A new online payment tool for shippers & more

00:00 This week’s CCJ Tech Shorts highlights a safety platform’s partnership with an insurance provider that aims to help lower costs for commercial fleets and more.

00:20 Carrier Logistics Inc. (CLI), a provider of freight management software for less-than-truckload carriers, has rolled out a new online payment tool for shippers that is fully integrated with CLI’s FACTS TMS.

It’s called FACTSPay, and it aims to reduce friction between motor carriers and their customers by offering 24/7 access to secure, intuitive payment tools. The solution streamlines the billing and collections process, enhancing cash flow for CLI’s clients while improving the payment experience for shippers.

The platform allows shippers to self-service, reducing for motor carriers the administrative costs related to accepting payments from shippers. Shippers will have fewer barriers to paying their freight invoices and have instant access to open invoices, backup documents, and detailed shipment charges. 

The platform, powered by California-based payment processing company Stripe, Inc., acts as an aggregator, handling transactions through flexible ACH or credit card payment options. FACTSPay can be branded with any company’s name, logo and style.

01:22 Motive has partnered with Geico to improve driver safety and lower insurance costs for businesses that operate commercial fleets.

As a preferred partner in Geico’s DriveEasy Pro telematics program, Motive enables new policyholders who install its Driver Safety and Fleet Management products and share dash cam and electronic logging device (ELD) data to unlock savings of up to 10% on premiums.

Motive’s integrated Driver Safety and Fleet Management products detect risky behaviors like drowsiness, close following, and distracted driving to help prevent collisions. They also enable access to real-time data on driver behavior, vehicle location, and utilization in a single platform, providing full fleet visibility.

The Motive AI Dashcam captures video evidence to counter false claims and reduce costs and automates coaching with AI-driven alerts and video-based tools that support high-impact, personalized driver training.

Automated collision reports provide insurers with real-time data to triage and resolve claims faster.

02:20 A tech collaboration has helped Estes Logistics, a division of Estes Express Lines, grow its dedicated logistics business from under $200 million to more than $500 million in annual revenue while maintaining an on-time delivery rate exceeding 98%.

This was made possible by its partnership with Descartes Systems Group. Estes Logistics has used the Descartes Global Logistics Network and Descartes’ routing and mobile technology for over 15 years to optimize dedicated truckload, specialty transportation and final-mile delivery operations across the U.S.

The solution manages night-time unattended deliveries, multi-leg deliveries, pool distribution, cross-docking, dedicated deliveries to customer locations, managed transportation from customer distribution centers to stores, and many other services.

It allows Estes to commingle freight for multiple customers on a single truck to drive greater route density, asset utilization, and value-based pricing; allows drivers to scan pictures and signatures and add notes upon delivery; and captures all arrival and departure times to monitor performance and send customers real-time updates on a shipment’s location, status, and progress through the supply chain.

03:31 Supply chain solutions company Saddle Creek Logistics Services has deployed Robust.AI’s flagship collaborative robotics platform, Carter, in its Charlotte, North Carolina, warehouse.

Saddle Creek deployed Carter in its order fulfillment operation for a beauty client. The warehouse automation provider’s Carter platform helps automate and optimize tote delivery operations between multiple processing and labeling lines and more than 20 designated drop-off points. In this capacity, Carter functions as a flexible, non-integrated “virtual conveyor” that streamlines material flow without requiring fixed infrastructure.

Carter is a collaborative autonomous mobile robot designed to augment existing warehouse operations and workforces.