CCJ Innovators profiles carriers and fleets that have found innovative ways to overcome trucking’s challenges. If you know a carrier that has displayed innovation, contact CCJ Chief Editor Jason Cannon at jasoncannon@randallreilly.com or 800-633-5953.
Driver one, starting in Oregon, will bring a Central California-bound load from Oregon to Northern California. A second driver arrives from Central California with an Oregon-bound load. The two drivers will swap trailers halfway and return to where they started so the loads can carry on to their final destination.
That’s how truckload carrier Rollzi operates.
For the small Seattle-based carrier, the Interstate 5 corridor that runs the length of California and beyond to the Canadian border is a running track, and its drivers and trucks are the track team.
Boosted by its proprietary technology, its single-lane relay strategy allows multiple drivers to combine to deliver loads along the corridor across California, Oregon and Washington rather than a single driver traveling the full distance. This approach allows the company to increase utilization and drive more revenue per truck than a traditional carrier, while improving efficiency for shipping customers and offering better pay and quality of life for drivers, said Rollzi Co-founder and CEO Damien Hutchins.
“The strategy and the technology go hand in hand; you can't have the strategy without the tech, and the tech is not as valuable without the strategy,” he said. “I get this question a lot where they ask, ‘What tool would you buy to be a tech forward trucking company?’ I think what's missing in that question is, ‘What is the strategy you're going to marry to it?”
The company’s approach focuses on one lane at a time.
