The DHL digital platform, Saloodo! has extended its offer with long-term transport contracts. In the future, it will also digitize the management of transport service tenders, according to the operator. However, the use of individual solutions offered by logistics operators has a major drawback.
Saloodo!, the digital freight platform of the German operator, was launched in 2016. Saloodo!, as DHL declares, provides transparency and efficiency, but it doesn’t give a full picture of the transport market but rather only a part of it. In principle, the platform works like other tools of this type and is to help optimize the functioning of the fleet and manage transport orders. However, it has only limited resources as it is used by DHL’s customers and partners.
DHL and its Saloodo digital freight platform is just one example. Other big players offer similar solutions – e.g. DB Schenker and its Drive4Schenker platform. It is an online exchange platform with offers of partial and full truckloads, created for carriers aiming at minimizing empty journeys. As with Saloodo!, it only offers access to part of the market. Sea Explorer owned by the giant Kuehne + Nagel also works in a similar way.
These solutions, despite a number of advantages, constitute separate ‘islands’ which are able to reflect a very limited picture of the transport market. They will not work in the long term unless the carrier uses several such platforms. This, in turn, is troublesome and time-consuming. Every moment counts for the industry players, so they should take advantage of the widest possible source of offers, which will combine such ‘islands’ in one place. Open digital platforms that are not digital freight forwarders, such as ShipWell in the US or Trans For Forwarders in Europe, offer such a possibility. The use of such tools ensures a full picture of the market, crucial for resource management, instead of getting only fragmented information.
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