Technology provider and trucking association SMC³ is developing an ‘industry platform’ that uses application program interfaces to link shippers, trucking companies and logistics providers.

The platform, called CzarLite XL, is designed to speed supply chain communications by providing a neutral advanced tariff system when negotiating LTL (Less-Than-Truckload) shipping rates, according to Atlanta-headquartered SMC³.

CzarLite XL “gives customer an adjusted baseline that reflects modern market conditions and provides a complete picture of the LTL marketplace so they can achieve a better understanding of how the pricing system relates to modern economic factors and the LTL pricing market,” it said in a statement.

It also features rating in both classification and density standards, 139 high-cost areas and a reduction of allowed minimum charges to one per shipment, and, due to its repeatable methodology, will permit SMC³ to repeat the analysis process as freight flows change and the marketplace shifts, making adjustments as needed.

Among other things, the re-indexed base rate “addresses the pervasive industry issue of rampant discounting by reducing the numbers involved in the entire pricing system in order to shrink the level of discounting required,” SMC³ said.

Shippers, carriers and third-party logistics providers, it added, “will pay relatively the same net rate as before re-indexing while minimizing their negotiated discounts. These smaller numbers will streamline operations and lessen the growing burden on overworked TMS solutions.”

SMC³ developed the metric behind the new CzarLite XL platform by conducting a blind analysis of 116.8 million freight bills from 33 of the largest LTL carriers in the U.S.