Almost four months after acquiring the technology and IP of shuttered digital truck brokerage Convoy, Flexport has launched the Convoy Platform.
The slimmed down technology platform aims to offer small carriers access to freight, while offering shippers and brokers real-time competitive rates, shipment visibility and on-time performance, Flexport officials said.
“Today’s launch of the Convoy platform furthers Flexport’s product vision to build a true one-stop-shop to ship any product, in any quantity, between any two places in the world,” Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen said in a news release. “As a neutral, end-to-end supply chain platform, we’re able to bring together every party in global logistics with one common mission: Make global commerce so easy there’s more of it.”
Flexport is a digital global supply chain solutions provider based in San Francisco. The company acquired Convoy’s technology and IP in November, after the latter shut down on Oct. 19.
Convoy and Flexport have had a partnership since at least 2021. Flexport customers, through its Convoy integration, were able to gain broader access to domestic truck transportation and gain a more thorough view of their shipping costs.
In 2022, Convoy had over 1,000 employees and a valuation of $3.8 billion. Former Convoy CEO and co-founder Dan Lewis attributed the company’s fall to a freight recession over the past year coupled with tighter capital markets.
As part of the acquisition, a small number of Convoy employees joined Flexport, which did not take on Convoy as a company or its liabilities. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
For shippers, the launch of the Convoy Platform offers Flexport customers more full truckload carrier options. There are more than 400,000 truck drivers and 80,000 carriers in the Convoy network.
Flexport plans to expand Convoy’s offerings for brokers in the second quarter of this year. Brokers will soon have access to capacity backed by fraud detection technology and ongoing automated predictive performance scoring and quality control.
“It’s long been Flexport’s belief that no single company can provide a solution to every problem in global logistics, and we are committed to using technology to create a more collaborative, transparent and reliable freight ecosystem for all,” Bill Driegert, Flexport’s executive vice president and head of trucking, said in a statement.
The Convoy Platform will enable carriers to find and book loads from vetted brokers and shippers, as well as provide 24/7 access to the load board in the Convoy app. Carriers can also request hassle-free detention and lumper fees, track their fleet, and manage their load paperwork in the app.
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Hans Witt
never hauled one load for Convoy, never saw a load or was offered a load worth hauling, another brokerage masquerading as a load board ?
Ryan Daniels
From seeing the tech, Convoy is still years ahead of everyone else. Wish Robinson or similar had bought them instead of Flexport. Worry about Flexport running into issue
RSGlobal
To the commenters who are actual drivers/industry people, what would you recommend for us to use when our products land in the ports? What you say makes sense and we manufacture around the world so looking for the best solution to get our products to 3PL. Thanks in advance!
Convoy Ex Employee
Dan going to pay back all the employees and carriers he screwed over?
Freight
No shipper wants to commit themselves to any broker or forwarders tech or TMS anymore. We want our own tech that’s independent of them so we aren’t stuck when they go under (like Convoy did) or we get screwed over on the rates when they arbitrarily want to increase them on us.
We’ve got own own TMS tech now, and we’ll work with any broker or forwarder that has the best price and good service. If you don’t, we can quickly move on.
Mel
Any “logistics provider” whose only product is SAAS, is going under. That’s a fact. No assets, no drivers, no experience in transportation. All these execs and VCs are high on the smell of their own farts.
Captain Obvious
It’s been proven time & time again that the industry-at-large is not willing to utilize any single provider/LSP/TSP for all logistical needs. Lack of trust is a major factor. Not to mention, it seems Flexport is still trying to penetrate a larger segment of the forwarding space as their core offering, so just don’t really understand the logic in adding a brokerage/surface transportation arm. It likely only works in a vacuum.
Carriers side
Just tried to use their app, I can bet that Convoy /flex Port will see Convoy go under, They are already doing the same mistakes the original convoy did.