Robert Stewart is founder and self-driving owner of Stewart Transport Scotland Ltd. By using IMPARGO for truck route optimization and instant quoting, he saves “easily one hour per truck and per week”. Stewart dispatches his 4 trucks as a self-driving owner together with his transport manager from the road. To utilize his trucks he relies not only on his direct customers but also on several freight exchanges.

IMPARGO saves time and helps to instantly create profitable offers

Finding the right competitive price for a quote is difficult, time consuming and bears the risk of driving under cost, if not calculated properly. “Before I worked with IMPARGO I needed a lot of time to gather all the information to find the cheapest route in order to give a competitive but still profitable quote”, explains Stewart. He gathered the necessary information like mileage, toll cost, ferry information from several different systems. This includes Google Maps, websites of toll providers or Excel only to roughly understand the cost of the tour. “Now with IMPARGO I can do that nearly instantly. IMPARGO saves me easily one hour per truck and per week. It got invaluable for me”, praises Stewart.

With the certainty that the information is reliable and up-to-date, Steward can find all information needed for the quoting process in one system - the IMPARGO CargoApps. Stewart highlights that he “not only can save time, but also can speed up the quoting process tremendously.” In a fast running transportation business fast quoting with a solid cost understanding is a competitive advantage in negotiations and highly appreciated by the customer.

Optimizing routes and costs even from the driver seat

“The CargoApps system is absolutely fantastic. I adore it. Unlike widespread tools like Google Maps, it gives me reliable information about my transportation cost and helps me to find the optimal route with the minimal cost for a specific order”, Steward highlights. “I often do not know which orders I will get as return loads for my trucks. However knowing your cost before you start the transport is better for further planning, optimization of equipment and optimization of manpower”, Stewart comments. He adds that “it is absolutely fantastic” that he can use the CargoApps from everywhere via laptop or phone - e.g. when he is waiting for unloading.

IMPARGO reduces risk and increases cost transparency

Before Robert Steward used the CargoApps there was always a high risk of wrongly calculating the cost of a tour, because the calculation was “a rough estimate”. Calculating only “car” mileage with Google Maps, gathering toll information from several websites and estimating vehicle, driver as well as fuel cost always felt a bit like a gamble for Stewart. Often he found the data not reliable enough, which resulted in additional work as well as loss of money. “The beauty of the system is that you reliably get correct information”, highlights Stewart. Reassessing the data is no longer needed.

Knowing the costs beforehand enables Stewart to estimate the cash flow and therefore he avoids unforeseen cash shortages. “I only knew my real cost at the end of the month, when the bill for the toll providers came”, explains Stewart. But not only the cash flow but also the profitability of the business is now well known ahead. This is crucial for a healthy business, since the management can react earlier and plan better. “Overall it is much less stressful, to have certainty about the wellbeing of the company”, Stewart adds.