Ryder focuses on e-commerce: Transportation key to sustaining growth

April 1, 2000
M. Anthony Burns has seen the future for the transportation industry - and that future is in electronic commerce.Chairman and CEO for Ryder, a $5-billion global logistics and transportation provider, Burns believes transportation will be a key asset to sustaining the growth and viability of e-commerce."If the dot.com companies don't have fulfillment and supply chain management procedures in place,

M. Anthony Burns has seen the future for the transportation industry - and that future is in electronic commerce.

Chairman and CEO for Ryder, a $5-billion global logistics and transportation provider, Burns believes transportation will be a key asset to sustaining the growth and viability of e-commerce.

"If the dot.com companies don't have fulfillment and supply chain management procedures in place, they won't succeed," he said during hiskeynote speech at the 12th annual Ryder Food & Beverage Forum at the Doral Golf Resort & Spa outside Miami, Fla.

"That's why we are so focused on e-commerce for our future growth. We are managing warehouses for Dell Computers, supplying Delphi automotive components just-in-time to factories, and providing vehicles for Internet grocery companies like HomeGrocer.com," Burns continued. "Almost 99% of e-commerce today is business-to-business, not business-to-consumer as everyone predicted. That's really where the future is."

Burns added that transportation providers that can adapt to the demands of e-commerce and ally themselves with dot.com ventures are the ones who will come out on top.

"E-commerce is totally changing the way America - and the world - does business," he said. "That change is here to stay and is accelerating. Those companies that can adapt to those changes will be the winners in the future."

Ryder System Inc. and LTL carrier Central Transportation International (CTI) have agreed to serve as "anchor tenants" for i2 Technologies Inc.'s FreightMatrix Web site. The new site is described by i2 as a comprehensive business-to-business marketplace integrating logistics planning, commerce, and execution. Ryder plans to serve as the site's official third-party logistics provider, while CTI will offer LTL service to site users. -S.K.

Yellow Corp. will enter the e-shipping industry with the second quarter launch of Transportation.com, an online transportation marketplace for shippers, carriers, and private fleet operators. Jim Ritchie, formerly vp of Ryder Integrated Logistics, will head up the new venture, which will be headquartered in Overland Park, Kan.

"Transportation.com will take the complexity out of daily transactions, and provide shippers and carriers cost-effective transportation solutions," Ritchie said.

In addition to logistics consulting services, the site will offer a central dispatch station, fuel optimization services, a business center for truck fleets, an auction yard for buying and selling used equipment and parts, and a general store for new parts and equipment.

Version 2.4 of the BellSouth Powertool software development kit will let developers create custom interactive systems for the RIM Inter@ctive Pager 950 with GPS capability and Microsoft Exchange e-mail access. The kit is offered free of charge to qualified developers. 312

The Mile Marker Trip Reporting System from eTP Systems Inc. combines driver inputs and vehicle odometer readings with location information gathered by a GPS (global positioning system) receiver. The captured data is stored by the onboard computer on a SmartCard, which can then be downloaded at the end of a trip by a standard PC equipped with a card reader. The company also offers IFTA reporting services based on the collected data. 293

SBC Communications Inc., the parent company of Ameritech, says it will install 28,200 HighwayMaster Series 5005S mobile communications and tracking systems in its utility service fleets. The systems will provide wireless voice and data communications over HighwayMaster's cellular network, as well as GPS-based vehicle tracking. The new units will be installed over the next 10 months. SBC's various communications companies currently have HighwayMaster systems in approximately 15,000 service vehicles.

John P. Lanigan Jr. has been named president and COO of Logistics.com, an Internet-based provider of decision-support applications and services. Formerly, Lanigan had been COO of Schneider National Inc.

Truckload carrier Schneider National has renewed its OmniTRACS mobile communications contract for "an extended term," according to an announcement from Qualcomm Inc. The first fleet to sign up for Qualcomm's satellite-based messaging and tracking service, Schneider has been using OmniTRACS since 1988.

Entrade Inc. and Associates First Capital Corp. are teaming up to launch TheTruckCenter.com, a business-to-business e-commerce site intended to function as a marketplace for the sale of trucks and related services, including financing, certification, warranty and third-party inspections.

HighwayMaster Communications, Dallas, has named David Bagley vp-network operations, Bobby Lambert vp-information technology, and Ken Vandagriff, vp-customer operations. HighwayMaster provides wireless mobile communications, fleet management, and mobile asset-tracking solutions to the commercial trucking, and service-vehicle industries.

About the Author

Sean Kilcarr | Editor in Chief

Sean reports and comments on trends affecting the many different strata of the trucking industry -- light and medium duty fleets up through over-the-road truckload, less-than-truckload, and private fleet operations Also be sure to visit Sean's blog Trucks at Work where he offers analysis on a variety of different topics inside the trucking industry.

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