The app also facilitates street turns, something importers, exporters, motor carriers, chassis providers and terminals have long desired, but found difficult to achieve in many cases. Interchanging equipment in the field instead of the terminal eliminates a trip in each direction with an empty container, saving the shipper money, and reducing traffic congestion and pollution.

Once a shipment is delivered, the Cargomatic app presents the driver with a list of empty containers to choose from in their vicinity for the return trip to the port.

Drayage companies can use the technology to augment their own capacity. In such a scenario, they act as both a shipper and a carrier, Parker explained.

An independent owner, for example, can enter the containers into the Cargomatic system and have another trucker pick them up, as well as operate its own trucks against the free-flow pile. The trucker gets billed for the moves made by someone else and gets paid for hauls it makes on its own.

“We have carriers participating on both sides of the market place today,” Parker said.

Cargomatic sets the rate for drayage service booked through its platform.

So far, Cargomatic has not monetized the free-flow app. It is giving it away for free, because it wants everyone to do free flow. In the future, the company plans to add a small transaction fee, Parker said.

Shippers, however, can pay for Cargomatic to create dedicated capacity for their truck providers, something that Williams-Sonoma, among others, is doing to get its containers out of the terminal faster, he said.

Parker said his company also plans to automate the billing process for the free-flow equipment exchanges, as well as any per-diem fees assessed by terminals for late equipment returns. Currently, that responsibility falls on the shoulders of the trucker, who typically pays any penalty fees and then has to bill back the shipper.

Cargomatic can help because the system has visibility into who was at fault. When the container is dropped off at the distribution center, the driver notes it in the app, which creates a time stamp and starts the clock on the available free time.

Parker said the system is being tested and will be rolled out later this year. 我们对于国际货运代理集装箱安全快捷的运输方式最为熟悉，门到门服务是我们最为突出优势之一。我们将为客户提供安全、优质、专业的集装箱运输服务，对于新老客户的每一次托付，我们秉承信誉第一的原则，及时并且尽心的完成每一次任务。 我们以上海港为中心，提供上海市区、江、浙、沪、皖、其他省市间陆上国内、国际集装箱运输服务。 为适应物流发展的需要，合作车队所有车辆均安装了GPS全球卫星定位系统，对运输货物及车辆进行实时跟踪，为客户提供真正的全方位，全过程＂的专业运输服务。