With continued market volatility and fluctuating demand, shippers need reliable transportation alternatives to avoid delays and safely get products to their destinations. That’s why we’re participating in the Convoy for Brokers program to leverage their “elastic capacity” to increase speed, productivity and service for our shipper clients. AFS is posting loads to Convoy’s e-marketplace that attracts a significant amount of carrier capacity from its network of more than 300,000 trucks operated by small carriers and owner-operators.
“As a rapidly growing third-party logistics provider, we are constantly evaluating new approaches for sourcing flexible capacity as our domestic truckload business expands,” said Andy Dyer, president of transportation management at AFS. “We are excited about Convoy for Brokers, as it provides incredibly efficient access to a large, pre-vetted carrier network with a unique pay-as-you-go pricing model that will scale with our growth.”
Convoy estimates that more than 40% of truckload shipments run through freight brokers like AFS. Convoy’s digital freight brokerage platforms remove the slow, labor-intensive steps of phone calls and emails to match shipments to available trucks. The Convoy platform uses technology and data to automate its own brokerage, including:
- Pricing
- Load matching
- Verifying carrier safety and performance
- Scheduling appointments
- Real-time GPS tracking
- Automated backhauls
- Digital BOL and document management
- Carrier payment
While other environments are a self-service model, the Convoy platform uses algorithms and presents loads to carriers based on history or known transactions. With AFS and Convoy, shippers get better access to competitively priced, high-performing capacity. AFS serves as the brokerage of record while Convoy plays an active role in matching shippers and carriers.
