Free Truck and Freight Dispatcher training scholarship in Nigeria

What you will learn

A ten-week certificate course in remote truck dispatching: reading a load board, working out the all-in cost per mile that decides every yes, calling a broker on a load, checking the rate confirmation field by field, planning a week inside the driver's legal hours, assembling the payment packet, and reporting the week to the owner without softening the bad news. Taught on DAT One, Truckstop and a dispatch board, with one fictional carrier, Redline Carriers, whose drivers, brokers and lanes stay consistent all course.

• The dispatcher's line: carrier's agent, never a broker
• Reading DAT One and Truckstop postings
• All-in cost per mile and the floor
• Calling on a load and confirming numbers back
• Rate confirmations checked field by field
• Detention, layover, TONU and lumpers
• FMCSA checks and the signs of double brokering
• Hours of service: 11, 14, 30-minute, 70-hour
• Planning eight trucks for a week
• Payment packets, invoicing and factoring

Eight weeks at a glance

1. Week 1: What a truck dispatcher actually does. Who is who and who holds what authority; the dispatcher's line; Redline Carriers; the written dispatch agreement; how the desk is paid; what a dispatcher is not; the dispatch board; the load boards; the morning routine.
2. Week 2: Equipment, lanes and the cost per mile. Dry van, reefer, flatbed, step deck; weights and dimensions; reefer basics; lanes, headhaul and backhaul; deadhead; regional versus OTR; all-in cost per mile; the floor; market rate by lane and month; working US hours from Lagos.
3. Week 3: Reading a posting and calling on a load. Anatomy of a posting; the phrases decoded; the posting that is not what it says; the first thirty seconds; the questions that save a wasted call; confirming numbers back; from yes to rate confirmation; the rate confirmation with the wrong date; the call log.
4. Week 4: Negotiating, accessorials and vetting the broker. Anchors, walk-away and the floor; asking for more; saying no and leaving the door open; detention, layover, TONU, stop-offs and lumpers; FMCSA SAFER; broker credit; double brokering; contracting as a foreign dispatcher, W-8BEN and payment rails.
5. Week 5: Hours of service and booking a load a driver can legally run. The 11-hour driving limit; the 14-hour window; the 30-minute break; the 70-hour cycle and the 34-hour restart; ELDs; sleeper berth; booking against remaining hours; the driver 40 minutes from the limit; the driver who wants to run illegal; four time zones from Lagos.
6. Week 6: Paperwork, payment and factoring. Rate confirmation, bill of lading and proof of delivery; lumper and scale receipts; the payment packet; invoicing the broker; days to pay; chasing late payment; factoring, quick pay and the cost of money; the detention dispute won from the record.
7. Week 7: When things go wrong, and the load you refuse. The breakdown call; accidents and claims in outline; cargo damage and the reefer that warmed up; late pickups; missed appointments; the shipper who will not load; what Carmen needs to hear; hiding versus reporting; the load you refuse; saying no to Ray.
8. Week 8: Planning the fleet, reporting to the owner, and the capstone. Eight trucks for a week; utilisation and revenue per truck; the truck that lost money; the weekly report to Ray; bad news as it is; onboarding an owner-operator; scaling to twelve trucks; the dispatch service model named and not promised; dispatching from Nigeria honestly; the capstone brief.
9. Week 9: Practicum, part one. Timed shifts on the Redline desk: brokers call, a rate confirmation arrives with the wrong date, a driver is 40 minutes from his limit, a broker fails the FMCSA check, and every call goes in the log.
10. Week 10: Practicum, part two. More shifts including a breakdown with a produce load, a detention dispute argued from the record, a below-cost lane refused in writing with the alternative, and a tutor-marked capstone. Passing needs zero critical errors.

Who this track suits

• You can hold a phone conversation with a fast-talking broker and a slow-talking driver in the same hour, confirm numbers back, and write down what was agreed.
• You like a board with moving pieces, and a truck sitting empty in Dallas on a Wednesday bothers you until it has a load home.
• You can do the arithmetic that decides a yes or a no: rate per mile, deadhead, fuel, the floor below which the answer is no.
• You want to work US hours from Nigeria with a reliable connection and a backup plan, and you are willing to learn a driver's legal limits properly rather than push past them.

How to apply

1. 1
   Apply

   Fill in the form. It takes about two minutes. One application per email address, for one pool.

2. 2
   Get accepted

   Acceptance emails go out in batches. Watch your inbox.

3. 3
   Start learning

   Open your first course or your track the same day. You have six weeks to finish your first course or Week 1.

More about the scholarship

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