A preview of the routing analysis the methodology produces — applied to your network

The three numbers that actually tell you where your routing is bleeding margin

Most TMS dashboards show you load count, revenue per load, and on-time delivery. Those are lag indicators — they tell you what already happened. The methodology tracks the three leading indicators that predict where network cost is hiding before it hits your P&L.

Hub utilization is the percentage of relay throughput against capacity. Most LTL fleets run at 50–60% utilization, which leaves 40–50% of fixed facility cost unrecovered. The dashboard surfaces the actual figure per hub, updated continuously.

Lane balance ratio captures the outbound-to-inbound freight balance on each corridor. A 3:1 imbalance means roughly 67% of capacity returns empty — the single largest source of recoverable cost in a relay network.

Cost per mile integrates both effects into one number. Every point of utilization gained and every step toward balanced lanes compresses it directly — it is the figure your investors and lenders actually track.

Fourteen relays became nine. Here's how the methodology gets there.

The comparison above puts the baseline relay network next to the methodology target. The baseline was built around a merger-era footprint, not the freight patterns the network actually moves today — so it carries cost that no longer buys anything.

The methodology scores each relay point by its contribution to network cost against the value it adds at current freight flow. Five of the fourteen points turn out to be redundant once lanes are evaluated against live demand rather than legacy assumptions.

Consolidating to nine relays eliminates 31% of dock touches, removes three lease obligations, and rebalances driver domiciles — compounding into both the lane-balance and cost-per-mile gains shown on the dashboard.

The corridor imbalance panel that tells you exactly where to act first

The corridor panel is the most operationally actionable part of the dashboard. Every active corridor is scored by lane balance ratio and ranked by recoverable dollar value. The color coding is not decoration — it's a priority queue.

Red corridors (over 2.5:1 imbalance) are your biggest opportunities. Dallas ↔ Houston at 3.2:1 means the bulk of return capacity moves empty. These are addressed first — through interline agreements, broker partnerships, or shipper renegotiations that put freight on the backhaul.

Amber corridors (1.5–2.5:1) like Phoenix ↔ Las Vegas at 2.1:1 are second priority — typically resolved through dispatch-logic improvements and load-matching rather than contract changes.

Green corridors (under 1.5:1) are your benchmarks. Memphis ↔ Nashville at 1.4:1 is near-optimal; the methodology studies what is working there and replicates the dispatch logic and account mix on weaker corridors.