LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Six months ago, Lana Batts said she wouldn’t have dreamed of being an executive for an Internet portal. But one day after her last public speech as president of the Truckload Carriers Association, on March 20, the grande dame of trucking was leading a press conference introducing Transportal, an Internet service she said is designed to help her former constituents operate more efficiently.
Batts said she intends through her work at Transportal to try to solve some of the problems facing truckload carriers, such as escalating fuel prices, driver retention and lack of purchasing power. She said she was attracted to Transportal because it was aimed at the truckload sector, it would not be in competition with TCA members, its data would be confidential and it would not be buying trucks.
Transportal calls itself an “affinity-based” company, meaning it acts as a conduit between vendors and small- to mid-size carriers. Some of the Internet companies Transportal will compete with also will provide service to Transportal and its member carriers.
The company will earn income by taking a cut of the money it saves carriers through volume buying discounts, load optimization, fuel planning, improved efficiency at docks and more. There is so much inefficiency that Transportal can take a small piece of the cost savings and still provide significant benefits to carriers, Batts said. “We get to eat what we kill. If we can’t generate enough savings, we can’t eat,” she said.
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