Today, U.S. Fortune 500 shippers move the majority of their freight through preloaded drop trailers. Many of them would move even more of their freight as drop-and-hook loads if they could. Some would forgo live loads altogether.

Transportation teams prefer drop for its flexibility. Facility workers prefer it because they have a much wider time window for loading and unloading trailers. Carriers prefer it because it helps improve their productivity. In running our own nationwide drop-and-hook program since 2019, we’ve seen average carrier load and unload wait times drop from three hours to under 30 minutes, which in turn lowers detention fees for shippers. And the Environmental Protection Agency says drop helps reduce carbon emissions by eliminating hours of tractor idle time.

If drop benefits shippers, facility workers, carriers, and our planet, why aren’t we moving more freight this way? Unfortunately, the operational constraints of traditional drop programs have made this unfeasible. In recent years though, machine learning and automation have enabled an entirely new breed of drop program that operates with a level of flexibility and efficiency never before possible. This opens the question of whether all freight could one day be drop-and-hook. To answer that question, let’s start with what’s traditionally held us back. 

Constraints of traditional drop-and-hook

Drop-and-hook freight is substantially more complex than live loads. With drop, you need to match each shipment to an available trailer and a separate tractor. To do that, you need to know where all your trailers and tractors are, and you need to be able to route them to the next pickup as efficiently as possible.

Carriers have traditionally addressed this problem manually — with people on the ground and on the phone chasing assets. The process is time intensive, error prone, and operationally expensive, limiting drop service to large asset-based carriers, running on dense lanes with predictable shipment volume. This is also why drop has been used almost exclusively for contract freight.

But even with the relative predictability of contract freight, shippers incur unexpected costs with traditional drop programs. When tender volume exceeds forecast, transportation teams are forced to supplement with live loads, increasing operational costs and reducing the efficiency of their supply chain. Live loads not only introduce logistical hassles with appointment scheduling and additional labor requirements, but they also increase service quality risk through unfamiliar carriers sourced on the spot market.

Conversely, when tender volume dips below contract expectations, trucks stop moving. Carriers address lower fleet utilization with punitive fees, either charged directly to shippers or indirectly by passing along their higher fixed costs. 

When spot market spillover and punitive fees are accounted for, the inefficiency and inflexibility of traditional drop programs cost shippers 9% of annual freight spend on average:

$9.5 million for a shipper that moves 250,000 drop loads a year

$37.4 million for a shipper that moves 1 million drop loads per year

This ongoing cycle of spot market spillover and punitive fees has always been part of traditional drop, creating undue burden and risk for transportation teams and constraining the potential of this otherwise highly efficient form of shipping.

A new breed of drop-and-hook enabled by technology

Building toward a future in which all freight is drop-and-hook requires that we first overcome the limitations described above. In 2019, we took the initial steps by launching a new type of drop program called Convoy Go.

The program flipped traditional drop-and-hook on its head in several ways. First, it opened up high-quality drop shipments to every carrier in our digital freight network. With more than 400,000 trucks, we solved one part of the drop equation — always being able to match a shipment to an available tractor. And through our unique quality and compliance program, we could deliver service quality on par with the industry’s top asset-based carriers.

But what about trailers? Over the last three years, we’ve developed a new kind of drop trailer network, enabled by machine learning and automation technology. It eliminates the inefficiencies of traditional drop-and-hook programs by providing nationwide capacity for primary, backup, and spot loads, and it enables facilities to operate at peak efficiency regardless of fluctuations in demand. Here’s how it works.

Smart trailers

Every trailer in our network is equipped with internet-connected sensors that provide insights into the asset’s location, condition, and status. This eliminates the need for a large team of people to manage trailers on the ground. 

The trailers report their location using GPS and geofencing, so we can track 100% of our drop loads en route. We not only see where the trailer is but also how fast it’s moving and, with the help of machine learning models, when it’s expected to arrive. Additional sensors and proprietary software tell us whether the trailer’s loaded, what it was carrying previously, and what it’s slated to carry next. We can even determine whether a trailer has been stolen, an increasingly important capability as cargo theft has accelerated in recent years. With the increased visibility offered by smart trailers, you never have to wonder about the location and status of your shipments. 

These sensors also give us a detailed view into your facility yards. We can see how many trailers are parked in the primary and overflow lots, each trailer’s parking spot, whether the trailers are empty, and which are ready to be unloaded or dispatched. While asset carriers rely on dedicated equipment teams to manually check trailer status, Convoy Go provides this information automatically and without manual inaccuracies or the overhead costs of a dedicated team.

