February was not the greatest time to be in Kansas City. Despite the minus 20 degree wind chill and record snow-fall amounts, a group of 4 tier-one carries in the industry still agreed to meet with CDN to discuss what the industry standard should be for the Carrier Exchange.

This gathering confirmed what carriers have been telling CDN for years: “We need a way to pass volume load data between each other electronically”.

Among the 4 were Centurion Auto Carriers, US Auto Logistics, Hansen & Adkins and Jack Cooper. The half-day discussion enabled the carriers and CDN to establish a defacto standard that will enable carriers to pass load data between themselves, in real-time, regardless of Transport Management System or ePOD solution. Carrier Exchange will serve as an independent clearing-house between the systems, translating and auditing the data whilst ensuring a smooth, simple, one-time connection.

The days of drivers being required to have 6 (or more) ePOD apps on their devices, manually entering VINs into TMS systems and paper passing between carriers for high-volume load trading are over. Derric Hicks, General Manager of North America for Car Delivery Network, stated that when he wants to send someone money it doesn’t matter who they bank with or what banking app they have on their phone ; It can just happen. It should be the same way for load data. The important issue is the carrier gets the data his customer requires, in the required time-frame the customer needs and ensuring the data is in compliance with the industry’ standards. We invite anyone to connect their system to the Carrier Exchange and transact data electronically in real time between systems.

Fast forward to June and CDN is already trialling its new Carrier Exchange service with two main carriers. CDN is also in discussions with 14 other carriers that have all expressed an interest in connecting to the Carrier Exchange. The more carriers we can connect, the greater the value the exchange will provide.