Convoy launches Green Appointment Windows to maximize shipping efficiency and reduce carbon emissions

Today we take another step toward maximizing shipping efficiency with Green Appointment Windows. This feature, available through the Convoy shipper platform, offers shippers the ability to book their freight in a flexible appointment window to get access to the best carriers at the best price while simultaneously reducing their carbon emissions. Our research uncovered that longer appointment windows maximizes carrier schedules and reduces empty miles, resulting in a carbon reduction of 36% for the shipment. By branding the appointment window option as a Green Appointment Window, we focus a shippers’ attention on the importance of reducing their carbon emissions.

Shippers Benefit from Choosing Green Appointment Windows

• Greater access to capacity – More carriers are able to fit the job into their schedule with Green Appointments.
• Higher quality – Green Appointments create more flexible load opportunities for carriers. With flexible loads, carriers choose what works for their schedule within a set of flexible appointment options, leading to higher on-time performance and lower fall-off rates.
• Lower costs – Longer appointment windows increase the lead time of finding and booking the most efficient carrier for the shipment, which ultimately reduces cost. 
• Reduced carbon emissions – When a Shipper selects a pick up appointment and delivery appointments greater than 8 hours, their shipments result in a 36% decrease in carbon emissions. 

Reducing Empty Miles Through Better Batching

Poor appointment setting results in truck drivers wasting time and driving empty (known as “empty miles”). Empty miles occur because strict pick-up and delivery appointments often don’t fit with a driver’s schedule. The load may have a pick-up hours after drivers have completed a delivery and loads are often scheduled with too much transit time in between, leading to long waits or loads that are on the right route, but don’t work for a driver’s schedule due to the timing. Bottom line: empty miles lead to excess carbon emissions.

For both live and drop shipments, there is typically the need for some number of empty miles between a drop-off and the next pickup (sometimes with an intermediate stop to rest). However, if there is more flexibility in the drop-off and pickup times, there are more opportunities to find closer loads before and after any particular shipment.

Green Appointment Windows increase the likelihood of round-trip batching, leading to empty miles saved, which in turn leads to significant savings in carbon emissions.

There is no single solution when it comes to reducing waste across the trucking industry and promoting environmental sustainability. But with Green Appointment Windows, shippers working with Convoy can make a (potentially big) impact towards becoming more green.

How to Book a Green Appointment Window

Any shipper can book their next shipment with Convoy’s Green Appointment Windows. Shippers log into Convoy’s shipper platform and create a shipment, selecting a Green Appointment Window for the scheduled pick up and/or drop off. 

Sign up for a free Convoy account to get a quote on your shipper freight and book a load.

Convoy shipper platform is now part of Convoy’s integrated online platform for shippers. For more information, take a look at our freight booking software.