RateFlex — The Operating System for Collaborative Logistics

The Platform

One dashboard. Every opportunity.

This is RateFlex in daily use — live opportunities, equipment positions, and AI recommendations in a single view.

RateFlex — Operations Dashboard Live

12Active opportunities

7Street turns this week

1,240Empty miles avoided

$48.2KNetwork value created

Active Opportunities

Street Turn Identified Joliet, IL · 53′ Domestic · BNSF

Company A inbound, empty 10:00 AM → Company B outbound need, 1:00 PM

Est. savings $340Review match

Match Pending Chicago → Indianapolis · 53′ Domestic

Equipment available, awaiting a compatible outbound need

Equipment Available Kansas City · 40′ International

2 units positioned for street-turn matching

Equipment Availability

53′ Domestic

40′ International

Chassis

AI Recommendations

3 potential reuse opportunities identified in the Chicago market.
Company B’s outbound need matches Company A’s inbound equipment.

Network Map

The IMC Story

The Industry Has Come Full Circle.

Intermodal Marketing Companies helped build the commercial market for rail intermodal. They connected shippers to the railroads, built customer relationships, coordinated trucking, and helped turn rail capacity into transportation solutions customers could actually use.

Then the market changed. Large integrated transportation companies built expansive networks combining technology, rail relationships, trucking capacity, equipment visibility, and national sales organizations. Independent IMCs increasingly found themselves competing not only on service — but against the scale of an entire network.

Competition between IMCs became intense.

But what if the same independent companies could create scale together?

The Change Is Here.

Independent Doesn’t Have to Mean Alone.

RateFlex creates the technology and trust layer that allows independent IMCs to operate as part of something much larger.

Each company keeps:

Its identity.
Its customers.
Its relationships.
Its people.
Its independence.

But through RateFlex, participating companies can gain access to a much broader operating network. Rail-owned equipment can become visible across participating IMCs. Trusted trucking companies can provide the physical capacity connecting that equipment to the network. Technology can identify opportunities across companies that previously operated independently.

The result is something the independent IMC market has never truly had:

Network Scale Without Giving Up Independence.

The Comeback

One IMC may not have the scale of a major integrated provider.
A connected network of IMCs is a very different story.

The giants won on one thing: scale. National asset networks, national visibility, national reach — built over decades and out of reach for any single independent.

RateFlex changes the equation: national visibility without building a national asset network alone. Keep your identity, your customers, your independence — and gain the scale that used to belong only to the big guys.

Company A may have inbound equipment. Company B may have an outbound need for equipment. A network carrier may have the capacity to connect them. Individually, each company sees only part of the opportunity — RateFlex sees the connection. See how a street turn works →

Let’s make a comeback.

Insider Insights

The industry doesn’t have a freight problem.
It has an information problem.

Inbound loads get dropped at a facility for unloading. Another office — the same IMC — needs same-day empties brought into that same facility, not realizing the equipment is already sitting there.

The drayman says he’ll have it there by end of day. Then he hands over the container numbers of the units currently being unloaded — as if they were fresh empties he just brought in. The facility hustles to get those units unloaded so they can load the outbound shipment.

Nobody questions it. Nobody asks for a discount. Nobody realizes they’re paying double-bubble rates for equipment that never left the yard.

The freight was there. The need was there. The only thing missing was someone who could see both sides at once.

RateFlex sees both sides.

One account. Five IMCs.
Lost lane by lane.

A major shipper facility in Iowa. It started with one IMC — then grew to five, all serving the same account, one carrier managing the drop pool for all of them. It was a major account.

Then, lane by lane, it went away. A major integrated provider came in with the assets — trucks, containers — plus contracted rail rates normally reserved for IMCs, and enough freight to book entire trains. No independent could touch those rates.

That was the moment the idea became a mission. Independents will never win playing alone against that kind of scale. But a connected network of IMCs — sharing visibility, sharing the double-bubble savings — is a very different story.

As the carrier, the alternative was becoming a bottom-of-the-barrel outsourced trucker for a giant that doesn’t remember the carrier after peak.

The savings will let an IMC flex its rate down.

Strategic Alliances

Make Connections Where They Never Existed Before.

Transportation has always been a relationship business. The problem is that companies can only work with opportunities they know exist. RateFlex creates new operational connections between independent logistics companies while allowing each company to maintain its identity, customers, relationships, and control.

