The trucking industry is behind when it comes to digitization of our operations, but we’re catching up quickly. This is critical to the industry’s ability to be efficient and accurate in everything from billing to routing to the assigning of loads to carriers.
And as the industry digitizes, we need to speak one language with respect to terms, processes and protocols. This is especially true when it comes to bills of lading, which is why the National Motor Freight Traffic Association’s (NMFTA) Digital LTL Council has been working since 2019 to develop a now implemented (but still being perfected) industrywide standard for electronic bills of lading (eBOL).
Our eBOL standard is already delivering results for those who have implemented it. That number accounts for 15% of all LTL industry revenue and includes heavy hitters like Old Dominion Freight Line, Dayton Freight Lines, Estes Express, Southeastern Freight Lines, and many others. On the 3PL side, we recently published a case study about the impact C.H. Robinson is experiencing just from not having to make phone calls to chase down PRO numbers, or ask about packaging type, or how many pallets are being used.
What’s critical now is that the industry comes together to embrace common protocols and common terms. Others in the industry – companies we know well and respect – have also endeavored to develop their own standards.
NMFTA is a nonprofit member-based organization with its roots in setting standards. We don’t create things like eBOL standards because we’re concerned about monopolizing the market with them. We do the heavy lifting of establishing these standards so the carriers, the 3PLs, and the shippers can focus on running their businesses.
Imagine if one of the Big Four accounting firms decided to come up with its own version of “generally accepted accounting principles.” There’s a reason those principles have been generally accepted for decades. They allow both the accounting firms and their clients to understand exactly how things are going to be done.
Granted, the Digital LTL Council’s eBOL standard hasn’t been around for decades. Its early impact on the market is delivering exceptional results, and we continue to refine and tweak it as feedback from the industry guides us to do so.
