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| Frequently asked questions |
What do the services offered by AccessTransport consist of?
AccessTransport.ca is an interactive Website offering carriers and shippers a virtual premise to do business. AccessTransport allows the purchase and selling of freight transportation services via closed bids. In other words, the service enables shippers to post RFQs for shipments and carriers to bid on-line on those RFQs. Any transportation company or intermediary may register as a carrier, and any company that needs transportation services may register as a shipper. It is possible that intermediaries may wish to register as shippers and that transportation companies may also wish to register as shippers, thereby allowing them to assign transportations agreements to sub-contractors. It's very simple. All you have to do is go to the page that contains the registration form and fill out the required information. A customer service representative will validate your request and then send you a confirmation of your registration by e-mail. AccessTransport offers a service suitable for transportation companies of all sizes. A few of those, most probably the smaller companies, may choose to find all their transportation contracts on the AccessTransport site. Larger companies that usually deal with a broker will use the site to bid on transportation agreements in order to fully utilise their available transportation capacity. AccessTransport.ca is designed to reduce your workload and therefore is well suited to the requirements of SMEs. Automated processes that match up shippers and carriers replace active searches by phone or fax. When a shipper posts a new RFQ, an e-mail is automatically sent to inform the carrier when the shipment matches the its profile (e.g., regions covered, mode of transportation, etc.). On the other hand, when carriers submit bids, the requesting shipper is also alerted by e-mail. This saves everyone the trouble of having to constantly refer to the Website, thereby saving precious time. Carriers need only consult the Website in order to enter a bid. In either case, it?s less work than doing it all by phone and fax! AccessTransport offers no guarantee pertaining to transportation agreements obtained via the Website. When a shipper awards a transportation agreement, it is the carrier?s responsibility to investigate and take the necessary steps to ensure that the shipper is trustworthy and financially solvent. Furthermore, AccessTransport allows carriers to consult an on-line compilation of satisfaction reports previously filled out by other carriers. After all their obligations have been fulfilled, carriers are invited to fill out a form to express their degree of satisfaction with the transaction and with the shipper. Before bidding on a RFQ, a carrier may access the data compiled on any given shipper. AccessTransport offers no guarantee pertaining to the reliability of a carrier. When a shipper awards a transportation agreement, it is the shipper?s responsibility to investigate and take the necessary steps to ensure the carrier is trustworthy. Furthermore, AccessTransport allows shippers to consult an on-line compilation of satisfaction reports previously filled out by other shippers. After all their obligations have been fulfilled, shippers are invited to fill out a form to express their degree of satisfaction with the transaction and with the carrier. A shipper may access the data compiled on any given carrier before awarding a transportation agreement to a specific carrier. Once a transportation agreement is awarded via the Website, the actual transportation transaction is resumed and completed between the carrier and the shipper. This means that the carrier must send, once the transport has been completed, an invoice to the shipper in accordance with the latter?s own terms and conditions of payment. AccessTransport is not involved in the invoicing. There are no restrictions concerning the nature of the freight that may be transported. AccessTransport.ca was designed to accommodate all sorts of transportation agreements. AccessTransport offers e-mail and telephone support during normal business hours. Our staff will gladly assist you using the Website and taking full advantage of our services. To contact us: Telephone: (450) 419-4417 Toll free line: 1-866-419-4417 E-mail: info@AccessTransport.ca The AccessTransport marketplace supports closed-bid transactions, contrary to the reversed-auction model, where companies who bid see the amounts of the other bids. This latter system puts great pressure on the bid prices, which is what we want to avoid. Closed bids work in such a way that only the shippers who post a RFQ may see the names of the companies who bid, as well as the amounts they bid. At no time will the carriers know the identity of the other bidders, nor will they know what the bid amounts are. Furthermore, all data transmitted to the Website by the users will remain confidential. The list of companies, along with the data that make up their profile, the information they provide to contact them, as well as the identity of their site users, will all remain confidential. Please take note that the shippers may in no way, whatsoever, see the RFQs posted by other shippers. The AccessTransport service is free for shippers. For carriers, the fee will be equivalent to a small percentage of the value of the transport negotiated by the parties. Thus, the value used by AccessTransport to invoice the carrier will be that of the carrier?s bid. However, during this deployment phase, AccessTransport will be available free of charge to all carriers, until further notice. No. AccessTransport is mainly a service enabling shippers and carriers to make contact via an Internet marketplace. AccessTransport provides computer infrastructure to registered shippers, so that they may post their RFQs, and to registered carriers who, in turn, may bid on the posted RFQs. Once a shipment is assigned to a carrier, the carrier and the shipper must directly handle the remainder of the business dealings. No one can stop a shipper from doing business with a carrier he was introduced to via AccessTransport. However, we believe that it is not in the best interest of the shippers to do so if they still wish to find the carrier that will best suit their needs in terms of price, availability, expertise, etc. If a shipper has to cancel a transportation agreement, he must inform the carrier, who must then fill out a form called Report Agreement Failure, notifying AccessTransport that the transport will not take place. Upon receipt of this form, the invoice related to that shipment would be cancelled. |