Trailer rebalancing

Supply and demand between facilities and cities is rarely equal. You might have a lot of freight going from Los Angeles to Phoenix, but few loads headed in the reverse direction. This leads to trailers piling up in cities with high demand. Traditional drop programs address this by deploying a surplus of trailers and constraining each trailer to a closed loop between two facilities. This is an inefficient use of trailer capacity and results in higher operating costs.

We’ve taken a different approach using machine learning technology. Each day, our machine learning models route trailers to where they’re needed in advance of the next pickup. As part of this, Convoy Go trailers are shared across our customers — a universal trailer pool that flexes with shippers’ fluctuating demand. Doing this at a nationwide scale involves analyzing billions of permutations to identify the most efficient route for every tractor and trailer. We account for loads that have already been booked, and we can reliably predict our customers’ future trailer demand weeks in advance.

The result is that we can find a trailer for our customers’ drop shipments 99.9% of the time. And in almost every instance, we deliver the trailer more than 24 hours in advance of preload.

Automated Reloads

Automated Reloads enable drivers in our digital freight network to automatically match their headhaul with a backhaul, earning more money on each run while achieving better truck utilization. For shippers, these reloads reduce carrier cancellations by roughly 10%, and they significantly reduce carbon emissions from empty miles. We’ve been offering this capability on live loads since 2019, and we recently introduced automated reloads for drop shipments as well. 

In the example here, the carrier drives approximately 55 miles empty — 45 miles between Portland, OR, and Salem, OR, to pick up the backhaul, and an additional 10 miles between Bellevue, WA, and Seattle after dropping the backhaul. This is compared to driving approximately 175 empty miles from Portland to Seattle had we not found a backhaul shipment.

By bundling multiple shipments together, Convoy helps carriers reduce their carbon emissions from empty miles by 45%. As of April 2022, Convoy has saved more than 8 million pounds of carbon emissions from entering the atmosphere.

So could all freight one day be drop-and-hook? 

I believe we’re on a path to enabling the vast majority of freight to move in drop trailers. We’ve laid the foundation with a more efficient, flexible, and sustainable drop program in Convoy Go.

The next step is to further unlock trailer capacity. This isn’t simply a function of accelerating new trailer production, although trailer manufacturing will need to recover to some degree, potentially aided by new, more accessible construction materials. The more immediate opportunity, though, is to unlock latent capacity in idle assets — estimates are that 20% of trailer fleets sit unused on any given day.

This will require industry collaboration across shippers, carriers, digital freight networks, trailer manufacturers, and drop yard providers to build a truly universal trailer pool across the 4.8 million trailers currently in service. We’re already pursuing this vision, and we’re looking for innovative, forward-leaning partners to join us.

This story originally appeared in Convoy’s “The Future of Freight,” featuring 40 thoughtfully curated pages on supply chain disruption, freight procurement, market volatility, and more.

The post Could All Freight One Day Be Drop-and-hook? appeared first on Convoy.

A New Way to Take Control of your Freight

For many transportation teams, getting shipments covered remains an inefficient, manual process of back-and-forth phone calls and emails.

Over the last five years, digital freight networks like Convoy and online booking platforms like Shipper Platform have dramatically simplified the process of getting high-quality coverage for contract, backup, and spot freight.

Today’s launch is the next natural step in the evolution of our digital freight network—providing shippers with access to more than 400,000 dry vans and reefers from Convoy’s network of vetted carriers, while also enabling shippers to work with their existing carriers and brokers more easily. When booking freight with Convoy, transportation teams get visibility into the truck’s location and estimated time of arrival through online GPS tracking and automated notifications.

