●Concept 08 · Regional freight

Meridian Freight

Load intake, dispatch and billing, connected

A 40-truck carrier running Ontario and Quebec lanes, booking loads from emailed PDFs and billing from paper. The concept: read rate confirmations automatically, give dispatch one live board, and invoice the day a load delivers.

ops.meridianfreight.ca/dispatch

Tuesday · 34 of 40 trucks on the road

Dispatch

Search loads+ New load

Loads today

3 waiting in intake

In transit

Late risk

ETA past appointment

Awaiting delivery receipt

LoadLaneTruck · driverStatusETA

ML-24082Brant PaperMississauga → OttawaT-104 · J. CôtéLate risk16:05 (+48 min)

ML-24086Delta Auto PartsWindsor → Mississauga—UnassignedPickup 13:00

ML-24081Northway FoodsToronto → MontréalT-112 · R. SinghIn transit14:20

ML-24087Northway FoodsToronto → Québec CityT-109 · M. RoyIn transit19:45

ML-24083Lakeshore SteelHamilton → KingstonT-131 · D. PatelAt pickup15:30

ML-24085Sorel PackagingMontréal → TorontoT-122 · A. GagnonLoading20:10

ML-24084Fairfield ProduceLondon → TorontoT-118 · K. BrownDeliveredPOD received

Live positions

ELD · updated 1 min ago

T-104 slowed on Hwy 416. ETA now 48 min past the 15:17 appointment. Suggest calling the consignee.

Dispatch board: every load and truck in one place, with positions from the ELD system the trucks already carry.

Client: Meridian Freight (fictional)
Industry: Regional trucking, 40 trucks
Users: Dispatch, customer service, billing
Scope: Document AI, dispatch board, integrations, billing automation

The problem

The trucks were fast. The paperwork wasn’t.

Every load started as an email with a PDF rate confirmation that a dispatcher retyped. Customers phoned for updates. Proof of delivery arrived as photos in a text thread, so invoices went out days after delivery, and time trucks spent waiting at docks was rarely billed.

Each rate confirmation retyped by hand, field by field
Load status lived on a whiteboard and in dispatchers’ heads
Customers calling all day to ask where their truck is
Invoices waiting days on paperwork
Detention at docks happening, but rarely billed

The solution

Read the email. Track the truck. Bill on delivery.

Nothing gets replaced that already works. We’d connect the dispatch inbox, the trucks’ ELD/GPS system and the accounting software, and build the layer between them. Software does the copying; people approve what matters.

Rate confirmations read by AI into draft loads a dispatcher approves
One dispatch board with live truck positions
Customers emailed automatically at pickup and delivery
Proof of delivery matched to its load, invoice drafted the same day
Detention calculated from dock arrival and departure times

Before and after

One load, from email to invoice.

Today

01Rate confirmation PDF arrives by emailManual
02Dispatcher retypes it into a spreadsheetManual
03Truck assigned by phone, whiteboard updatedManual
04Customer calls for status; dispatch calls the driverManual
05Driver texts a photo of the signed delivery receiptManual
06Billing chases paperwork, types the invoice days laterManual

With the system

01Rate confirmation read; draft load createdAutomatic
02Dispatcher checks highlighted fields and books itDispatcher
03Truck assigned on the board; load sent to the driver’s ELD appDispatcher
04Customer emailed at pickup and delivery from GPSAutomatic
05Delivery receipt uploaded and matched to the loadAutomatic
06Invoice with detention drafted; billing approves and sendsBilling

How it fits together

It sits between the tools Meridian already pays for.

Connects to

Dispatch inbox (Outlook or Gmail)
ELD & GPS provider (e.g. Samsara, Motive)
Rate confirmations and delivery receipts
Customer and lane rate list

What we build

Meridian Ops

Document AI
Load records
Dispatch board
Rules & notifications

Delivers to

Accounting (e.g. QuickBooks Online)
Customer status emails
Load details in the driver’s ELD app
Weekly lane and margin report

Load intake

From emailed PDF to draft load, without retyping.

