In the European freight exchange market, several digital platforms have for years connected transport demand and supply. However, according to Claudio Carrano, founder and CEO of Golia360, technological developments and the security issues emerging in the sector now require tools that differ from those used in the past. With this objective, the company has developed Golia Exchange together with Trans.eu, a new platform designed to integrate freight exchange functions, operational planning and digital services for road haulage companies. The project forms part of the service ecosystem developed by the 360Pay Group.
Carrano recalls that the first platforms had the merit of opening the market and helping operators understand the advantages of these tools. Over time, however, several structural problems have emerged. “The two typical parties in a freight exchange relationship cannot see each other, do not know each other and have no useful elements to assess one another,” he observes. In a sector such as transport, he adds, quickly understanding who the counterparty is represents an essential factor.
For this reason, the Golia Exchange project revolves around what Carrano defines as a “relational freight exchange”. The aim is to reduce the distance between operators and place relationships at the centre of the system. Integration with the digital tools already used by companies also plays an important role. According to Carrano, a freight exchange today can no longer be an isolated system but must instead be embedded within a broader digital service ecosystem capable of interacting with companies’ operational platforms.
Another key element of the project concerns the composition of the operator network. The idea is to populate the platform with companies already known to the group and whose reliability has been verified over time. Many of these businesses already use the group’s financial and operational services, such as those linked to toll payments. “When you pay tolls on behalf of a company you need to know it and work with it for years,” Carrano explains. This makes it possible to build a user base with an already verified level of reliability. The aim is also to shift attention away from price towards other factors that influence service quality. “Price does not disappear, but it becomes secondary compared with elements such as reliability, service quality and the value of the relationship.”
Security has been a major factor in the platform’s development. In recent years Europe has seen a rise in fraud carried out through freight exchanges, with non-existent companies or falsified identities entering digital platforms. Carrano emphasises that the preliminary selection of operators represents a first barrier against these phenomena. However, the strategy also includes further protection tools. Golia360 is working on the digitalisation of the contractual and legal aspects of the relationship between the parties. The aim is to track negotiations and formalise the steps of the agreement digitally, making it easier to manage any disputes. “Where preventive activity has not been sufficient, we have already prepared the ground to be able to address and resolve any distortions,” Carrano explains.
From a technological perspective, the platform has been developed internally by Golia360. Matteo Maselli, the group’s chief technical and operations officer, explains that one of the main objectives is to bring operational planning closer to the freight exchange by using data already available within companies’ systems. Previously, Golia offered integration with the Timocom platform, but this mainly involved displaying available loads within the system’s operational map. With Golia Exchange, by contrast, a deeper integration with Trans.eu has been achieved. “We have created a shared database and a real integration of data,” Maselli explains.
The platform introduces a two-level model. The first is a private freight exchange accessible to certified Golia Exchange users and clients of 360 services. Within this restricted environment, operators can publish and negotiate loads with companies that have already passed a verification phase. The second level is the public Trans.eu exchange, which can be accessed when a load does not find a match within the restricted network. According to Maselli, this model makes it possible to combine control with market breadth. “In the private exchange I know that the companies have been certified by us or by 360Pay and I have a higher level of trust,” he explains. If necessary, the operator can still publish the load on the public platform, while retaining a distinctive element: Golia Exchange users are identified with a badge indicating their membership of the network.
Another feature of the platform concerns the use of operational data to support price negotiation. The system uses information such as vehicle type, the driver’s remaining driving time, loading and unloading time windows, kilometre costs, hourly costs and fuel consumption. On this basis it produces an estimate of the potential transport cost. “We project the costs and suggest a price range within which to negotiate,” says Maselli. The value does not represent a binding rate, but rather a reference point that helps the haulier assess the economic sustainability of the operation.
The system also uses vehicle telemetry and geolocation data, when available, to improve the accuracy of estimates. Maselli explains that the platform analyses usual routes, available vehicles and the geographical area in which the company operates in order to prioritise the most relevant loads. The objective is to reduce the time required to identify transport opportunities within a very broad offer. In the future, artificial intelligence algorithms are expected to be introduced to automatically suggest the loads most consistent with a company’s routes and operational characteristics.
The first development phase is mainly aimed at gathering feedback from users and refining the platform’s functions. Subsequent phases will involve progressive integration with the other services of the 360 Group. Possible future developments could include integration with ferry booking services or with customs activities. In a future scenario, when acquiring an international transport job, the user could receive from the platform direct proposals for the services needed to complete the journey.
Another area of development concerns the sharing of operational data with shippers. In collaboration with Trans.eu, Golia360 is evaluating the integration of vehicle geolocation to automatically certify the collection and delivery stages of goods. In the longer term, the accumulation of data could enable the development of more advanced transport cost calculation models. According to Maselli, this is one of the main challenges, because the actual cost of a route depends on numerous factors that change over time, such as fuel prices, tolls, tunnel charges or contractual conditions with service providers.
M.L.
