Keelway
LTL dispatch software · Linehaul & P&D · For carriers

Standing linehauls, staffed automatically.

Keelway dispatch runs the two kinds of trips an LTL carrier actually moves: linehauls that repeat on a schedule and P&D runs that change every day. Define a standing linehaul once — lane, days, depart time, default truck, trailer, driver — and each day's manifest generates itself. Dispatch staffs freight onto it and moves on to the next decision.

Book an LTL demoHow standing linehauls work

ATL yard → Charlotte · Mon/Wed/Fri · 18:00 · generated daily · never duplicated

Right desk check

This page is for carriers — fleets that own the trucks, employ the drivers, and run the linehauls. Broker dispatching owner-operators? That's a different desk. Broker dispatch software →

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manifest per standing schedule per day — generated, never duplicated
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EDI transaction sets built in — 204, 990, 214, 210, 997
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driver pay bases fed from dispatch — per-mile, tiered CPM, percent, hourly, per-stop

What a standing linehaul is

Most of an LTL carrier's network is not new every day. The ATL yard → Charlotte run leaves Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 18:00, usually with the same tractor, the same trailer, and the same driver. In most dispatch software you re-create that run by hand three times a week — or copy last week's and hope nobody edits the stale copy.

In Keelway it is a standing schedule. You define the lane once: origin, destination, days of the week, depart time, and the default truck, trailer, and driver. On every scheduled day, Keelway generates that day's linehaul manifest automatically — dated, pre-staffed with the defaults, sitting on the board before dispatch pours the first coffee. Generation never duplicates: one schedule, one manifest per scheduled day, no matter how many times the board is opened or the schedule is re-saved.

The defaults are defaults, not locks. Driver out sick Wednesday? Swap the driver on Wednesday's manifest. The schedule is untouched, and Friday's manifest generates with the usual crew.

The board, in the order dispatch works it

Six things dispatch does with a linehaul network, all on one surface.

Schedule

Define the lane once

Lane, days of the week, depart time, default truck, trailer, and driver. “ATL yard → Charlotte, Mon/Wed/Fri, 18:00 depart” is one record, not a weekly chore.
Manifest

Daily manifests generate themselves

Every scheduled day produces exactly one dated manifest, pre-staffed with the schedule's defaults. Never duplicated — re-opening the board or re-saving the schedule cannot create a second copy of today's run.
Staff

Load freight, swap crew per day

Dispatch staffs shipments onto the manifest like any other run. Defaults for truck, trailer, and driver are swappable on that day's manifest without editing the standing schedule.
P&D

Pickups & deliveries, same board

P&D runs are trips alongside the linehauls — one dispatch surface for hub-to-hub freight and street work. No second system for the pickup sweep that feeds the 18:00 departure.
Drivers

One trip in the driver app

The Keelway driver app is a PWA on the phone the driver already has: trip workflow, ordered stops, POD capture, DVIR, HOS, GPS pings. A multi-shipment linehaul is one trip with ordered drops.
Shippers

Tracking links per load or truck

Public, expiring tracking pages per load or per truck — emailed to a shipper in one click. The “where's my freight” call answers itself.

P&D and linehaul are one operation, not two systems

LTL freight lives in two rhythms: street work that changes daily and hub-to-hub runs that repeat weekly. Software that only understands one of them forces the other into spreadsheets. In Keelway both are trips on the same board — the morning P&D sweep that collects freight, and the standing linehaul it feeds. Because they share one data model, everything downstream is shared too: the same driver app, the same tracking links, the same settlement rails. The freight on those trips comes out of the same system that quoted it from the shipper's email, and the trailers get built in the yard and Trailer Builder before the linehaul rolls.

EDI for retail trading partners

Retail freight comes with an EDI mandate attached. Keelway speaks the five transaction sets that mandate usually names: 204 load tenders in, 990 tender responses out, 214 shipment-status updates as the trip progresses, 210 invoices, and 997 acknowledgments — with retry and an audit trail on every exchange. A dropped 214 gets re-sent, and you can show the partner exactly what was sent and when. No separate EDI provider, no per-document service bureau.

