AI for McLeod TMS. Triaged along the keel.
McLeod runs your brokerage. Keelway runs on top of it — reading every carrier email that comes back on a McLeod-posted load, extracting the rate, scoring trust against FMCSA, and writing the accepted carrier and rate back into McLeod the moment you pick.
Why McLeod brokerages need an AI overlay
McLeod is the incumbent TMS for a large share of top-100 US brokerages. LoadMaster is deeply wired into dispatch, settlements, EDI, and carrier management — and for most brokerages that are successful on McLeod, ripping it out to chase an "AI-first" TMS is neither realistic nor desirable.
What McLeod does not solve, and does not try to solve, is the inbound carrier email stream. When dispatch posts a load to the boards, 30–50 carriers respond to the broker's email within two hours. Reading those threads, cross-checking MCs, and surfacing the few genuinely good offers is a pure-manual job. Keelway is the overlay that closes that gap.
What Keelway adds to McLeod
Every carrier reply, triaged in seconds
FMCSA trust score on every reply
Top five along the keel
Accepted carrier flows into McLeod
How this compares to McLeod's existing automation
McLeod ships automation inside LoadMaster — auto-assign rules, EDI-driven carrier status, integrated load-board posting, and a growing set of AI-adjacent features. These are strong for the outbound side of the workflow. They do not address the inbound Gmail stream that most McLeod brokerages still triage by hand, because most carriers still reply to the broker's email — the contact on the load posting — not into a McLeod-integrated channel.
Keelway is specifically for that inbound Gmail stream. We do not compete with McLeod's auto-assignment engine; we feed it better-qualified carriers so auto-assign makes the right call more often.
What a week on McLeod + Keelway looks like
A mid-sized brokerage running McLeod typically posts 300–800 loads a week. Each one pulls 30–50 carrier replies. Without Keelway, somebody on the team is spending 20–30 minutes per load reading threads and cross-checking authority. With Keelway:
- Every reply is already triaged by the time anyone opens the thread.
- Red-flag carriers — double-broker domains, MCs with out-of-service authority, quotes from dispatchers representing MCs that do not own the insurance — get caught on the ranked list before booking.
- Dispatch never has to clean up a carrier record, because the one Keelway wrote back to McLeod is correct by construction.
Deployment alongside McLeod (under 2 weeks)
- Day 1–2. Gmail OAuth + McLeod API credentials exchanged. Keelway starts reading replies to loads posted today.
- Day 3–5. Ranking weights calibrated from your last 30 days of accepted quotes. A reefer team and a flatbed team should not see the same top five for a given load — and won't.
- Day 6–8. McLeod write-back live. First accepted carriers flow back into LoadMaster automatically.
- Day 9–12. First flagged "suspected double-broker" emails get labeled; Keelway's fraud detector learns the shape of your book.
- Day 13+. Steady state.
For the full capability breakdown independent of TMS, see Carrier Email Automation. If your shop runs on Tai or Aljex instead, we have dedicated pages for each: Tai TMS · Aljex.
Frequently asked questions
What is McLeod Software / McLeod LoadMaster?+
McLeod Software is one of the most widely deployed transportation management systems in North American freight brokerage, with the LoadMaster product serving mid-market and enterprise brokers. McLeod ships modules for order entry, dispatch, accounting, load-board integration, carrier management, and EDI. It is the incumbent TMS for a large share of the top-100 US brokerages.
How does Keelway integrate with McLeod?+
Keelway connects to McLeod via McLeod's carrier and load APIs and to your broker inbox via Gmail OAuth. When a load is posted out of McLeod and emails begin landing in Gmail, Keelway extracts rates, runs FMCSA trust scoring on every inbound carrier, and surfaces the ranked top five. Once you accept a quote, Keelway writes the carrier + agreed rate back into the McLeod load so dispatch runs without any re-keying.
Does Keelway replace McLeod's built-in carrier tools?+
No. Keelway is an overlay, not a replacement. You keep McLeod's order entry, dispatch, settlements, and EDI exactly as they are. Keelway only adds the AI triage layer on top of your inbound carrier email — the part of the workflow McLeod does not claim to solve.
We run DirectConnect / LoadMaster Enterprise — will Keelway still work?+
Yes. Keelway integrates at the API layer above any of the McLeod editions your brokerage is running. The overlay itself is deployment-edition agnostic; the write-back mapping is configured once during onboarding.
Can Keelway help us surface double-brokering before we book?+
Yes. On every inbound carrier reply Keelway checks the email domain against the carrier's FMCSA-registered contact, cross-references MC/DOT with operating authority, and flags quote requests from dispatchers representing MCs that do not own the insurance on the claimed load. Keelway surfaces both signals on the ranked list before you click accept.
What does Keelway cost on top of McLeod?+
Per-broker seat, billed monthly, no per-email charges. Firm numbers on the first demo call — McLeod customers typically add Keelway as a single-digit percentage of their existing McLeod spend.