A Place in Cyberspace for Small Carriers

What are you waiting for? The Internet has become a potent force in the transportation industry, resulting in fewer trucks running empty miles, customers who are content knowing where their loads are and smoother running operations.

Yet only a small percentage of trucking operations with between one and 100 power units are traversing the online business byways. While around 35% of them have informative Web sites, few small to medium-sized trucking companies make use of the abundance of software now available to add efficiencies and services to their business operations, according to industry experts.

With all the resources large motor carriers have invested to get their businesses online - to benefit their employees, trading partners and customers - now might be the best time for smaller operations to follow suit. The U.S. Small Business Administration reported that small businesses - those with fewer than 10 employees - account for 47% of sales in the United States. It predicts that 85% of these businesses will conduct all or part of their business over the Web by 2002.

The full article appears in the latest issue of iTech, which is a supplement to Transport Topics. It is included in the Aug. 6 print edition. Subscribe to Transport Topics today!