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.
ATL yard → Charlotte · Mon/Wed/Fri · 18:00 · generated daily · never duplicated
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 →
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.
Define the lane once
Daily manifests generate themselves
Load freight, swap crew per day
Pickups & deliveries, same board
One trip in the driver app
Tracking links per load or truck
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?+
Do daily linehaul manifests ever duplicate?+
Can dispatch override the default truck, trailer, or driver?+
How do P&D runs and linehauls coexist?+
What EDI transactions does Keelway support?+
How do drivers get their trips?+
Does dispatch data flow into driver pay?+
Is this for freight brokers dispatching owner-operators?+
Define the lane once. Staff freight, not calendars.
Related
The full LTL module — quote, classify, rate, schedule, consolidate, bill — for 5–50 door carriers.
Yard management and the Trailer Builder — assemble the multi-shipment linehauls dispatch runs.
Shipper emails a quote request; Keelway extracts, rates against your tariffs, and drafts the reply.
The other desk — brokers and hybrids dispatching owner-operators rather than running a fleet.
Self-serve product tours — see the board, the driver app, and the money rails in motion.