Logistical Labs integrates truckload rating software with DAT Solutions

Cloud-based supply chain software provider Logistical Labs LLC will improve the accuracy of its truckload rating data through an integration with load board network operator DAT Solutions LLC, the companies said Tuesday.

Chicago-based Logistical Labs will link its LoadDex freight pricing software with Portland, Ore.-based DAT Solutions' RateView online database of real-time spot-market and current contract freight rates. That combination will help LoadDex users optimize transportation across all modes by using the supply chain analytics platform to simplify rating complexity, improve carrier selection, and leverage data to make smarter decisions, according to Logistical Labs.

The integration is the latest step by Logistical Labs to link its LoadDex product with additional data, after the company unveiled an integration in January with Project44, whose web tool allows shippers and 3PLs to automatically exchange data in real time.

"Logistical Labs and DAT share a common mission of helping our customers gain insights from their supply chain data," DAT Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing Don Thornton said in a release. "Building connectivity with the LoadDex rating engine advances that mission and brings more transparency and operational efficiency to carriers, brokers, and shippers alike."

Also on Tuesday, DAT announced that the financial research firm Broughton Capital LLC had unveiled a set of tools for truckload industry market watchers called "DAT Freight Barometers." The tools leverage data both from DAT's truckload freight marketplace and its RateView database and creates econometric algorithms that help predict trends in spot- and contract-market rates, the company said in a release.

DAT's load board network hosts about 485,000 loads per business day, which puts it on track to host 141 million posted loads and trucks in 2017, the company says. And DAT's truckload rates database houses more than $33 billion of spot and contract freight payments, recorded as North American carriers, 3PLs, and shippers use the network to move spot-market freight.