on the transportation of truckload (TL) freight.
The ProVision package includes access to the network plus software providing a graphical user interface customized for each type of user. The shipper version provides a template for posting loads, allowing the user to specify requirements such as origin and destination, pickup and arrival dates and type of equipment.
The carrier version provides a template that allows the user to search for loads based on specifications such as origin and destination, pickup date, equipment type and size required and whether the load contains hazardous materials. The system presents the carrier with only those posted loads that meet the listed qualifications.
"The network becomes sort of a central holding place for all the transactions that take place between carrier and shipper."
A third version, ProVision Total Access, gives intermediaries access to both the shipper and carrier functions.
When a carrier decides to bid on a load, a second template allows him to enter cost details and indicate a total bid price and accessorial fees. The shipper can then view all bids received for a shipment and award one by selecting the carrier on screen and clicking on an "Award Bid" button.
Carriers learn about bids they have won by checking a bid status screen in the system. Optionally, they can also receive news of awards by fax or by receiving a message on an alphanumeric pager, Barringhaus says.
Once the carrier receives an award, he can accept or decline it by clicking the appropriate button on the screen. If he accepts, the system generates a printed delivery order. Carriers can also use the system to provide shippers with information on the status of their shipments once they have been picked up, the company says.
Except for providing assistance and troubleshooting via phone or e-mail, GEN Logistics employees do not get involved in the transactions between member shippers and carriers, Barringhaus says. "The deal can be consummated online, without any intervention."
"We need to have cargo in the system, and we also need to have the carriers out there to bid on it."
An auxiliary benefit of the system is that "the network becomes sort of a central holding place for all the transactions that take place between carrier and shipper," Barringhaus says. When loads are negotiated through brokers, who may or may not be automated, "it's sometimes hard to track and trace the paperwork." By contrast, ProVision "gives one central location where everybody's working from the same order."
To use ProVision, the user needs a 486 or higher personal computer running under Windows 3.x, Windows 95 or Windows NT, and modem access.
Because it operates over an intranet, ProVision provides the same type of interface as a service based on the World Wide Web, using the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). But the private network offers the advantages of security and speed, Barringhaus says. Instead of being routed through the twists and turns of the public Internet, communications from the user's PC are transmitted directly to GEN's data center, using AT&T frame relay networks, "so it's very fast," she says.
Besides touting the speed of its network, and the easy-to-use, intuitive nature of the interface, GEN uses several value-added features to distinguish ProVision from other load matching services. One is that it provides members with e-mail. Another is that it provides links to several Web sites, including USA Today Online, Traffic World Online, The Weather Channel Online, Mapquest for online maps, and Big Book for Yellow Pages information. Users, however, cannot access other Web sites through ProVision, since there is no facility for entering a Web address. GEN also offers two automated freight payment services. One is provided through an agreement with Cass Information Systems in St. Louis; the other is provided directly through GEN, Barringhaus says.
Barringhaus declines to name the fees charged to members of the ProVision network but does provide information on the price structure. The member pays a one-time membership fee and a monthly access fee for each access point, which covers 25 "GEN network units" (GNUs). One GNU consists of one hour of data access or 30 minutes of voice access, faxing or paging.
In addition, a shipper pays a fee for each posted transaction that is successfully awarded and moved. A carrier pays a commission on each load obtained on the system, based on the number of miles traveled as determined by the PC Miler program from Princeton-based ALK and Associates. Intermediates pay posting fees and commissions as appropriate.
In marketing the new service, GEN faces "the traditional chicken and egg" dilemma, Barringhaus says: the service will become attractive to most potential users only when it signs on enough users to reach a critical mass. "We need to have cargo in the system, and we also need to have the carriers out there to bid on it," she says.
To get over that initial barrier, the company currently has 25-30 sales representatives calling on carriers and shippers throughout the U.S., with plans to increase that number until the company has "a moderate-sized sales force" by the end of the year, Barringhaus says. GEN also is conducting print advertising and direct mail campaigns. The service is signing on "quite a few customers" per day, she says.
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