[ad_1]
A truck pulling an Amazon Prime cargo container is waiting outside the front door at the new distribution center of Amazon.com Inc. located in Kolbaskowo, Poland on Friday, February 16, 2018.
Bartek Sadowski | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Amazon has been testing a new online service since last year that connects truckers and shippers. He is taking his first steps in the lucrative online freight brokerage space, according to two people close to the service.
The launch of an online freight service allows Amazon to better manage its existing carrier network and to speed up the process of cargo matching, which remains highly inefficient, with most of the remaining work to be done by phone or fax. But this also marks Amazon's first foray into the freight brokerage industry, which includes major competitors like Uber Freight, C.H Robinson and XPO Logistics.
The website cargo.amazon.com, launched in 2018, allows shippers to get instant quotes on parcels that they want to ship between warehouses. The service is currently in beta and is only available for shipments between warehouses located in five states: Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, New York state and Pennsylvania, according to the site Amazon's freight service web.
There are currently only "hundreds" of carriers using this service, Amazon does not allow authorized road partners to participate in the program, these people said.
Once the requested shipment is accepted by a trucking company, the details of the shipment are shared via a separate mobile application called Relay, these people said. Relay, launched in 2017, allows truck drivers to receive additional cargo information, such as tracking shipments and routes, as well as expedited warehouse registration procedures.
In a statement to CNBC, the Amazon representative confirmed the existence of the service by stating, "We are working with many of the transportation service providers in our transportation network and have been using them for a long time to carry loads for Amazon. This service, designed to make better use of our freight network, has existed in various forms for some time. "
Amazon is promoting this service as a way for shippers to easily access its large network of carriers. On its website, Amazon says: "Take advantage of Amazon's scale by expanding our network of suppliers to provide you with the best service at a great price."
This is officially Amazon a freight broker that helps to match shippers to road carriers. On the website, Amazon says that it is an authorized "freight broker".
Uber Freight, a similar freight brokerage service, was officially launched in the United States in 2017 and generated over $ 125 million in revenue last quarter, according to the latest IPO listing. 'Uber. C.H. Robinson, one of the world's largest logistics and freight brokerage firms, has achieved a turnover of more than $ 16 billion in 2018.
Overall, the freight brokerage market was $ 72 billion in the United States in 2017, according to Uber, which quoted market research firm Armstrong & Associates. It also indicates that companies have spent a total of $ 700 billion on trucking in the United States in 2017.
Amazon often launches new services without public notice to test them before developing more aggressively. For example, the company has hundreds of private labels, almost all of which have been launched without major public announcements.
WATCH: Uber Freight cuts trucking costs after only 20 months, says division chief
Source link
