Convoy Opens Up Access to Automated Network
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Digital freight broker Convoy on Sept. 16 launched Convoy Now, a program that gives shippers and other logistics companies access to Convoy’s automated, real-time pricing and capacity for both live and drop-and-hook loads.
In an industry first, the program extends automated real-time pricing to a nationwide drop-and-hook marketplace, Convoy Go, according to the Seattle-based company.
“We look forward to future collaborations with our partners and customers to take this program to the next level,” Chief Product Officer Ziad Ismail said.
Convoy launched its nationwide drop-and-hook marketplace in April. It allows any carrier or owner-operator to start hauling pre-loaded trailers.
Historically, it has taken shippers hours to procure prices manually for drop-and-hook shipments because carriers and asset brokers do not have an automated process to manage large trailer pools with real-time pricing.
Meanwhile, a suite of application programming interfaces and developer tools provides access to Convoy’s network of carriers for transportation management solution (TMS) providers and third-party managed transportation providers (MTP).
Shippers are using Convoy Now with TMS providers including BluJay Solutions, MercuryGate International Inc. and One Network Enterprises, with more planned.
BluJay reports it has more than 7,100 customers in 100 countries.
MercuryGate’s solutions supports all modes of transportation on a single platform including parcel, less-than-truckload, truckload, air, ocean, rail and intermodal.
One Network’s proprietary machine learning and intelligent agent technology, NEO, makes and executes decisions, enabling autonomous supply chain management.
“Shippers using One Network to manage their freight are looking to simplify their complex supply chains, so we see great value in the efficiencies that Convoy offers our customers,” said Johann Van Der Westhuizen, vice president of the strategic business development One Network. “By directly integrating Convoy’s real-time pricing into our TMS, we’ve been able to introduce another streamlined way for our customers to find and book affordable, high-quality coverage.”
One Network’s customers include Dana Inc., General Motors Co., XPO Logistics and Dollar General Corp., among others.
At the same time, Convoy customers such as The Kraft Heinz Co. have begun integrating Convoy Now application programming interfaces into their own custom TMS.
Managed transportation providers such as DHL Supply Chain incorporate Convoy’s automated real-time pricing into their software, too. DHL Supply Chain ranks No. 3 on the Transport Topics Top 50 list of the largest logistics companies in North America.
A year ago in September, Convoy, whose early backers included Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, added another prominent backer through a funding round that valued the startup at more than $1 billion.
Convoy said it raised $185 million in a Series C financing led by CapitalG, Alphabet Inc.’s growth equity fund.
