Descartes MacroPoint™ and FreightWaves SONAR Integrated to deliver advanced transportation capacity management solution

Descartes Systems Group, the global leader in uniting logistics-intensive businesses in commerce, and FreightWaves, an industry-leading provider of data, analytics and news for global supply chains and logistics, announced that FreightWaves SONAR Lane Score data is now available in the Descartes MacroPoint™ Capacity Network. The combination provides freight brokers with a single solution to see available capacity and market pricing intelligence per transportation lane.

“The ripple effect of low freight availability over the last year and a half particularly highlights how tight capacity can impact rates and margins for brokers and shippers, as well as the need for new transportation solutions,” said Travis Rhyan, Chief Product Officer at FreightWaves. “We chose to work with Descartes because of the breadth and depth of its network and unique approach to addressing the transportation capacity challenges we face today.”

The Descartes MacroPoint Capacity Network allows brokers to search its network and contact over 216,000 carriers and their assets on more than 1 million truckload transportation lanes in North America. The lane network shows available carrier density, helping brokers prioritize loads where transportation capacity is constrained. Once the lanes are prioritized based on specific parameters such as carrier ranking, equipment type needed, available capacity, outreach frequency and others, brokers can systematically communicate with the best fit carriers operating within the network.

SONAR Lane Score from FreightWaves allows logistics professionals to view market conditions on each lane via a simple score system that represents how attractive—or not—it will be to cover open loads in that lane. This insight allows decision makers to prioritize lanes where capacity is tight to proactively adapt to market rate movements and minimize risk.

Integrated to the Descartes MacroPoint Capacity Network, SONAR Lane Score delivers a critical indicator of lane attractiveness which, combined with the calculated inbound capacity score from the Descartes solution, provides immediate insight into current market conditions across the North American over-the-road network. The combination also enhances day-to-day outreach as brokers can use lane scores as automation triggers to send offers to the most appropriate carriers servicing the network. Together, Descartes and FreightWaves facilitate and automate load coverage decision-making processes by giving logistics professionals critical data points to prioritize and execute in a reliable and more cost-effective way.

“Today’s transportation challenges are too complex to be addressed by traditional manual methods and assumptions,” said Xavier Bignon, Senior Product Manager at Descartes. “FreightWaves’ SONAR Lane Score helps to simplify the capacity sourcing decision-making process, making it easier for brokers to serve their customers and maximize their bottom line.”