Example

Company A unloads inbound equipment that would normally be repositioned empty and terminated. Company B needs the same equipment type for a pickup / export load in the same market. RateFlex identifies the street turn and connects the opportunity — one coordinated move instead of two companies independently paying for repositioning. See it in action →

Trust

Shared Intelligence Does Not Mean Shared Ownership.

RateFlex does not require companies to expose:

RateFlex does not

Remove companies from the process.
Take customers away.
Force companies to share confidential business information.
Replace relationships.

Never exposes: customer names · facility names · customer rates · proprietary relationships · sensitive business information

RateFlex does

Connect opportunities.
Improve operational visibility.
Allow companies to control what they share.
Identify viable street-turn matches.
Help create partnerships where relationships may never have existed before.
Turn isolated operational information into shared value.

Better information creates better decisions.

How RateFlex Works

Phase 1: Connect IMCs.

RateFlex begins by creating connections between participating Intermodal Marketing Companies. The first version does not require massive amounts of data — only the basic operational information necessary to determine whether a viable equipment match may exist.

Basic Shared Information

City / State

Where the equipment is or will become available.

Equipment Type

53′ Domestic, 40′ International, chassis — the equipment required or becoming available.

Rail

The applicable railroad or ramp information needed to determine compatibility.

Date / Time

When the equipment becomes available or when it is needed.

That’s it.

No customer name is required.
No delivery facility name is required.
No pickup facility name is required.

RateFlex looks for the match — not the customer.

From Data to Street Turn

From connection to coordinated move.

Once multiple IMCs are connected, RateFlex begins identifying potential street-turn opportunities.

Inbound equipment becomes available. RateFlex matches it to a compatible outbound need in the network. A participating carrier runs the coordinated move — Load → Load instead of Load → Empty — and RateFlex participates in the value created only after the match completes. Walk through a real example →

Value Created Is Shared.

See It In Action

Watch the transaction, not the dots.

Follow a real street-turn opportunity as it moves through the network.

Street Turn Opportunity · Chicago Market

Company A

Inbound Equipment

53′ Domestic
Available: Joliet, IL
Rail: BNSF
Available: Oct. 8 — 10:00 AM

RateFlex

Potential Street Turn Identified

Equipment compatibility
Market compatibility
Timing compatibility

RateFlex Carrier Network

Coordinated Equipment Movement

Carrier Opportunity:
LOAD → LOAD

Instead of: LOAD → EMPTY

Company B

Outbound Equipment Need

53′ Domestic
Needed: Joliet, IL
Rail: BNSF
Needed: Oct. 8 — 1:00 PM

Match Value

Company A

Reduced Empty Repositioning / Termination Cost

Company B

Reduced Equipment Positioning Cost

Network Carrier

Revenue-Producing Move

RateFlex

Percentage of Completed Match

Value Created Is Shared

Equipment Location

See Where Opportunity Exists.

RateFlex does not need to know every detail about a shipment. It needs enough information to understand where equipment is becoming available and where compatible equipment is needed.

Equipment-location visibility helps identify markets where viable street-turn matches can be made.

Instead of simply showing: “There is equipment in Chicago.”

RateFlex asks: “Is there another participating IMC that needs this equipment in Chicago at approximately the same time?”

That is where visibility becomes opportunity.

Internal Street Turns

Your First RateFlex Network May Already Be Your Own Company.

RateFlex does not have to connect two different companies to create value. Large IMCs with multiple offices, branches, customers, or operating locations may already have street-turn opportunities hidden inside their own network.

One office may have:

Inbound equipment becoming empty.

Another may have:

Outbound freight requiring that same equipment.

If those operations are managed separately, the connection may never be made.

1

In-House Street Turns

RateFlex first identifies matches inside your own operation.

2

Trusted Partner Street Turns

Then expands matching into your trusted partner network.

3

Network-Wide Opportunities

And eventually across the full RateFlex network.

Internal Optimization → Partner Collaboration → Network Intelligence

From Street Turns to Network Scale

Street Turns Are Only the Beginning.

The first RateFlex opportunity is straightforward: connect inbound equipment with an outbound need. But every participating IMC, carrier, market, and equipment connection makes the network more useful. Over time, RateFlex can create a shared operating layer across independent companies.

Imagine participating IMCs being able to access:

Rail-owned equipment across a broader network.
Trusted carrier capacity across multiple markets.
Shared operational opportunities.
AI-enabled equipment and capacity matching.
National visibility without building a national asset network alone.