The AI reads each rate confirmation and fills in shipper, consignee, times, weight and rate, and highlights anything it isn’t sure of. Nothing is booked until a dispatcher approves it.

dispatch@ inbox

Today 06:58

From Northway Foods Logistics · loads@northwayfoods.ca

Rate confirmation, load NF-55821

Please see attached rate con for tomorrow’s Montréal run. Reply to confirm.

RateCon_NF-55821.pdf

RATE CONFIRMATION

Northway Foods Logistics

Load NF-55821
Carrier: Meridian Freight Inc.

PickupNorthway DC · 2200 Steeles Ave W, Concord ON Tue, 07:00–09:001

DeliveryNorthway Montréal · 8500 boul. Industriel, Montréal QC Deliver Wed AM2

Equipment53′ reefer · set point 2 °C3

CommodityPackaged dairy · 18 pallets · 38,400 lb4

Rate$2,450.00 CAD, all-in5

Carrier must provide signed POD within 24 h. Detention $75/h after 2 h free.

Draft load ML-24088

1 field to check

Read from RateCon_NF-55821.pdf in 4 seconds

1Pickup

Northway DC, Concord ON · Tue 07:00–09:00

2Delivery appointment

Wed 08:00 ?

The PDF says “Wed AM”. Confirm the appointment time with the consignee.

3Equipment

53′ reefer · 2 °C

4Freight

18 pallets · 38,400 lb · dairy

5Rate

$2,450.00 CAD

Matched to Northway Foods, contract lane Toronto → Montréal. Rate is within this lane’s usual range ($2,300–$2,600).

Approve and bookEditReject

Customer updates

Customers know before they think to call.

When a truck leaves the shipper or reaches the consignee, the customer gets an email with the status and ETA. Delays go to dispatch first, so a person decides what to tell the customer.

Billing

Invoiced the day it delivers, detention included.

Uploaded delivery receipts are matched to their load. The invoice is drafted in the accounting system, with detention worked out from the times the truck arrived at and left the dock. Billing reviews and sends.

Billing

Ready to invoice

Review and send 3

LoadLinehaulDetentionTotalReceipt

ML-24080Brant Paper$1,320.00$187.50$1,507.50 Matched

Arrived at dock

08:02 (GPS)

Left dock

12:31 (GPS)

Billable after 2 h free

2.5 h × $75 = $187.50

ML-24079Fairfield Produce$1,850.00—$1,850.00 Matched

ML-24084Fairfield Produce$980.00—$980.00 Matched

ML-24076Sorel Packaging$2,100.00——Waiting

Drafts are created in QuickBooks Online. Nothing is sent until billing approves.

Phased rollout

01
Phase 1 · Intake
Rate-confirmation reading and the dispatch board, with dispatchers approving every load.
02
Phase 2 · Tracking
ELD connection, pickup and delivery emails, and late-risk alerts.
03
Phase 3 · Billing
Delivery-receipt matching, detention rules and invoice drafts in accounting.

How we’d measure it

Minutes from rate confirmation to booked load
Days from delivery to invoice sent
Detention hours billed vs. recorded
Inbound status calls per week

Concept project. Meridian Freight is a fictional company. Products named are examples of systems this would connect to; all data is illustrative.

Project notes

Meridian Freight

A quote-to-dispatch operations platform concept for a regional carrier: customer portal, dispatch board, automated follow-up and an owner dashboard.

Concept 08A fictional company created to demonstrate our approach. Not a client engagement, and no results are claimed.

What the concept covers: Customer quote & tracking portal
Dispatch board
Quote approval and follow-up automation
Owner dashboard
Built with: Next.js
TypeScript
PostgreSQL
Event-driven automation
Designed for: Shippers
Warehouse managers
Ops leads
Related services: Custom Software & Applications
Workflow Automation
Integrations, Dashboards & Data

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