New year. new buzzword

Never let it be said that the logistics industry can't crank out a buzz word with the best of them. Take VPA, or value partner agreements, as the first offering of the new year.

A number of companies are entering into these VPAs in hopes of providing mutual relief from the struggle of balancing freight loads with fleet capacity. How? They become members of a consortium called Freight world by signing value partner agreements, which are simply contracts between Freight world and individual carriers. Once in place, the contracts give the subscribing companies a commission for sending freight they can't accommodate to Freight world, which inturn locates other subscribing companies that have the equipment available to move the goods. This way, member companies can accept freight even when they don't have the capacity to move it.

Freight world promises many potential benefits to subscribing freight carriers.

Most obvious is the value of never turning away business without at least profiting from a referral. Additionally, carriers can extend the relationships they have with existing customers by using the Freight world VPA to move freight in lanes they don't customarily service.