Strengthening Carrier Relationships and Ensuring Transport Security. SL Transport Case Study

FreightON solutions have become a way for SL Transport to strengthen relationships with carriers and ensure transport safety.

About SL Transport 

SL Transport is a transport and freight forwarding company with branches in Rzeszów, Kraków, Lublin, and the Czech Republic. It operates its own fleet — including both trucks and vans up to 3.5 tonnes. The company specialises in cargo transport from Germany, Italy, and Spain, working primarily with trusted carriers under long-term contracts.

SL Transport in numbers:

• 90+ employees
• 3 branches in Poland
• 1 branch in the Czech Republic
• 1,200 orders handled monthly
• 2019 established

Business Challenges 

1. Time-Consuming Carrier Verification 

Freight forwarders had to verify each carrier manually, following internal procedures — including licence checks, liability insurance, company registration details, and reviews on the Trans.eu platform. Even with smooth communication, the process typically took 7–10 minutes. In less ideal cases, forwarders had to wait for missing documents to be provided. The entire responsibility for dealing with a spot carrier rests with the freight forwarder. 

Each branch used its own list of trusted carriers, as there was no effective way to share this information across the organisation. As a result, SL Transport wasn’t fully leveraging its internal know-how.

2. Difficulty in Attracting and Retaining Trusted Carriers 

Good carriers are in high demand. While SL Transport offered preferential terms to long-term partners (such as faster payment), it lacked an efficient way to communicate these benefits and demonstrate its reliability as a principal worth building long-term cooperation with.

3. Shifting Work Preferences

An increasing number of freight forwarders — particularly from younger generations — prefer written communication over phone calls. SL Transport needed tools to enable fast, modern, and convenient interactions with carriers.

4. Maintaining High Service Quality

With order volumes growing 15–20% year-on-year, maintaining a consistently high level of service became critical. In SL Transport’s experience, working with trusted carriers significantly reduces the risk of delays, damage, and claims.

The Solution: FreightON Communication Tools and Private Freight Exchanges

SL Transport implemented Private Freight Exchanges to increase the frequency of cooperation with trusted carriers, ensure cargo safety for its clients, and streamline the daily work of freight forwarders.

Our dedicated exchange — SL Private Marketplace — works flawlessly, and I only plan to develop it further. It helps us guarantee safety, timeliness, and quality of service — and it’s fast. We now publish the majority of our freight there.

Serhii Yatsura
Owner of SL Transport

1. Greater Load Security

SL Transport operates two Private Freight Exchanges with more than 5,500 carefully vetted carriers who meet internal safety standards. This model led to:

• Over 85% fewer complaints
• More frequent collaboration with predictable, reliable carriers
• Reduced human error, as all arrangements are saved in the system
• Greater price predictability

The privacy of publication is also a major benefit for shippers with whom they have contracts.

2. Improved Forwarder Efficiency

Forwarders prefer publishing loads in the Private Freight Exchange — where there’s no need to verify each carrier from scratch. This saves 7–10 minutes per shipment, freeing up time to handle more enquiries and orders. That’s a key factor in maintaining high service quality and retaining customers.

With FreightON, all communication with carriers and freight allocation now happens within a single platform — Trans.eu. Sending an offer via private message or posting it to the Private Freight Exchange is much easier than calling or juggling multiple messengers.

When multiple carriers respond to a listing, forwarders can instantly see which ones are trusted partners, and naturally choose to work with them.

The Private Exchange has become a shared, centralised database of active and verified carriers — accessible to all SL Transport branches and teams. This has expanded their pool of reliable subcontractors while significantly reducing verification time.

3. Carrier Retention and Stronger Relations

Forwarders now use several tools to assign freight more effectively:

• Preferred Carrier Offers – direct outreach to regular and contracted carriers, even those who aren’t currently active on the Trans.eu platform (they’re notified via SMS)
• Private Freight Exchanges – a fast way to reach a broad group of verified carriers and receive relationship-based price quotes
• Multipublications – used for urgent freight; however, priority is still given to carriers from the Private Exchange

Carriers know that they’re receiving exclusive offers not published publicly. This builds loyalty, streamlines the cooperation process, and strengthens SL Transport’s reputation. Trusted carriers are more likely to accept freight because they know the terms and trust the company.

FreightON also allows SL Transport to mark out and reward regular carriers — for example, by offering better payment terms. These perks are clearly visible in the Trans.eu messenger description, which boosts the attractiveness of their offers, especially in competitive regions like Eastern Poland. The company has even noticed that more carriers are proactively reaching out to start working with them.

Cooperation within the Private Freight Exchanges has also led to more positive reviews from carriers and contributed to building a better reputation on the Trans.eu platform.

Key Results at a Glance

• Increased transport safety – fewer claims, lost or damaged goods
• More frequent cooperation with reliable carriers, guaranteeing high quality of transport
• Improved forwarder productivity – saving 7–10 minutes per shipment = up to 200 hours/month saved on carrier verification alone
• Effective, centralised communication with carriers
• Greater brand visibility on the Trans.eu platform
• Improved cost predictability based on past performance