Uber Freight Launches Major Shipping Platform Update
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Uber Freight is launching what it has called the largest evolution of its freight quoting and booking platform, the company announced Aug. 15.
Building on its 2018 debut, Uber Freight Shipping has expanded beyond streamlined freight quoting, booking and tracking. New features include all-day support, instant rate comparisons and extended capacity, with a particular focus on advanced services for small- and medium-sized businesses.
“Technology is just playing a really essential role in the supply chain, whether it’s for large enterprise global shippers that we work with on our managed transportation and our forwarding side or for the small and medium-sized shippers that really need a way to find the right capacity, at the right time, for the right price,” said Steve Barber, head of shipper products at Uber Freight. “And the interesting thing is they need to do it at scale. They need a solution that is effective.”
Many shippers still rely on outdated technologies and processes, including email, Barber said, and they lack effective market benchmarking tools. He believes the updated platform will provide smaller players with resources to compete more effectively against larger businesses.
Barber
“We really want to provide them with a way to move,” Barber said. “We want them to be able to quickly and easily determine what their cost is, determine how that compares to the marketplace, get them access to the latest visibility tools, get them access to dynamic pass-through markets that really evolves on a daily basis and hourly basis.”
To address smaller businesses’ supply chain challenges, Uber Freight Shipping offers affordable access to advanced logistics technology. The platform aims to democratize these tools, enabling improved speed, transparency and efficiency.
“We’re providing them with excellent customer service, so our technology is backed by a dedicated support team,” Barber said. “Really, we want to show that we’ve continued to make investments in that space since this product was originally launched in 2018. This is more than a rebranding, it’s really an evolution.”
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Uber Freight Shipping is also fully integrated with Application Programming Interface, or API, systems and Oracle’s NetSuite Enterprise Resource Planning platform. The ERP integration is designed to help digitize and organize essential documents, simplifying the transition from order review to shipment creation. It also includes transparent pricing comparisons by providing instant and clear quotes, as well as rates and lanes tools. The platform is supported by an around-the-clock customer service team.
“It continues to be incredibly successful with growth of nearly 176% just in the last 12 months,” Barber said. “We don’t want to do anything that’s going to disrupt that. But we also want to be able to bring something that’s really expanded and differentiated. Allow them an easier way to interact with us.
“We looked at it and said this needs to be more than just a tweak, this needs to be a significant upgrade or enhancement to the system.”
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