Load board can be defined as a special internet resource/site where freight brokers and road haulers exchange information to find a perfect match for beneficial collaboration.
The concept is quite clear to perceive. Each party strives to achieve its goals – road haulers are looking for profitable cargoes, for this purpose they even relocate their trucks, while freight brokers are in search of the most budget-efficient transport means. For this purpose they fill in this website with information on trucks and cargoes.
How is it done in practice? When on duty as a freight broker you need to transport a 53-foot loaded van from Buffalo, New York to Atlanta, Georgia for one of your shippers you can simply go to the website and find the offer that matches best your requirements. You get contacts from the proper hauler; negotiate further with him on van insurance and make other agreements to arrange for on-time freight of a load.
As a hauler confronting a challenge to relocate a 48-foot flatbed cargo back from Houston, Texas to Birmingham, Alabama you could check a load board for a freight broker with proper loading capacities at his disposal. The next step, you build a contract and arrange for all necessary aspects of the deal including the load secure to set the van on route.
So far I have no idea of how many such load boards there are on the Internet because they constantly add new to them on a monthly basis.
Based on ten years of my experience I can name the top five of them worth exploring when it comes to facilitation of freight broker and freight carrier business and logistics.
1) truckstop.com
2) dat.com
3) getloaded.com
4) 123loadboard.com/
5) directfreight.com