If you have a brokerage or logistics operation or just want a source for locating other carriers, a new offering from Transportation Technical Services, Fredericksburg, Va., will let you find carriers online. Subscription-based FleetSeek (www.fleetseek.com) lets users search up to 67,000 truck fleets in North America from six customized databases.
The databases cover for-hire and private carriers, Canadian and Mexican carriers and owner-operators. In addition, FleetSeek integrates data from TTS’s Blue Book of Trucking Companies to provide access to detailed financial reports. The databases are searchable numerous ways, including by company name, DOT or MC number, city, county, state, zip code range, fleet size, trailer type or SIC code. A search returns a thumbnail sketch of carriers meeting the criteria selected. Users can select profiles of individual carriers for detailed information, including the principal, DOT/MC number, address, phone, fax, e-mail, fleet size and type and links to Blue Book data where available.
Shippers and intermediaries can use FleetSeek to identify carriers in particular states or zip codes that haul certain commodities and operate certain trailers. Dealers and other suppliers of goods and services can better identify prospects.
The applications are perhaps less obvious for trucking companies, although FleetSeek could be a tool for seeking out partnerships and alliances with other carriers operating in the same areas or with the same trailer types. For example, a carrier that uses specialized equipment might have better luck servicing a breakdown by finding a carrier in the area that operates the same equipment. Or by searching by zip code, a trucking company might find a yard for storing excess trailers near shipper locations.
