When a freight broker becomes a trucker, it inherits all of that industry’s built-in headaches. But Sage Freight was determined to operate efficiently in a notoriously unstable market. 

Sage Freight calls itself an “asset-right” transportation provider, acting as a freight broker that also recently acquired a trucking company. “We’re trying to be a new solution to customers,” explains founder and chief executive officer Bob King. “Most brokerages sit outside the supply chain. With equipment, you can get closer.” 

With the expansion, however, came a fresh set of challenges, including the management of a full truck fleet and the need to optimize all that capacity. The company operates a variety of equipment types, including flatbed, refrigerated vans and drayage, and has been acquiring additional trailers as well. 

To help navigate the ups and downs of the volatile transportation market, Sage, which did $78 million in revenue last year, turned to Leaf Logistics, provider of a digital platform for buying and selling truck capacity on behalf of multiple shippers. “We live in a world where most shippers, carriers and brokers are playing a zero-sum game,” says King. “Leaf takes all the seasonality out of transportation.” 

The result, King adds, is the maintenance of “continuous loops” that minimize empty miles, improve the driver’s experience and smooth out market fluctuations. “By putting drivers on long-term moves, everyone wins,” he says. 

Leaf Logistics views it as “a coordination challenge,” says founder and chief executive officer Anshu Prasad. “What happens to a shipment before and after [Sage hauls it] is blind to them,” he says. Leaf draws on data from approximately 450 large shippers, enabling it to deliver more loaded miles to the driver. 

Truck deadheading — the movement of empty trailers between loads — is an outgrowth of “the transactional way of working,” says Prasad. By consolidating data about multiple freight opportunities, truckers can string together more continuous moves. “Then you start to really chip away at empty miles.” 

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Among Sage’s services is running a fleet in eastern Pennsylvania. Entering that market entailed “the typical challenges that any carrier has when it starts up a network,” King says. But with a promise of 99% on-time delivery, Sage can’t afford any speed bumps. 

“Our guys are used to the routes,” says King. “They do the same ones over and over again.” 

On the eastern Pennsylvania route, Leaf builds freight plans for Sage across three shippers, served by 10 trucks and 32 trailers in what Prasad terms “a puzzle-piece alliance.” He says such an arrangement can cut down on deadhead miles by as much as 76%. 

Even a mere three shippers require the carrier that serves them to make extensive calculations — far beyond the capability of the human brain — to arrive at the optimal route plan for all. “It requires us to look at it from a full-portfolio view,” Prasad says, adding that the freight picture “is not like a snowflake each time.” 

Sage is looking to quickly scale its trucking services. King says the company plans to double capacity, despite the current market slowdown, in the months ahead. Good customer relationships provide it with a source of steady business and the chance to expand coverage to other regions. “We’re hoping we get the opportunity to compete in other lanes,” he says, noting that Georgia is an initial target for the targeted service expansion. 

By improving the driving experience, Sage has a better chance of attracting and retaining drivers. Prasad says fleet managers drawing on publicly available data experience driver turnover rates of 6% to 10% per year, compared with 150% to 300% among operators who lack the bigger picture. 

“Turnover is an extreme problem,” he says. “Without the regularity of the same drivers running the same ‘traveling salesman’ routes, you don’t get the efficiencies.” 

King believes Leaf is bringing new dedicated opportunities to smaller carriers such as Sage, leveling the playing field against the big operators with huge fleets of trailers. “Making trucking simple is an ideal goal that everyone should have,” he says. 

Resource Links:

Sage Freight, https://sagefreight.com/

Leaf Logistics, https://leaflogistics.com/