Opus9 Blog

For the 3rd year in a row, Opus9 is proud to be a part of the FreightWaves Top 100 FreightTech companies for 2021. The FreightTech 100 highlights the most innovative companies across the industry.  

Far from dying down, COVID-19 is spreading in many countries around the globe. The result of this has been massive shutdowns of everything – from shops to restaurants to schools to sports – in a variety of nations.

The COVID-19 virus dominates today’s news stories and conversations around conference tables and dinner tables alike. Reporting on the U.S. presidential candidate debates and newsworthy events around the globe have taken a back seat to news and conjecture about the virus, its effect on people and on the economy, how much it’s spread, and how to best stop the spread of the illness. And rightly so. Johns Hopkins University has reported that more than 169,000 people worldwide have contracted COVID-19 and 6,400 related deaths have occurred.

Today, we launched our Transportation Management System (TMS), a tool that enables shippers to manage all of their freight in a centralized place. The new TMS builds on the success of our award-winning Marketplace, which currently allows shippers to get instant freight quotes, book with high quality Opus9 carriers and track their shipments in real-time.

The sweet smell of love is in the air and with it is the excitement of celebrating Valentine’s Day with loved ones. Valentine’s Day is incomplete without one specific item: Roses.

The death toll from the coronavirus has now passed 1,100, and its impact is being felt around the world. Cruise ship occupants are being quarantined off the coast of Japan, nine people have been diagnosed in the U.K., and even the Mobile World Congress in Spain was cancelled. 

The logistics of shipping can be difficult to plan and manage. Full Truckload shipping can be especially challenging. Unlike Less Than Truckload (LTL) shipping, FTL shipping requires you to consider factors such as weight, space, transit times, and the possible need for specialized equipment.

Technological developments are shaping the way shipping logistics professionals manage daily business processes. From real-time tracking to reducing costs, the industry is rapidly gravitating toward innovative tools that help its people accomplish more with less.

The last few months has been a year of unprecedented change in the freight market. Rates are high and continue to rise. The driver shortage is climbing above 50,000 and threatening to hit 100,000 by 2021. And if natural disasters aren’t tightening capacity, then a booming economy is. Here at Opus9, we believe that a shipper’s best defense is to partner with a 3PL whose expertise and knowledge of the industry can mitigate some of these real challenges.

The freight market is volatile by nature, but more so now than ever. After all, capacity is tight and all evidence points to an ever-increasing crunch. A whopping 50,000 shortage of drivers could well exceed 100,000 by 2021 due to an aging driver population, long, lonely hours on the road, and pay that isn’t commensurate with a demanding lifestyle. Couple this with a strong US economy expecting more growth, and you have a recipe for disruption.