Key product capabilities

The new online platform gives shippers of all sizes direct access to our digital freight network and provides guaranteed coverage across primary, backup, and spot loads with the ability to easily transition between our self-service website and managed freight services. Key features include:

• The ability to view and book contracted freight for primary and backup loads, including support for Convoy’s unique Guaranteed Primary program
• Instant, guaranteed quotes for spot loads that can be booked in minutes
• Unique spot rate benchmarks that provide insights into how Convoy’s rates compare to the market and offer tips for reducing shipping costs.
• Automated compliance checks that ensure every load is hauled by a high-quality carrier vetted by Convoy’s unique machine learning models
• GPS tracking with shareable links that enable logistics teams to share real-time load status with their suppliers and customers

• Automated facility notifications that share real-time shipment status milestones with key facility contacts
• Automated bills of lading (BOLs) that streamline communication between warehouses and drivers and reduce unnecessary pickup and delivery delays 
• White-glove appointment scheduling services from Convoy’s operations team 
• Green Appointment Windows, which can reduce carbon emissions from empty miles on each load by up to 36%

• A dashboard of all Convoy shipments including loads built through the Convoy website, as well as shipments tendered through EDI integrations, Convoy’s Dynamic Backup API, or our managed freight services

To see a demo of product capabilities, or to sign up and start using our new online platform today, go to convoy.com/Freight-Software. 

How a Customer is Already Reducing Their Freight Spend with Our Online Platform

Today’s launch comes amid surging customer demand for digital freight networks, driven by the need to get more reliable coverage while reducing transportation costs. 

General Insulation Company began using Convoy as a way to centralize its tendering process and source competitive bids from its preferred carriers. Over the course of four months, the company estimates that they avoided more than $150,000 in costs by benchmarking carrier rates on spot shipments. 

“In a business where lead time is money, Convoy has been a game-changer,” said Ian Allison, Transportation and Supply Chain Manager at General Insulation Company. “Before Convoy, we didn’t have sufficient visibility into our branch offices or efficient processes for benchmarking carrier performance and spend. Now we’ve got a centralized dashboard that gives us better control over our tendering process, faster bid response time, and insights into the performance of all the carriers we work with.”

General Insulation Company is among the leading manufacturers and retailers who look to digital freight networks as a new category of freight provider, distinct from traditional brokers and asset-based carriers. In a recent survey of logistics and procurement professionals, 19% of respondents indicated that they already use digital freight networks for contract or spot freight—a number expected to more than double to 42% of shippers in the coming years. This growth in digital freight is in contrast to 3PLs, asset-based carriers, traditional brokers, and private fleets, whose usage is expected to remain flat in the coming years.

The post Introducing a new online platform for shippers appeared first on Convoy.

The challenge with traditional drop-and-hook has been the complexity of matching, tracking, and routing decoupled tractors and trailers. Most carriers and brokers address this problem manually, which often results in stale data and inaccurate forecasting that in turn limits their service to dense lanes with predictable shipments. These traditional drop-and-hook services are often unable to quickly scale to meet unexpected demand surges, forcing shippers to rely on the spot market and live loads, which drive up transportation costs and introduce logistical complications.

Our new capabilities address these pain points and deliver more flexible, reliable, and efficient drop capacity for shippers, with a nearly 100% equipment availability rate, trailers delivered 24 hours before load times, 48% lower dwell times vs. live shipments, deep visibility into every load, and reduced carbon emissions. 

Predictive Trailer Routing

This enhancement proactively routes empty trailers to customers’ facilities, while simultaneously rebalancing our trailer pool. To accomplish this, we use a machine learning model, predicting several weeks in advance how many trailers customers will need across hundreds of facilities nationwide. We combine these forecasts daily with historical shipment data, GPS-based trailer locations, shipment assignments, inspection reports, and driver locations, feeding it all into an optimization model that analyzes billions of trailer route permutations, ultimately picking the most efficient solution.   

Automated Reloads with Batched Routes

Since we launched automated reloads, which combine headhauls with backhauls, shippers have benefitted from better service due to lower carrier falloff rates, and carriers have earned more through better asset utilization, all while preventing nearly three million pounds of CO2 emissions from entering the atmosphere. Now, automated reloads support batched routes for drop, which combine three or more runs into a single multi-stop job, providing even greater efficiency for carriers and service quality for shippers. In addition, automated reloads can now combine multiple drop and live loads into a single trip, further reducing empty miles and improving asset utilization. 

Smarter Trailers, Powered by IoT sensors

Each trailer in our shared pool is now equipped with advanced telematics, which, combined with Convoy data, provide unmatched visibility into every load. Combinations of ultrasonic, optical laser, and radar sensors deliver real-time information to our cloud-based data lake. A machine learning model then analyzes this data to ensure shipments are progressing as planned, automatically flagging issues that require us to course-correct. As a result, our team and our customers know if trailers are loaded and ready for pickup, if they’re being hauled by the correct driver, if the shipment needs more time, if the trailer is available for another shipment, if a trailer needs preventative maintenance, and how many new trailers are headed inbound to each facility for loading. This automated workflow enables our nationwide fleet of thousands of trailers to be remotely monitored and managed by a handful of specialists, who can make any necessary adjustments even minutes before preloading.

