FourKites for the first time highlighted organizations registered as partners in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s SmartWay program in its recently published Premier Carrier List (PCL) for the first quarter of 2021.
SmartWay helps companies advance supply chain sustainability by measuring, benchmarking and improving freight transportation efficiencies. Inclusion in FourKites’ PCL complements the company’s longstanding prioritization of supply chain sustainability initiatives.
FourKites’ latest PCL showcases 366 carriers, brokers and 3PLs that have achieved the highest standards of visibility-related operational excellence, as demonstrated by their ability to provide high-quality, consistent, accurate data on the vast majority of their loads. These best practices provide shippers and the broader supply chain ecosystem with data and insights to streamline operations, increase shipping dock turn times, reduce inventory levels and better manage labor costs.
Carriers included on FourKites’ Q1 PCL experienced an average 10% annual load volume growth compared to the prior year, clocking 2.5 million loads in Q1 alone. Of the 366 carriers on the list, 119 have qualified for the list for more than five consecutive quarters, while 28 have qualified every quarter since the inception of the program in January 2019.
Many tank truck carriers made the Q1 list, including Bulk Transit, Bulkmatic, Carbon Express, Cliff Viessman, Foodliner Mexico, Highway Transport, LCL Bulk Transport, Martin Transport, Maximum Tank Transport, Mountain Milk Hauling, Quick-Way, Tidewater Transit and Usher Transport.
“Core to the Transervice philosophy is building partnerships based on transparency, trust and mutual success,” said Tom Poduch, Senior Director of Logistic Design & Technology, Transervice. “We’re excited to qualify for FourKites’ Premier Carrier List, which provides us with one more valuable tool for working with the community to find smarter and more efficient ways of doing business that benefit our bottom line and the environment.”
As documented by the EPA, freight transportation is a major and growing contributor to air pollution, which has prompted an increasing number of supply chain companies to prioritize sustainability. Of the nearly 4,000 on the SmartWay partners list, more than 25% are in the FourKites network, while 60% of carriers on the PCL are SmartWay-certified, signifying that they have worked with the EPA to improve operations in order to reduce their environmental footprint.
“Our Premier Carriers are natural market leaders, paving the way to a new era in freight logistics,” said Jason Eversole, vice president of carrier operations at FourKites. “This includes real-time visibility, secure collaboration, automation and a host of other capabilities that can help supply chain partners achieve their sustainability objectives while simultaneously reducing operating costs and gaining business efficiencies.
“We are thrilled to now highlight SmartWay Partners in FourKites’ quarterly PCL.”
Supporting supply chain sustainability has been a longstanding priority for FourKites. The company’s industry-first Sustainability Dashboard enables customers to identify specific areas within their supply chains that contribute to high levels of greenhouse gas emissions, while products like Lane Connect analyze millions of historic lane patterns and use advanced machine learning to help customers eliminate empty miles from their supply chains.
Moreover, the company’s Sustainability Center of Excellence (SCoE)—with more than 20 members, including Alexis Bateman, director at the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics; Michael Torrance, chief sustainability officer at BMO Financial Group; Dustin Braun, senior director of logistics at Land O’Lakes; Philipp Kolb, international supply chain sustainability at Henkel; Meghan Stasz, vice president of packaging & sustainability at Consumer Brands Association; and Rob Haddock, group director for planning & logistics at The Coca-Cola Company—accelerates product innovation and community collaboration around sustainability initiatives.
Now in its third year, the full Premier Carrier List is available only to FourKites customers, but a public-facing version is available at fourkites.com/premier-carriers.