Dispatch feeds driver pay — nothing re-keyed

The trips dispatch runs are the input to settlements. Keelway computes driver pay on five bases — per-mile, tiered CPM, percent, hourly, and per-stop — with fuel, tolls, advances, and per-mile insurance deducted automatically. When an accessorial charge is payable to the driver, the split carries through from billing to the pay sheet. The linehaul your dispatcher staffed on Wednesday is the line item on the driver's settlement Friday, without anyone re-typing it.

Where this sits in the market

Enterprise LTL suites do real linehaul and dock workflow, priced as five-to-six-figure implementations for 100+ door terminal networks. Cloud TMSs at small-carrier prices are truckload software with an LTL checkbox — no standing schedules, no manifests, no shipment lifecycle. Keelway is the LTL module of a carrier TMS built on real LTL primitives, sized for 5–50 door carriers, final-mile fleets, and freight consolidators.

Frequently asked questions

What is a standing linehaul schedule?+
A standing linehaul is a hub-to-hub run your fleet makes on a fixed rhythm — the same lane, the same days, the same depart time. In Keelway you define it once: lane, days of the week, depart time, and a default truck, trailer, and driver. From then on, Keelway generates that day's linehaul manifest automatically on every scheduled day. Dispatch staffs freight onto it instead of re-creating the run by hand.
Do daily linehaul manifests ever duplicate?+
No. Each standing schedule produces exactly one manifest per scheduled day. If today's manifest already exists, Keelway does not generate a second one — dispatch edits, weather delays, and re-opens all land on the same dated manifest. Never duplicated is the design rule, not a setting.
Can dispatch override the default truck, trailer, or driver?+
Yes. The defaults on a standing schedule pre-staff each day's manifest so the common case takes zero clicks. When a driver is out or a tractor is in the shop, dispatch swaps the truck, trailer, or driver on that day's manifest without touching the schedule itself. Tomorrow's manifest generates with the defaults again.
How do P&D runs and linehauls coexist?+
Both are trips on the same dispatch board. Linehauls generate from their standing schedules; pickup-and-delivery runs are created as trips alongside them. A dispatcher sequencing a morning P&D sweep and staffing the 18:00 linehaul is working one surface, not two systems — and every trip flows to the same driver app, tracking links, and settlement rails.
What EDI transactions does Keelway support?+
EDI 204 (load tender), 990 (tender response), 214 (shipment status), 210 (invoice), and 997 (acknowledgment) — the set retail trading partners require before they tender you freight. Every exchange has retry built in and an audit trail, so a dropped 214 gets re-sent instead of silently disappearing.
How do drivers get their trips?+
Through the Keelway driver app — a PWA that runs on the phone they already have, no extra hardware. A driver sees the trip with its ordered stops and works it stop by stop: trip workflow, POD capture at delivery, DVIR, HOS, and GPS pings back to dispatch. A multi-shipment linehaul shows up as one trip with ordered drops.
Does dispatch data flow into driver pay?+
Yes. Settlements compute from the trips dispatch actually ran. Keelway supports per-mile, tiered CPM, percent, hourly, and per-stop pay bases, with fuel, tolls, advances, and per-mile insurance deducted automatically. When an accessorial charge is payable to the driver, the driver-pay split carries through from billing. No re-keying trips into a payroll spreadsheet.
Is this for freight brokers dispatching owner-operators?+
No. This page covers carrier-side dispatch — fleets that own the trucks, employ the drivers, and run the linehauls. If you are a broker or hybrid dispatching owner-operators, Keelway has a separate product for that desk: the broker dispatch software page covers it.
Keelway LTL · Dispatch

Define the lane once. Staff freight, not calendars.

Book an LTL demo

Related

Keelway LTL →

The full LTL module — quote, classify, rate, schedule, consolidate, bill — for 5–50 door carriers.

Consolidation & Crossdock →

Yard management and the Trailer Builder — assemble the multi-shipment linehauls dispatch runs.

AI Quoting from Email →

Shipper emails a quote request; Keelway extracts, rates against your tariffs, and drafts the reply.

Broker Dispatch Software →

The other desk — brokers and hybrids dispatching owner-operators rather than running a fleet.

Watch the Demos →

Self-serve product tours — see the board, the driver app, and the money rails in motion.