Five additional partnerships with transportation management system (TMS) suppliers have been announced by Convoy, giving its shipping customers more options to seamlessly book freight with the company.
“These partnerships are important because they enable our TMS and related platform partners to offer Convoy’s automated real-time prices with guaranteed capacity to our mutual customers,” a Convoy spokesperson told FreightWaves. “In partnering with a broad array of TMS leaders, we offer shippers increased freedom to tap into these benefits and automatically book within their TMS platform of choice. This saves time and money and provides shippers with a better, more seamless experience.”
The new partnerships are with Blue Yonder (previously JDA), FreightPOP, Recon Logistics, Shipwell and SwanLeap, bringing to 12 the total number of TMS integrations available. Previous integrations include BluJay Solutions, MercuryGate, Oracle TMS, One Network, Emerge, Teknowlogi and Logistically.
Future integrations are likely, the spokesperson said.
“Convoy is committed to providing supply chain teams with the most reliable and flexible coverage in the market,” Brooks McMahon, Convoy’s vice president of partnerships, said. “With today’s announcement, we expand the reach of our freight network to the tens of thousands of shippers using these leading TMS solutions. And as the market continues to shift in the months ahead, we look forward to providing a guaranteed backup and spot solution for any truckload shipper whose tenders are rejected.”
According to Convoy, the integrations allow shippers to see its real-time rate quote tool within a current TMS. Convoy’s real-time rate quote tool allows a shipper to see Convoy’s guaranteed rate alongside static rates on file. This, the spokesperson said, eliminates the need for additional emails or phone calls to verify rates or capacity.
“We offer real-time prices instantaneously that we stand by,” the spokesperson said. “What the load planner sees is the rate they pay, and Convoy guarantees tender acceptance against that rate. Other static rates on file with the backup carriers in their routing guide may or may not be accepted, and there is significant time wasted (usually one to two hours) as a result while they wait for other backup carriers to respond. Convoy backs up our rate with instant capacity that planners can book immediately.”
Convoy said that its real-time rate tool can save up to 21% when compared with spot rates.
“Historically, tender rejection by a primary carrier would force logistics teams into a time-consuming and often ineffective process of sourcing backup coverage,” the company said. “After activating their routing guide, load planners would wait two hours on average for each backup carrier to manually identify drivers, collect bids and negotiate prices. Even when the process is successful, it can take hours to book a single load.”
During times of tight capacity, load planners may need to turn to the spot market, Convoy added, where they would be dealing with unfamiliar carriers and paying higher spot prices. In 2018, Convoy introduced dynamic pricing to address this.
Dynamic pricing ensures shippers are able to move their goods through a 100% coverage guarantee.
“When the primary rate is lower than prevailing market prices, carriers start rejecting more loads. As loads make their way through the routing guide, each rejection means valuable time lost in securing the right truck. With less time available to find a truck, prices increase and the possibility of a service failure looms,” Himani Jain wrote in a blog post announcing the program in 2018.
The program inserts a real-time and guaranteed market rate into the routing guide. With the addition of the five new TMS integrations, shippers can more easily access this pricing model and see how it compares to their current static approach.
“Customer demand drives our prioritization, and we aim to unlock this capability for all of our shared customers. We’re working closely with our partners and customers to launch more and more customers through these integrations,” the Convoy spokesperson said.
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