Uber Freight announced Thursday it has expanded into less-than-truckload freight.
“Our vision is to become a one-stop shop for freight,” Michael Bailey, product manager for Uber Freight (NYSE:UBER), told FreightWaves. “Shippers can come to us for any type of goods, in any form, at any time with instant pricing and full transparency.”
Related article: Uber Freight launches Shipper Platform in Canada
Working with one of the largest logistics providers in the industry, Uber Freight will leverage the aptitude and technological foundation of BlueGrace Logistics to enable its customers to receive real-time pricing from various LTL carriers, track shipments and manage billing through a single platform.
“We believe in order to have the best-in-class LTL experience, you have to have a really great carrier network with competitive rates,” Bailey said. “With BlueGrace’s network we will be able to offer really competitive rates to our shippers. That was super important when we decided to come into the LTL market and be very competitive. We also think we can use their back-end technology to help us speed up the process of optimizing customers’ freight.”
Olivier Causse, general manager of Uber Freight, said this relationship will offer customers an LTL portal immediately. The company plans to use customer feedback and machine learning to optimize its customers’ shipping operations over time.
“We will learn how our customers use the product, learn their pain points and inject those solutions into the product as we go, really changing the user experience,” he explained. “We want to make the experience errorless and seamless since booking an LTL shipment can be much more complex.”
Related article: Uber Freight’s Market Access solution helps shippers manage supply chain risks
The team will focus on many of the issues that generally cause customers re-bills or missed pickups and deliveries, including overlength, density and destination-based charges.
“We’ve brought tremendous innovation to full truckload and we think the LTL market is ripe for this kind of innovation as well. We are very excited about that,” Bailey said.
A few of Uber Freight’s customers have been testing the new offering and have appreciated the seamless experience of using one platform for their entire book of business.
“There are many instances where our business doesn’t need to fill an entire trailer,” said David Qiu, shipping manager of H&M USA Inc., a New York-based ingredients distributor.
“The ability to now book LTL directly within the Uber Freight shipper platform means that we can rely on one solution for all of our shipping needs. Be it FTL or LTL, Uber Freight removes anxiety from the tendering process,” Qiu said.
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Johnny Irish
“Innovate” No not in the least Grace. This is like comedy for those of us in the freight/trucking industry. I am curious do you happen to have the FMCSA broker or U.S. Dot # for Blue Grace? I see many commenting on the whole double broker drum banging. Maybe this is something that Clarissa Hawes and yourself can ask both Uber and Blue Grace about and see if they want to allow shippers know how which FEDERAL AUTHORITY their goods are traveling under? I guess maybe shippers should be told about companies like Global Tranz or Freight Quote. I mean honestly shipments are track today with tools such as Macro-Point and Four Kites
It is interesting to see contributors to this site discuss things like Project 44 but wasn’t the founder once the co-owner of Global Tranz. I see some refer to carriers as bottom feeders to be honest some companies just do not understand what the work “NO” means. “Innovate” That just has me cracking up today at lunch. How can you now love it. Maybe “Duplicate” should be the proper wording.
Tcs53
Curious as to which LTL carriers are going in on the Uber deal. I can’t see any of the major carriers giving up a nickel to Uber just to get another shipment. They already have the same system in place for rate quotes. What I see is Uber using fly by night and bottom feeders to haul your freight. Some small shippers will use them due to the Uber name recognition but good luck on that shipment from Chicago to LA. Try and track it !
David
My understanding is Uber ride drivers get screwed by Uber. Like only getting 25% of some trips…how could Uber possibly treat carriers/Owner Ops well?
I think we need to organize and boycott carrying their loads.
If nothing else, wasn’t so sure about swift/knight dumping a billion dollars into LTL, but kind if a nauseous comfort knowing Uber will have them to contend with.
Brad
uber can barely handle truckload – how are they going to pull off LTL? I am sure they can sell it to customers which I guess is the main thing selling, but value-add to anyone? color me doubtful.
DT
agreed. and it’s double brokered ltl as well!
Rob
Joyful, just what the trucking industry needs is another broker to help lower profits for companies and individuals while someone just sits and waits for the lowest bid to move the freight. Ive been in the trucking industry for 20 years with the past 10 years in the LTL sector as a driver. I got sick and tired of CH Robinson and other brokers wanting a update every 5 min while calling your phone while you are driving or trying to sleep. The only way to take the call is to be “hands free” device or pull over and take the call. Either way, you loose money by either buy a wireless headset or pull over and lose miles while they steal from the backbone of this country. Not to mention the inflation prices going insane due to all the “free money” going out to the “unemployed” workers during a shortage or bailing out states like California and New York. Makes you wonder about California being able to send checks out to 2 out of 3 people in thier state but needed money to be bailed out cause they couldn’t afford to pay thier bills. I dont care if this upsets people, but its not a worker shortage, its a ubundance of lazy people who know they can sit and make more doing nothing and run around constantly jamming up the roads cause they don’t work and get paid for not working. Ive worked EVERY SINGLE DAY threw this virus and not got paid a penny extra to deliver to food warehouses, hospitals, drug stores and grocery stores for everyone’s needs but I’m stuck paying taxes on all of this epidemic where a lot of people got free money out of anyone in this industry while we get nothing. If Congress, the White House and the house of representives want to boost this economy, drop the free money to the not working people and give the ones who have busted thier rear ends off to those who didn’t work, risking thier lives to do thier jobs a “bonus” for doing thier jobs to carry this country threw this pandemic and I guarantee there will be better results on the economy than there is at this present moment then just letting the lazy do nothing, like Uber is doing to the LTL sector, and then the lazy will be forced to go back to work. Then things will improve 10x.
Sic of middle men
Just another platform to help Uber Freight maximize the amount of money they are stealing from carrier’s who are doing all the work! This country and it’s mega rich affiliates have been profiting from us far too long! We do the work, they sit behind computers and want the bulk of the money! Uber Freight wants to change the face of freight through technology, which is fine and dandy but to their financial advantage and not the carrier! I stopped offering services to Uber Freight because they are no different than the rest of the pencil pushers, stalking the load board from home waiting on a carrier to steal from! Bums
Henry Johns
Uber Int’l buyers of heavyweight freight should be the target of LTL service offerings. Not a bad start. Why? Becuase int’l buyers purchase goods by means of a purchase order…understand ‘incoterms’ that trigger U.S. supplier-shippers to act as middle-man and empower a direct access not having to relay on their suppliers to also ship their freight heavyweight purchases back to them. You can remove that ‘middleman’ thereby offering LTL services direct. This is an ‘openly hidden’ marketplace where little is known about changing the paradigm. I at one time as a sales accpimt exective for a LTL trucking company could not figure out why I wasn’t selling my services directly to int’l buyers. How could I remove the supplier-shipper of his power. The answer is understandthe document that tiggers control and devise a means whereby U.S. supplier-shippers sell their product, that’s it. SInce, 1935 trade terms hold the secret to a new service offering. LTL -FTL motor carriers were missing from the table where defaulting their ‘wheelhouse’ to middle-men supplier-shippers. I learned about this marketplace by working abroad working with importers and clearing their freight with customs in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. Henry @ [email protected]
DT
how can the uber freight ltl pricing be competitive then? isn’t this a broker (uber) going through another broker (bluegrace)? awesome. what could go wrong lol.
isn’t uber big enough now to just go direct and get killer pricing?