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October 25, 2000 10:38 AM, EDT

CHICAGO — By using the Internet to cut deals, the transportation industry is likely to have virtual consolidation without physical consolidation, according to several speakers at a conference on electronic commerce and transportation.

But failing to build systems that allow for electronic collaboration among trading partners could spell doom for companies hoping to thrive in the transportation industry.

Shippers do not want physical consolidation because it will remove some of the competitive pricing from the marketplace, said Jun-Sheng Li, president of Transplace, a conglomeration of the logistics arms of six large truckload carriers. Shippers want a variety of choices, but they don’t want to go to 500 different Web sites to learn what those choices are, Li said.

And consolidating all the options is where the opportunity for online integrators of freight information lies. Deloitte Consulting, one of the sponsors of the conference, predicts that by 2002, the number of companies buying most of their goods and services electronically will grow to 91%, from 31% today.

For the full story, see the Oct. 23 print edition of Transport Topics. .