One IMC may not have the scale of a major integrated transportation provider.
A connected network of IMCs can be a very different story.

The Virtual Fleet

What If Shared Resources Could Operate Like Your Own Network?

The largest transportation providers gain an advantage from network scale. They can see equipment. They can see capacity. They can reposition resources. They can connect markets. RateFlex is designed to bring similar network intelligence to independent companies.

Not by requiring them to purchase thousands of assets.

Not by forcing them to merge.

Not by asking them to give up their customers.

But by connecting rail-owned equipment, independent IMCs, and trusted trucking capacity through one collaborative operating network. To the participating company, that broader network begins to function more like an extension of its own operation.

Access Without Ownership.
Scale Without Consolidation.

The RateFlex Economic Model

No Per-Seat SaaS Fee.

Traditional software charges companies simply for having access. RateFlex is different. There is no charge simply because another employee needs to use the platform. RateFlex participates when the network successfully creates value.

A completed street turn generates value for multiple participants

Company A

Avoids the cost of repositioning and terminating empty equipment.

Company B

Avoids the cost of positioning empty equipment for its outbound load.

Carrier

Turns an empty leg into a revenue-producing move.

RateFlex

Earns an agreed percentage — only when the match completes.

Value Created Is Shared.

Pricing Philosophy

From Access to Outcomes.

The RateFlex model aligns technology cost with measurable operational outcomes.

Traditional SaaS

More Users = More Cost

RateFlex

Successful Match = Shared Value

No Per-Seat Pricing.
No Paying Just for Access.
RateFlex Participates in the Value It Helps Create.

AI-Powered Matching

Find the Connection Humans Cannot Always See.

A dispatcher may know the equipment available inside their own operation. They cannot realistically know the equipment position and requirements of dozens — and eventually hundreds — of other participating operations. RateFlex can.

Location + Equipment + Rail + Time

AI-enabled matching continuously evaluates basic operational information across the network, then identifies potential street turns for participating companies to review.
Technology finds the opportunity. Transportation people decide whether it works.

The Bigger Vision

Yesterday, IMCs Helped Build the Intermodal Market.
Tomorrow, They Can Build the Network.

The industry has changed. The technology has changed. The competition has changed. Now the operating model can change too.

RateFlex gives independent companies a way to combine the advantages they already have — relationships, rail access, equipment, trucking capacity, market knowledge, and people — with technology capable of connecting those resources across a much larger network.

One company doesn’t have to own every asset.
One company doesn’t have to employ every driver.
One company doesn’t have to control every market.

The network creates the scale.

Unite. Share. Thrive.
The Change Is Here.

Core RateFlex Story

One Network. Three Winners. Shared Value.

Inbound equipment is unloaded. A compatible outbound need is identified. One coordinated move — Load → Load instead of Load → Empty. Company A saves. Company B saves. The carrier earns. RateFlex participates in the value created.

That’s RateFlex.
Technology built around how logistics actually works.

Become a Strategic Partner

Join the Logistics Revolution.

If you run an IMC, a drayage operation, a brokerage, or a fulfillment company — and you believe independent companies are stronger together — let’s talk.

The Operating System for Collaborative Logistics

One dashboard. Every opportunity.

The Industry Has Come Full Circle.

Independent Doesn’t Have to Mean Alone.

One IMC may not have the scale of a major integrated provider.A connected network of IMCs is a very different story.

The industry doesn’t have a freight problem.It has an information problem.

One account. Five IMCs.Lost lane by lane.

Make Connections Where They Never Existed Before.

Shared Intelligence Does Not Mean Shared Ownership.

Phase 1: Connect IMCs.

From connection to coordinated move.

Watch the transaction, not the dots.

See Where Opportunity Exists.

Your First RateFlex Network May Already Be Your Own Company.

Street Turns Are Only the Beginning.

What If Shared Resources Could Operate Like Your Own Network?

No Per-Seat SaaS Fee.

From Access to Outcomes.

Find the Connection Humans Cannot Always See.

Yesterday, IMCs Helped Build the Intermodal Market.Tomorrow, They Can Build the Network.

One Network. Three Winners. Shared Value.

Join the Logistics Revolution.

One IMC may not have the scale of a major integrated provider.
A connected network of IMCs is a very different story.

The industry doesn’t have a freight problem.
It has an information problem.

One account. Five IMCs.
Lost lane by lane.

Yesterday, IMCs Helped Build the Intermodal Market.
Tomorrow, They Can Build the Network.