Freight / trucking / hotshot software, built around DOT, FMCSA and load board to trip with rate-con + factoring flag

Arkathos gives a freight a workspace tailored to how the work actually runs — This workspace is built around booking loads, dispatching trucks, and staying continuously DOT/IFTA-compliant. Arkathos tailors a freight workspace around 5 agents: Quartermaster, Treasury, Watchtower, Sentinel, Herald.

Compliance a freight can't afford to miss

Watchtower tracks every license, bond, insurance policy, and continuing-education requirement for a freight, with renewal cadences and staged reminders so nothing lapses.

• A freight must maintain a FMCSA Operating Authority (MC/FF/MX Number), through the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), which has no fixed renewal cycle.
• A freight must maintain a MC Motor Carrier Operating Authority (for-hire), through the FMCSA (US DOT), which has no fixed renewal cycle.
• A freight must maintain a USDOT Number Registration & MCS-150 Biennial Update, through the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), which renews every two years.
• A freight must maintain a Unified Carrier Registration (UCR), through the UCR Plan (administered via carrier's base-state agency), which renews every year.
• A freight must maintain a IFTA license & decals (International Fuel Tax Agreement), through the State DOT / Department of Revenue (IFTA), which renews every year.
• A freight must maintain a IRP Apportioned Registration (International Registration Plan), through the Base-jurisdiction (state) DMV/MVC under IRP, Inc., which renews every year.
• A freight must maintain a IFTA License (International Fuel Tax Agreement) + Quarterly Fuel-Tax Returns, through the Base-jurisdiction (state) Dept. of Revenue/Taxation under IFTA, Inc., which renews every year.
• A freight must maintain a IRP apportioned registration (apportioned plates), through the State DMV (IRP), which renews every year.
• A freight must maintain a BOC-3 Designation of Process Agents, through the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), which has no fixed renewal cycle.
• A freight must maintain a IRS Form 2290 Heavy Highway Vehicle Use Tax (55,000 lb+), through the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which renews every year.
• A freight must maintain a BOC-3 process agent designation, through the FMCSA (US DOT), which has no fixed renewal cycle.
• A freight must maintain a Commercial Driver's License (CDL), through the State DMV / driver-licensing agency (federal standards, 49 CFR Part 383), which renews every 4 years.
• A freight must maintain a Annual DOT vehicle inspection (49 CFR 396.17), through the DOT-Qualified Inspector, which renews every year.
• A freight must maintain a DOT Medical Examiner's Certificate (Form MCSA-5876), through the FMCSA National Registry certified Medical Examiner, which renews every two years.
• A freight must maintain a Commercial Driver's License (CDL) per driver, through the State DMV / Motor Vehicle Agency, which renews every 4 years.
• A freight must maintain a FMCSA Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse Registration + Testing Program (annual query & random pool), through the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), which renews every year.
• A freight must maintain a DOT medical examiner's certificate (medical card) per driver, through the DOT-Certified Medical Examiner (FMCSA National Registry), which renews every two years.
• A freight must maintain a Hazardous Materials Safety Permit (HMSP) — if hauling high-hazard/placardable materials, through the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), which renews every two years.
• A freight must maintain a FMCSA Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse / consortium enrollment (annual query), through the FMCSA Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse / C-TPA, which renews every year.
• A freight must maintain a Public/Auto Liability Insurance (Form BMC-91/BMC-91X, BI&PD), through the Licensed insurer; filed with FMCSA (49 CFR 387.9; $750k min for-hire non-haz), which renews every year.
• A freight must maintain a Commercial auto liability insurance (BMC-91 $750k-$1M filing), which renews every year.
• A freight must maintain a Motor Truck Cargo Insurance, through the Licensed insurer (BMC-34 filing only for household-goods carriers/forwarders), which renews every year.
• A freight must maintain a Commercial General Liability Insurance, through the Licensed insurer, which renews every year.
• A freight must maintain a Workers' Compensation Insurance, through the State-regulated insurer / state WC fund, which renews every year.
• A freight must maintain a Cyber Liability Insurance, through the Licensed insurer, which renews every year.
• A freight must maintain a Professional Liability / Errors & Omissions (E&O) Insurance — brokerage/3PL operations, through the Licensed insurer (standard for freight-broker/forwarder side; optional for asset-based carriers), which renews every year.

Everything Arkathos runs for a freight

These are the agents set up first for a freight — and because it's one platform, every plan includes all 16 Arkathos agents. Also included whenever you need them: Guardhouse, Scribe, Courier, War Room, Armory, Marshall, Mint Warden, Vault Keeper, Bulletin Board, Client Portal.

• Quartermaster — Online booking & appointments, Calendar & availability, Events & waitlists, Automated reminders, Job dispatch & scheduling.
• Treasury — Invoicing & payment collection, Expense tracking, Accounting & bookkeeping, Business tax prep & filing, Recurring billing & subscriptions, Financial dashboards & reports.
• Watchtower — License & permit tracking, Certification & continuing-education (CE) tracking, Renewal reminders & alerts, Compliance document vault.
• Sentinel — Contact & lead management, Deal / estimate pipeline, Task & follow-up tracking, SMS & email outreach, Pipeline reporting.
• Herald — SEO & get-found content, Social media scheduling, Email & newsletter campaigns, Brand voice & content studio, Review & reputation growth, AI-overview & directory visibility.

