MyCarrier's eBOL Solution Touted for Reducing Waste in LTL Industry

Less-than-truckload shipping management platform MyCarrier announced Tuesday the efficiencies its electronic bill of lading (eBOL) capabilities have brought to the industry.

The Scottsdale, Arizona-based technology company said its offering is the first multi-carrier eBOL solution and has proved to "ease freight strains and drive unprecedented operational improvements while reducing carbon emissions and paper waste." 

The company has processed more than 700,000 shipments with eBOLs through the first nine months of 2021 after executing 500,000 shipments on the technology last year. Currently, more than 70% of shipments on MyCarrier's platform are now processed with eBOLs.

MyCarrier said other offerings in the industry provide limited eBOL capabilities with just one or two carriers but its technology can be utilized across 85% of its carrier partners.

"Paper-based procedures in the shipping industry commonly lead to costly errors, reduced productivity, and unnecessary waste," said Tommy Barnes, industry veteran and MyCarrier chief revenue officer. "These have been especially detrimental in the current tight capacity market. Fortunately, our eBOL helps carrier partners plan their network and optimize service levels like never before."  

In collaboration with the Digital LTL Council (DLC), which aims to drive digitization throughout the LTL industry, MyCarrier established industry standards for eBOLs last year.

"MyCarrier is really championing this movement, helping the entire industry to understand that eBOL not only increases value-based visibility for shippers and carriers but is a win for the environment too," Christian Piller, DLC head and VP of real-time transportation visibility provider project44, stated in the press release.

"In fact, if only 700,000 eBOLs replace standard BOLs each day, we estimate that over 17,000 trees will be saved, removing almost 850,000 pounds of CO2 from the atmosphere each year," Piller concluded.

The DLC estimates digitization could save the industry up to $1.2 billion annually.

The press release highlighted comments from one of the biggest carriers in the LTL market, which touted improved efficiencies from eBOLs.

"With eBOL we try to get the data at pickup so we can improve route and linehaul planning," said Todd Polen, VP of pricing at Old Dominion Freight Line ODFL. "This may reduce stop times and may allow us to run less out of route miles. What's fantastic about this is that we're not only saving money and increasing efficiencies, but we're also using less fuel and potentially reducing emissions."

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