Automating Volume LTL Freight: Cutting the Manual Waste

As digital freight platforms reshaped how loads get booked, supply chain technology vendors raced to give brokers and third-party logistics providers (3PLs) the tools to keep up. One example: project44 added visibility over volume less-than-truckload (LTL) shipments to its freight connectivity platform, giving brokers and 3PLs a way to protect margins under pressure from digital competitors.

What the technology does

The company's software automates the flow of data among shippers, carriers and 3PLs. Instead of relying on third-party interfaces like email or older formats like electronic data interchange (EDI), customers can pull data directly through application programming interfaces (APIs). That automation is the heart of modern freight tech: replacing manual, error-prone handoffs with real-time data.

Understanding volume LTL

Volume LTL is a useful niche to understand:

• It applies to shipments larger than 12 linear feet but smaller than 28 linear feet
• It has traditionally been costly and labor-intensive to book
• While it's only 5 to 10 percent of U.S. shipments, it accounts for a much larger share of revenue because the loads are bigger

By adding automated, real-time volume LTL quoting and tendering, either through its own portal or through an integrated transportation management system (TMS), the platform connected to a large majority of U.S. domestic volume LTL capacity, including major carriers like FedEx Freight, Old Dominion, UPS Freight and YRC Freight.

Why it matters for carriers and brokers

"This is another opportunity for truckload shippers to provide backhaul and fill partial loads, and for the first time we've automated that process," a company executive said. "The standard process for booking LTL is 90 percent manual, using phone calls, email and fax. It's just an insurmountable amount of waste."

That waste is exactly what freight technology exists to eliminate. The broader trend is full shipment-lifecycle automation, expanding API-based connectivity across truckload, LTL and eventually intermodal and final-mile services, so that fewer loads are booked by fax and more move on real-time data.