SONAR Launches Custom Insights for Shipper Consortium

FreightWaves' SONAR platform has launched a new analytics capability called SCI: Custom Insights for members of its SONAR Shipper Consortium. The tool is designed to help shippers identify overpayments and service risks by comparing their private freight data against live market benchmarks.

Shippers contribute their own transportation data, including tendered volume, accepted and rejected tenders, carrier information, rates, and lane activity. SONAR then layers this proprietary information against its real-time market data. The platform aims to provide a continuous, actionable view of network performance, answering questions that typically require weeks of manual analysis.

Platform Core Functions

The new capability is organized across three core functional areas. Network Health offers an executive-level summary of the entire transportation network. It tracks total spend, market versus actual rate performance, savings opportunities, at-risk freight, tender compliance, and budget versus volume trends. AI-driven insights surface shifts in volume demand, rates, and capacity.

Benchmarking provides a lane-by-lane analysis. Its Lane Opportunities module classifies every lane into one of four categories based on pricing alignment, lane difficulty, and market conditions. A separate Volume Compliance module maps planned versus actual freight movement.

The platform's lane classification categories are as follows:

Deeper Network and Carrier Analysis

The third area, Network Optimization, delves into specific markets and carriers. Network Analysis groups performance by origin or destination market to identify localized or systemic issues. Carrier Intelligence provides a network-wide view of carrier performance. This includes metrics like average rates, rate variance, acceptance rates, rejected volume, lanes served, haul length, and risk level. AI-generated guidance suggests where to reallocate freight or renegotiate terms.

SCI: Custom Insights does not replace the existing Manual Analysis workflow within the SONAR SCI platform. That original tool remains for mini-bids, project freight, scenario planning, and new lane analysis. According to the source, this gives shippers both an ongoing view of their existing network and the flexibility to run one-off analyses.

Context and Live Demonstration

The launch comes as freight markets tighten and the annual bid season approaches. The source states that for shippers, "the difference between knowing where performance is slipping and not knowing can be measured in millions of dollars." Most shippers reportedly discover overpayments only during a bid cycle, whereas the new tool is built to surface that information continuously.

A free live webinar demo is scheduled for Thursday, October 1, 2026, at 2:30 PM Eastern Time. Ben Peterson, Head of Shipper Solutions at SONAR, will conduct the walkthrough. The session is open to both current customers and shippers evaluating options. It will feature a live walkthrough of the Network Health dashboard, lane-level benchmarking, Carrier Intelligence, and Network Analysis modules. Attendance is free and virtual.

SCI: Custom Insights is exclusively available to members of the SONAR Shipper Consortium. Shippers interested in consortium membership or a personalized product demo are directed to contact SONAR via email.