Fresno Transport Inc

Competing Load Boards Wage Battle in Court

Denver-based transportation management software company DAT Solutions, whose DAT One app is one of the trucking industry’s largest digital load boards, filed a lawsuit in January against Seattle-based digital freight network Convoy for allegedly stealing DAT’s proprietary information in creating its own competing load board.

According to the Convoy website, a load board “is an online marketplace or matching system that allows shippers and freight brokers to find carriers for their loads, while helping carriers find loads to keep their truck full and maximize their earnings.”

DAT’s board has about 900,000 loads posted daily. Over the last 44 years, the board has racked up $110 billion in spot market transactions. In fact, for most spot market listings, DAT is the first and only choice for most shippers and brokers.

Even though Convoy was a customer of DAT beginning in 2016, it could legally only use DAT’s load board to connect its shippers with carriers, DAT said in the filing. It did not give Convoy the right to build its own load board to attract other brokers.

In its lawsuit, DAT labels Convoy a “bad actor” that used DAT data illegally. In its response, Convoy denies the accusations and calls DAT a “monopolist,” describing DAT’s load board as “antiquated in many ways.”

Convoy introduced its load board at the end of 2021 not long after DAT refused to renew its contract with Convoy. DAT claims that Convoy was building the platform as far back as 2020 while still under contract. DAT’s evidence comes from a Nov. 2021 Convoy press release which said its board was the “result of more than a year” of preparation.

The lawsuit has been working its way through a federal district court in Oregon and has gone back and forth with Convoy filing a motion in March to dismiss DAT’s suit.

Both sides have filed opposing motions in recent months. In late August, Convoy filed a motion opposing DAT’s motion to dismiss Convoy’s June claim.

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Glider Kit Trucks Made Obsolete by Emission Standards

With the passage of stringent emission standards, the glider kit will soon become a relic of the past. According to the Fitzgerald Glider Kits website, a glider kit is “a new truck without an engine or transmission” that has been remanufactured. The name comes from the fact that these units are simply cab and chassis without an engine or transmission.

Gliders would then be fitted with a used engine, transmission, and rear axle. These older engines produced more nitrogen oxides and particulate matter than is now permissible. In fact, gliders produced up to 50 times more emissions than new trucks.

Fitzgerald was once the leader in the glider kit industry but has now moved to manufacturing all new trucks because glider kits do not comply with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Phase 2 greenhouse gas emissions standards.

In 2018, the EPA also mandated that each glider kit manufacturer could only produce 300 gliders each year. The pandemic soon followed, and the sales of gliders plummeted, leading companies like Fitzgerald to change their business models.

“We played that out for a couple of years and then made our diversification move, which was into new trucks,” said Tommy Fitzgerald Jr. on YouTube. “Now we’re selling brand new Peterbilts.” Fitzgerald is now the top investor in four Peterbilt dealerships in Alabama and two in Virginia.

In past years, as many as 10,000 gliders hit the road. But with the new standards the glider has become obsolete. The loss of this cheaper alternative to buying a new truck has come as somewhat of a shock to owner-operators.

“I think it was a big hit to owner-operators,” said Lewie Pugh, executive vice president at the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA). “In my opinion, as somebody who has owned trucks for 20-plus years, it was just the serviceability and the dependability of the glider that was enticing for an owner-operator.”

But not everyone is mourning the end of the glider. Glen Kedzie, energy and environmental counselor for the American Trucking Associations said that the usage of gliders was “not fair to those people in our industry who have bought new equipment to offset the higher emissions with the older equipment—and paid a lot more money. We’re doing our part to offset emissions.”

The loss of the glider kit has heavily impacted Fitzgerald, a company which once employed over 200 workers but is now down to ten.

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