NASSTRAC and CSCMP roll out ‘Strategic Shipping Program’

A collaboration announced today between two esteemed shipper groups, the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) and the National Strategic Shippers Transportation Council (NASSTRAC) is taking direct aim at building and enhancing trust between shippers and carriers.

Entitled “The Strategic Shipping Program,” this collaboration’s main objective is to help shippers and carriers augment their interactions with each other and foster and maintain trusted relationships, ultimately providing shippers with what the CSCMP and NASSTRAC labeled a “Shipper of Choice” distinction, which they said has, up to this point, has received more talk than action.

NASSTRAC Executive Director Gail Rutkowski told LM that the idea for The Strategic Shipping Program began to germinate, when NASSTRAC kicked off its “Perfect Storm Webinar series and subsequently with its Logistics 2030 Transportation Study

“It became clear that transportation professionals needed help in becoming more strategic and less tactical in their approach to transportation management,” she explained. “And it also became clear that this market was more than a cyclical adjustment, there were real systemic issues that would need to be addressed.  This coupled with the extreme market conditions affecting pricing and capacity throughout 2018 laid the groundwork for this program.”

CSCMP and NASSTRAC noted that The Strategic Shipping Program will form a shipper-carriers collaboration, in which shippers will agree, on a voluntary basis and of their own volition, to a code a conduct that they will follow in managing their carrier and driver relationships.

And when those shippers become a NASSTRAC Strategic Shipper, carriers will know “they have chosen to follow the code of conduct befitting a quality transportation operation with integrity and transparency.”  

NASSTRAC’s Rutkowski did not hesitate to list the various benefits of The Strategic Shipping Program for both shippers and carriers, including:

• focusing on continuous improvement of shipper-carrier relationships;
• formalizing the Strategic Shipper program to make it easier for carriers to identify shippers they want to work with.  (Rutkowski said CSCMP and NASSTRAC hope that this program will be akin to the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval for shippers); and
• to have shippers self-regulate their dwell time at their facilities to avoid government intervention/overreach

The Strategic Shipper Program will be overseen by a committee comprised of NASSTRAC members that represent shippers, a truckload and LTL carrier, and a member of the board of directors at the Transportation Intermediaries Association, a partner of the program. And a key tool that will be leveraged in the program is the Dock411 platform, which CSMCP and NASSTRAC said allows shippers to control their brand and the information published, with shippers controlling their shipping commitments to provide transparency to their carrier and also receiving analytics for freight rate negotiations.

“The Dock411 platform will allow shippers to control the information (their ‘brand’) published about their facilities,” said Rutkowski. “Shippers can post videos, photos, and other gating requirements and policies for the carriers.  They can also publish average wait times.  Any information that will ease the loading/unloading process will be contained in this listing.  Shippers will receive notification when dock reviews are posted by drivers/carriers.  The app will inform carriers if the location is part of the NASSTRAC Strategic Shipper Program.”

Rutkowski added that NASSTRAC will be using this data to summarize industry information regarding dwell time and other metrics to share with its members and use while advocating for shippers.

“Associations like NASSTRAC and CSCMP exist exactly for this reason,” said Rick Blasgen, CEO of CSCMP, in a statement.  “We are uniquely positioned as a neutral gathering point for shippers who seek to improve their transportation practices.  Our Strategic Shipper Program is designed to help shippers, carriers, and distribution centers ensure quick a turnaround of truck drivers and equipment which is fundamental in managing transportation costs.”