Introducing Shipper Platform in Canada: a new way to ship

Until today, the shipping process in Canada has been painfully manual. Canadian shippers reach out to a select number of brokers and are at the mercy of their rates, relationships, and timelines. They have visibility into only a fraction of the capacity available with no way to objectively evaluate rates against the market. That means that tendering a single load can take hours of back and forth between brokers and shippers. Smaller shippers, who don’t have the resources or aren’t big enough to justify investing in a transportation management system, are particularly vulnerable to inflated quotes and are frequently out of the loop on their freight status. For them, one mismanaged load can devastate their business. 

Today, we’re excited to announce the launch of Uber Freight’s self-service Shipper Platform in Canada. Canada is one of the United States’ most trusted trade partners—with more than $700 billion in goods and services traded between the 2 countries in 2019. In 2020, Canada’s local trucking market totaled $10.44 billion. Canada also faces many of the same industry challenges as the United States, including a driver shortage. The country is expected to be short 25,000 truck drivers by as early as 2023, representing a 25% increase over unfilled vacancies in 2019, according to a report from Trucking HR Canada. These tight market conditions present uniquely complex supply-chain challenges ripe for technology solutions.

Given the challenges that exist in the Canadian freight industry, over 1,000 shippers have expressed interest in using a shipper-specific platform from Uber Freight to help them increase efficiency in the sector and reduce trucks running empty miles across North America. 

With Shipper Platform, a first-of-its-kind offering for Canadian shippers, Uber Freight provides an unprecedented level of transparency and efficiency to the freight booking processes. The platform provides shippers with a direct plug-in to Uber Freight’s growing and reliable marketplace of carriers, and it offers all shippers real-time access to market prices and capacity. In short, Shipper Platform enables shippers to get freight quotes and track shipments in real time. 

Shippers using Uber Freight’s Shipper Platform can:

• Tender a load in seconds: Create and tender loads with just a few clicks and dramatically reduce the time and energy it takes to book a shipment. 
• See instant marketplace pricing: Get instant and transparent price quotes for shipments. Uber Freight’s rates are based on market conditions and other factors and generated in real time.
• Access Uber Freight’s reliable network of carriers and drivers: Have peace of mind knowing all loads tendered through Shipper Platform are backed by Uber Freight’s vast and reliable network of carriers.
• Track freight in real time: Track shipments online at any time of day. Automatic notifications for major milestones mean no more searching through an overcrowded inbox for tracking information.
• Streamline document management: Upon delivery, necessary documents and paperwork are automatically organized and stored for instant and future access.

Since we launched Uber Freight in Canada in 2019, we have manually facilitated loads in Ontario and Quebec domestically and across the border to Midwestern and Northeastern states in the US. We’ve supported carriers and shippers, helping them run and grow their businesses with ease by offering access to Uber Freight’s deep industry expertise, sophisticated marketplace technology, and reliable carrier base. And now, shippers can take advantage of freight shipping services to further increase efficiencies in shipping within Canada.

From the beginning, Uber Freight has built a dense and reliable network of carriers, introduced solutions for shippers of all sizes, and connected carriers and shippers across the marketplace to automate the highest-friction parts of the supply chain. Uber Freight envisions a future where freight flows seamlessly and effortlessly around the world, and the launch of this platform is a major step toward making that vision a reality.