3 Ways Freight APIs Streamline Freight Shipping & Logistics

Application programming interfaces, or APIs, were built for making the complex process of developing web and mobile applications more efficient. APIs are code containers that streamline the process of programming an app by making it modular; instead of programming every functional part of an app or website from scratch, developers can integrate code packaged as an API into their own apps. For example, a developer making an app that puts an animal filter over an image of your face taken by your smartphone camera doesn’t code their own camera program; they simply call the smartphone camera API in their program and focus on the code that’s required to execute their idea.

Webhooks make this technology even more powerful by allowing apps to provide information to other applications in real-time. Together, APIs and webhooks are invaluable for the shipping industry because they’re reliably secure and accurate. This technology makes quoting, booking, tracking, and keeping records of shipments more efficient, intuitive, and reliable.

1. Seamless integration with your website or app

The traditional process for getting a quote for the cost of a shipment starts with determining the freight class, National Motor Freight Classification (NMFC), number of pallets required to fit the freight, and more. Traditionally, all of this information from disparate sources must be manually entered into different complex forms before the carrier can return a quote to the shipper. What’s more, the quote returned is often just an estimate of the price, and shippers often end up paying more than what they initially expected.

When you seamlessly integrate Mothership’s freight quote calculator directly into your checkout, your customer who orders this pallet of kegs online can automatically arrange their freight shipment from your site.

A freight API can instantly retrieve information from a carrier (or network of carriers) and the NMFC database to dramatically simplify this process. For example, Mothership’s freight quote calculator provides an all-inclusive rate based only on freight dimensions, weight, and locations for pickup and dropoff. Whether your customer is shipping less than truckload (LTL) or full truckload (FTL) shipments, connecting to Mothership via API will allow your site to tap into Mothership’s trusted partner network to return rates faster than ever before. Even better, the rates returned through the Mothership API are all-inclusive to allow for the very best customer experience.

Remember, an API is a code container, which means this instant quote calculator can integrate seamlessly into your website’s existing checkout process. Your customers will never have to leave your site to get the information they need to make a purchase and have that purchase delivered.

2. Hassle-free paperless documentation

Staying up-to-date on paperwork is a notoriously painful part of supply chain management. Every order requires a bill of lading (BOL) and a shipping label, then proof of delivery (POD) paperwork upon successful delivery.

Traditionally a majority of this paperwork is done by hand or transcribed from an email, which leaves a lot of room for error. Not only is it an arduous process to record and later reference all of this information on paper, but this system is also insecure, leaving all the data vulnerable to disasters like fires or breaches.

A freight API goes a long way to make shipping documentation secure and efficient to manage. Mothership digitally generates and stores digital BOLs and shipping labels instantly once a shipment is booked, saving businesses hours with document management.

The same goes for PODs at the end of the delivery process. Mothership attaches digital signatures and timestamps to BOLs & PODs to keep everything organized and audit-able. All of this can be accessed through Mothership’s API.

3. Visibility into real-time freight tracking

When drivers are using Mothership’s mobile application, we are able to pinpoint their location down to the foot and relay this information to those who need it the most.

GPS tracking has been a mainstay for both commercial and personal use for years now, but calling carriers on the phone to get the latest on whether or not your driver has checked into a terminal is still a surprisingly common way for shippers to find out the status of their delivery. The good news is, it’s easy to automate the process of pulling GPS coordinates through tracking APIs.

A tracking API allows you to see exactly where a driver is and estimates arrival time based on up-to-date traffic information and coordinates from their GPS tracker. Automatic alerts about status changes and live tracking displays are invaluable resources for you and your team, and the API also allows you to share that information directly with customers. This can reduce or eliminate the need for customer service professionals to answer questions related to shipping status, saving your business time and money.

Learn More

If you’re curious to learn more about what Mothership’s freight API can do for your business, don’t just take our word for it. Learn how the Mothership API helps make returns happy by reading their case study.

Are you a developer? Interested in learning more about the Mothership API? Take a look at our documentation here.