DAT Solutions creates new analytics portal for freight data

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Updated Sep 14, 2015
New freight market analytics service from DAT Solutions, processes data and produces easy-to-understand visualizations. Shown here, clockwise, is an inbound/outbound trucks and loads map; carrier development chart; supply/demand heat map; truck density map. (PRNewsFoto/DAT Solutions)New freight market analytics service from DAT Solutions, processes data and produces easy-to-understand visualizations. Shown here, clockwise, is an inbound/outbound trucks and loads map; carrier development chart; supply/demand heat map; truck density map. (PRNewsFoto/DAT Solutions)

DAT Solutions has a new online analytics service that gives access to truck and load data on 149 key market areas in North America with the highest concentrations of inbound and outbound freight. A Tableau web portal displays a set of trucking freight data visualizations with the option to import data into back office systems.

DAT says the data can be sorted by individual and multiple key market areas to customize charts and maps of current or historical trends to understand demand and capacity. Market data comes from DAT Load Boards, which host more than 120 million load and truck posts each year, and DAT RateView, which compiles more than $24 billion in actual freight bills annually.

“For years, DAT Solutions has provided volumes of data on the 65,000 lanes we track,” said Greg Sikes, vice president of products for DAT Solutions. “We developed this data analytics service through close collaboration with several top 50 third party logistics companies who are now benefitting from enhanced planning, carrier prospecting and benchmarking capability.”

Currently available data visualizations include:

Carrier development charts: Provides carrier load-search and truck-posting activity by company and key market area, so users can identify potential business partners in the lanes they run.

Supply/demand heat maps: Shows the number of available freight loads vs. the number of available trucks in each key market area. This “load-to-truck ratio” is a leading indicator of whether truckload rates on the sport market will rise or fall, and can signal changes in contract freight rates.

Inbound/outbound trucks and loads map: Shows loads and trucks inbound and outbound for each key market area, to help users better understand freight volume patterns between cities.

Truck density maps: Shows the concentration of trucks by equipment type within specific geographies. These maps can help carriers understand where to position trucks, or can help shippers when deciding where to locate a plant or distribution center.