PREDICTING MULTI-CITY OR DIRECT BACKHAUL

摘要

Transportation services are matched with transportation service providers (TSPs) in response to received transportation requests. A description of a load or other transportation service is obtained, a shipping lane is determined and the transportation request is parsed. Respondents, including those accepting queries in a predetermined automated format, are queried. The bids are received and prices, corresponding to the bids, are provided to an entity submitting the transportation request, and the bid is confirmed. If the TSP will accept a further transportation request, an estimated time of availability is determined and the further transportation request is searched.

主权项

1. A method for determining matches for transportation services with transportation service providers, the method comprising:
receiving a transportation request comprising a description of a load or other transportation service; determining a shipping lane or shipping lanes characterizing the transportation request; using one or more computing devices to parse the transportation request by extracting data from the transportation request to obtain criteria for the transportation request according to the desired transportation service based on the shipping lane(s); using one or more computing devices to query a plurality of respondents, at least one of which accepts queries for transportation service bids in a predetermined automated format thereby combining the queries for bids in the predetermined automated format with bids from other respondents in a network; receiving transportation service bids from at least one of the plurality of respondents, and storing the received bids in a data store as an aggregated bid database; providing prices, corresponding to the bids, to an entity submitting the transportation request, including information regarding included options as a part of individual ones of the bids by using one or more computing devices to calculate a bid commission or margin for applying to render the prices corresponding to the bids; performing one of selecting one of the provided prices corresponding to bids from the bid database, based on predetermined criteria or presenting the received transportation service prices for selection by the entity submitting the transportation request; using one or more computing devices to match the bid from the aggregated bid database corresponding to the provided price selected by the entity submitting the transportation request; transmitting acceptance of the selected bid to a person or entity associated with the bid, using data from the aggregated bid database associated with the matched bid and transmitting a request for confirmation to the entity associated with the matched bid; receiving a confirmation of the matched bid from the entity associated with the matched bid; using one or more computers to transmit the confirmed bid to the entity submitting the transportation request; determining if the transportation service provider associated with the accepted bid will accept a further transportation request, corresponding to the transportation service provider's capabilities, for a backhaul or additional leg; and in the case of the transportation service provider associated with the accepted bid accepts said further transportation request, determining an estimated time of availability for fulfilling the further transportation request, and searching for said further transportation request comprising a description of a load or other transportation service based on the estimated time of availability.