Trailers sit empty 30% to 40% of their working lives, costing carriers billions in wasted asset utilization — but a new automation platform aims to turn those “dumb boxes” into smart, revenue-generating assets.
According to FreightWaves, REPOWR, a Chattanooga-based startup, has launched the Trailer Optimization Platform (TOP) to automate the repositioning of trailers from surplus markets to deficit ones. CEO Chris Hines, a 44-year industry veteran, said that while every other link in the freight chain — gates, docks, trucks, loads, fuel — has been optimized, trailers have lagged behind. “Everything else is optimized in our chain,” Hines said. “The gates are optimized, the dock’s optimized, the truck’s optimized, loads, fuel, but the trailers just lag behind.”
The Cost of Idle Trailers
A dry van trailer that cost $10,000 at the dawn of drop-and-hook operations now runs $50,000 depending on tariff conditions, according to Hines. Large carriers routinely run trailer-to-truck ratios of 2.5 to 3 to 1, meaning a fleet of 1,000 trucks could be managing 2,500 or more trailers — often tracked across a patchwork of TMS records, spreadsheets, and whiteboards. REPOWR’s platform ingests data feeds from existing carrier systems, consolidates them into a single view of short and long trailer markets, and then automates moves to balance those positions — including building or breaking down trailer pools tied to new shipper contracts.
“Visibility of the asset is not enough. You need the execution layer and the automation to move the asset to its next location.” — Chris Hines, CEO, REPOWR
Rapid Development and Early Adoption
REPOWR built TOP over roughly 90 days using six proof-of-concept customers, embedding its team directly in carrier trailer operations departments to shape the product. According to FreightWaves, two of those six POC customers have since converted to paying accounts. The commercial model scales with fleet size and move volume, and the ROI is calculated around total repositioning spend: loadaway costs, empty miles driven by company drivers, and fuel. The platform is free to sign up for on the REPOWR website, with carriers walked through an onboarding process after registration.
REPOWR reported that it has already executed more than 75,000 moves through its marketplace and returned $30 million in shared revenue to beneficial trailer owners.
Addressing Fraud in Trailer Rentals
Hines also addressed a growing fraud problem in the trailer rental space, where carriers are transacting through informal channels such as WhatsApp and Facebook. Over the past year, REPOWR has built a security and vetting layer into its platform through partnerships with Highway, Genlogs, and Katina. “It’s not enough for the beneficial trailer owner who brings it to the one side of our marketplace to know where that trailer is 80% of the time,” Hines said. “They have to know 100% of the time.” Demand carriers — typically small fleets — must clear the vetting process before accessing any listed asset, with both trailer tracking and ELD data used for continuous monitoring.
Future: Regional Trailer Pooling
Looking further out, Hines said TOP is a first step toward regional pooling of trailer assets, similar to how chassis pools operate in intermodal. Under that model, carriers, brokers, and shippers could share trailer capacity on a utilization basis regardless of which company owns the equipment. The company pointed to Convoy’s collapse — which left an estimated 8,000 trailers unaccounted for — as a cautionary example of what happens when trailer management is treated as an afterthought.
Watch List
- Adoption rate of TOP among large carriers and its impact on trailer utilization benchmarks.
- Expansion of trailer pooling models and potential regulatory or insurance hurdles.
- Further fraud mitigation developments and partnerships with vetting platforms.
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