If freight moves in the United States, it probably passes through Chicago. The region is the country's largest rail hub, with intermodal terminals around Joliet and Elwood, and some of the busiest interstates in the country: I-55, I-57, I-80, I-88, I-90, I-94 and the I-294 Tri-State. The suburbs are lined with distribution centers, and thousands of carriers, from one-truck owner-operators to fleets of several hundred, are based in Chicagoland.
Many of those carriers were started by immigrants. Serbian, Bosnian, Polish, Ukrainian, Lithuanian and other Eastern European families have built a large share of the region's small and midsize fleets. (We wrote about what Serbian and Balkan-owned fleets need from a TMS separately.) Whoever owns the trucks, running a fleet out of Chicago brings the same handful of problems.
Intermodal and DC freight: plan around the dock, not the map
A lot of Chicago freight starts or ends at a rail ramp or a large distribution center. The drive is often the easy part. The time is lost at the gate and the dock: long lines, missed appointments and drivers waiting hours to get loaded.
- Record arrival and departure times for every stop, so detention can be billed with proof instead of argued about.
- Watch loads that are at risk before they're late. Ella's load tracking raises overdue, at-risk and detention alerts, and the dispatch board shows each truck's miles and drive time left against the appointment.
- Give brokers a tracking link so they stop calling dispatch for updates.
Winter: build in time, and know before the broker does
From December to March, Midwest weather turns schedules upside down. Snow can close stretches of interstate, lake-effect bands hit the roads around the south end of Lake Michigan, and a load that was on time at noon is late by dinner. Reefer carriers add protect-from-freeze loads to the list of things that can go wrong.
Software won't change the weather, but it changes who finds out first. When the system calculates ETA against the appointment from the truck's actual position, dispatch can call the broker and the receiver before the appointment is missed, not after. That call protects your on-time record and your relationship with the broker.
Tolls: charge them to the right truck
Illinois Tollway roads are a fact of life around Chicago, and trucks pay more than cars, by number of axles. With I-PASS or E-ZPass transponders across the fleet, the monthly toll invoice becomes one more thing to split by truck, especially for owner-operators who pay their own tolls.
Ella imports toll device invoices and charges each toll to the truck that ran it, so an owner-operator's tolls can go on the weekly settlement as a deduction instead of living in a separate spreadsheet.
IFTA: Midwest loads cross a lot of state lines
A week out of Chicago can easily touch Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa and Missouri. Every mile in every state has to be counted for the quarterly IFTA return, along with the fuel bought in each state.
Building that return from driver logs and fuel receipts by hand takes days. Ella's IFTA add-on prepares it from real data, with miles per state from your ELD and GPS and gallons from your fuel card imports.
Drivers: a competitive market
Chicago carriers compete for the same drivers. The ones who stay are usually paid accurately and on time, get home when promised, and don't spend their evenings chasing the office about a settlement. A clear weekly statement, a driver app under your company name and a recruiting pipeline that doesn't lose applicants all help.
The short list for a Chicago fleet's TMS
- Live load status with ETA against the appointment, and alerts for at-risk and late loads.
- Detention tracking with arrival and departure times.
- Toll and fuel imports charged to the right truck, and into owner-operator settlements.
- IFTA from ELD miles and fuel card data.
- Weekly driver and owner-operator statements with delivery proof.
- Recruiting, safety and maintenance in the same system, not three others.
Ella covers all of that in one system with your company's name on it. See what's included, or request a demo and we'll walk through it with your own lanes in mind.
Frequently asked questions
Does Ella work with Samsara, Motive and other ELDs?
Yes. Ella connects to Samsara, Motive and several other ELD providers for truck locations and hours of service, and your first ELD is connected free.
Can Ella track detention?
Yes. Load tracking records stop times and raises overdue, at-risk and detention alerts, so detention can be billed with the times to back it up.
Does Ella handle Illinois tolls?
Ella imports toll device invoices and charges each toll to the truck that ran it, so owner-operator tolls can be deducted on their settlements.