A customer calls to have an order picked up. Someone enters the order, dispatches a driver, answers calls to update load status, gathers trip documents and prepares invoices.

For many years, carriers have automated these and other routine transactions with electronic data interchange (EDI), a costly and complex information exchange between carriers and customers.

Traditionally, shippers and carriers have used a mailbox approach to share data. A third-party value added network (VAN) manages the mailbox to ensure the exchange is reliable and consistent. Carriers pay a monthly transaction fee based on the “kilo-characters” of data that passes through the VAN.

About two years ago, Cardinal Logistics was spending $35,000 per month in VAN charges and $13,000 for one customer alone. Today, the 1,500- truck fleet has quadrupled the volume of EDI but spends virtually nothing.

“Unless a customer absolutely requires it, we no longer use VANs,” says Clay Holmes, chief information officer of the Concord, N.C.-based third-party logistics provider.

As fleets look to cut costs during a slow economy, the systems and services used for e-commerce may be ripe with opportunities, especially when considering that volume will continue to grow as the business environment improves.

Removing the VAN