Try Convoy Go Today

Convoy Go is available to any company who ships 250 full truckloads annually on any lane, nationwide. Interested in giving it a try? Learn more by visiting convoy.com/drop-and-hook, or drop us a line at sd@convoy.com. You can also learn more by reading a new white paper we’ve published on the topic, available today for free download.

The post Introducing Industry-Leading Drop-and-Hook Innovations appeared first on Convoy.

Today, we are excited to launch Convoy Go, a nationwide drop & hook marketplace that allows any carrier or owner-operator to start hauling pre-loaded trailers — and to operate at the same level as large asset-based carriers. Our data shows that up to a third of the cost of truck freight in the US is attributable to time spent either waiting for appointments, or waiting at the dock to load and unload. This massive amount of waste has a direct impact on increased transportation costs, decreased drivers’ earnings and reduced overall trucking capacity for shippers.

Reductions in time wasted for drivers translate into increases in productivity and earnings

Convoy Go reduces driver wait time in facilities from an average of 3 hours to less than an hour and provides 5 to 10 hour appointment windows, offering drivers more flexibility to optimize their schedule. Together, this translates into increases of carrier productivity of up to 50%. To accomplish this, Convoy Go leverages its Universal Trailer Pool, a nationwide pool of Convoy managed trailers that can be used by any driver in Convoy’s network, with no direct rental fees. Carriers can find, book and complete a load all using the Convoy app.

Since our initial pilot in 2017, we have worked with select shippers and thousands of drivers to tune the model across the Northeast, Southeast, South and West regions. Today, the program is available to all shippers and carriers nationwide.

Shippers can access carriers across the country to service drop shipments needs

Drop shipments currently represent the majority of Fortune 500 company shipments. To date, most of these shipments have been serviced by large asset-based carriers. Convoy Go enables any carrier or owner-operator in the U.S. to operate at the same level as large asset-based carriers, in terms of fleet utilization, service levels and access to shipments.  With its drop and hook marketplace, Convoy Go creates a seamless “grab and go” system, where carriers simply bring their power unit, pick up a pre-loaded trailer, and hit the road.  Convoy’s Universal Trailer Pool is shared across all shippers and trucking companies, with no rental fee.

During the past year, carriers and shippers have shared specific insights and experiences about the program:

Carriers, most of which are doing drop and hook loads for the first time, experience shorter wait times at facilities and flexible appointment windows which translate directly into increased carrier productivity.

“In the past I was able to do 3 to 4 loads a week per truck but now, with Convoy Go, I can consistently do 6 loads per week per truck,” said Eduardo Canales from Canales Trucking. “We are a small company with two trucks and, in the past, we rarely did power only loads. Now, we operate almost exclusively power only loads with Convoy.  The main upside is that the wait time is very short, we are in and out of facilities in 45 minutes versus more than four hours for live loads. Also, Convoy allows us to have power only headhauls and power only backhauls which allows us to work more miles.”

Shippers have historically enjoyed higher levels of service with asset-based carriers measured in terms of equipment availability, on-time pickup and on-time delivery metrics. Using Convoy Go, any trucking company can provide shippers with high levels of service.

“Convoy has been recognized by our Operations team as being consistently able to provide us capacity in a larger scale in tough times compared to some of our partners. In the past that extra capacity was exclusively live which presented challenges during loading at our plants and unloading at our customers” said Fernando Bono, Unilever Logistics Procurement. “With the implementation of Convoy Go and consequently the expansion of drop capacity, those challenges have vanished and Convoy can provide the capabilities and service needed to our plants and customers with reduced risks to the operation. Having access to a large Power Only carrier base and additional drop capability has increased our confidence in executing last minute asks in addition to decreasing overall service and financial impacts when those last minute requests do happen”

For Carriers:

Learn more about Convoy Go for carriers here

New to Convoy? Sign up today

Already hauling with Convoy? Open the Convoy app and search for power only shipments.

For Shippers:

Learn more about Convoy Go for shippers here

New to Convoy? Get started here

Already shipping with Convoy? Contact your Account Manager

The post Announcing Convoy Go, a nationwide Drop & Hook marketplace appeared first on Convoy.