Your tailored freight workspace

These are net-new, freight-specific capabilities — not a generic CRM bolted onto your industry.

• Load board to trip with rate-con + factoring flag (Dispatch): Book a load (board/broker), attach the rate confirmation, assign truck + driver, track pickup to delivery with BOL/POD, and flag the load for factoring on delivery — the full book-dispatch-deliver loop.
• IFTA fuel-tax + IRP mileage engine (Treasury): Capture per-state miles and fuel purchases per trip and auto-compute quarterly IFTA apportioned fuel tax and IRP apportioned mileage — the recurring filing generic Treasury cannot produce today.
• FMCSA/DOT compliance deadline registry (Watchtower): Seeded registry for MCS-150 biennial update, UCR, IFTA/IRP renewals, IRS Form 2290 (HVUT for 55,000 lbs+), annual DOT inspection, CDL + DOT medical card, and the drug-&-alcohol consortium/Clearinghouse query schedule, with proactive alerts.
• Per-mile driver settlement (Marshall): Settlement statements computing per-mile (or percentage-of-load) driver pay, deductions (advances, escrow, fuel), and owner-operator 1099 vs company-driver W-2 handling with export.
• Hours-of-Service / ELD log monitor (Watchtower): Ingest ELD/HOS status (11-hr drive / 14-hr window / 60-70-hr cycle) and RODS so dispatch can't assign a load a driver can't legally run, with log retention for audits.
• Factoring submission + advance reconciliation (Treasury): Package invoice + rate-con + BOL/POD for the factoring company, track submitted/advanced/reserve-released states, and reconcile factoring fees against each load's revenue.

The agents and tabs you get

Quartermaster for a freight surfaces Dispatch, Chat. Treasury for a freight surfaces Invoices, Transactions, Financial sheet, Chat. Watchtower for a freight surfaces Compliance items, Calendar, Overview, Chat. Sentinel for a freight surfaces Contacts, Overview, Chat. Herald for a freight surfaces Get found, Directories, ✦Studio, Schedule, Chat, Brand voice.

Frequently asked questions

best trucking dispatch software for owner operators

Common picks are TruckingOffice (~$20/mo), TruckLogics (~$40/mo) and ITS Dispatch (~$50/mo) for dispatch, invoicing and IFTA. Arkathos bundles CRM, scheduling, invoicing and bookkeeping at flat pricing with no per-truck or per-seat fees.

how much does trucking software cost per truck per month

Owner-operator software runs about $10-50/month; fleet TMS is roughly $15-100 per truck monthly, often plus ELD hardware. Arkathos charges one flat rate covering every tool, so cost doesn't climb as you add trucks or staff.

do i need an eld for hotshot trucking under 26000 lbs

The ELD threshold is 10,001 lbs combined weight (not 26,001) for interstate loads. Above it you need an ELD unless you stay within 150 air-miles and return within 14 hours daily. CDL status doesn't change this.

how do i file ifta for my truck as an owner operator

File IFTA quarterly with your base state, reporting miles and fuel per jurisdiction. Deadlines: Apr 30, Jul 31, Oct 31, Jan 31. Software like TruckingOffice or TruckLogics auto-generates the report from your trip data.

what do i need to start a hotshot trucking business

Typically a USDOT number, MC authority, $750,000 primary liability insurance, an LLC and EIN, a Class 3-5 truck and trailer, and an ELD. A CDL is required depending on combined weight. Startup runs about $50k-100k.

best hotshot load board for owner operators

Most operators run 2-3 boards: DAT (from ~$45/mo), Truckstop (from ~$39/mo) and 123Loadboard (from ~$35/mo). Pros rarely rely on a single board, switching between them by market conditions and load type.

how do owner operators get paid faster on loads

Freight factoring advances most of an invoice's value within hours instead of waiting 30-90 days on brokers. Providers like DAT, Truckstop and eCapital fund quickly; some let you pick which loads to factor.

best bookkeeping app for owner operator truckers

Truckers use Rigbooks (~$19/truck) or ATBS ($200/mo) to track fuel, maintenance, per diem and per-mile cost. Arkathos handles invoicing, expense tracking and bookkeeping in one flat-priced platform alongside CRM and scheduling.

What licenses and insurance does a freight need?

Arkathos tracks 26 items for a freight, including FMCSA Operating Authority (MC/FF/MX Number), MC Motor Carrier Operating Authority (for-hire), USDOT Number Registration & MCS-150 Biennial Update, Unified Carrier Registration (UCR). Each renewal and expiration is monitored in Watchtower with staged reminders.

Which Arkathos agents does a freight get?

Arkathos tailors a freight workspace around 5 agents: Quartermaster, Treasury, Watchtower, Sentinel, Herald.

How is the Arkathos workspace tailored for a freight?

Beyond the standard tools, Arkathos builds freight-specific features: Load board to trip with rate-con + factoring flag; IFTA fuel-tax + IRP mileage engine; FMCSA/DOT compliance deadline registry.

Does Arkathos replace separate software for a freight?

Yes — Arkathos runs freight operations, compliance, billing, and marketing in one platform with flat pricing, so there are no per-seat fees or handoffs between disconnected tools.

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