Earlier this summer Transport Topics ran a story on load boards quoting Internet Truckstop (ITS), referencing an independent survey showing that TransCore’s load boards ranked third in load posting volume with 2.1 million loads monthly. This shocked me, and we worked to get to the bottom of this.
It turns out that the study was actually commissioned by ITS, a fact that the Transport Topics writer told us ITS omitted when sharing the study’s results. More importantly, the study included only Canadian and cross-border loads, not all DAT loads. Our Canadian operation is the biggest and the best north of the border, but they represent only a small fraction of our overall load volume. In fact, correct number is more than 300% higher than the ITS study reported.
When we looked at the load volumes ITS reported for itself in 2011, we found that for the first eight months of 2011 ours were 70% higher.
Since you place your trust in us, we want to share with you the email that Scott Moscrip, ITS’s CEO, sent us, explaining how ITS arrived at the TransCore numbers:
“The methodology is simple. Exactly the same as the last time we did it 3 years ago. The Transcore load counts are published on the Transcore Canada website…I think it was some college kid in the Midwest that did the study for us.”
Transport Topics is a fine publication, and they have already printed a correction, addressing the errors in the original story. Unfortunately, the folks at ITS continue to distribute and market the results of this flawed survey so I felt compelled to address the matter here.
If you want an accurate, up to date picture of load volumes and available trucks, TIA Logistics Journal, the Journal of Commerce, Fleet Owner, and Heavy Duty Trucking – all reputable trade journals — each publish our indexed reports covering supply and demand nationally by equipment type. You can see that information and more by going to www.transcoretrendlines.com and signing up to receive regular reports.
As part of a publically traded company, we don’t release specific load and truck posting counts because this is considered proprietary and sensitive information.
I can state unequivocally that we are the largest load board AND have the highest quality customers.
Thank you for making us the biggest and the best.
Sincerely,
Don Thornton,
Senior Vice President
TransCore
www.transcorefreightsolutions.com
