Anheuser-Busch announced an enhanced multi-year agreement with Convoy, making the technology start-up the “trucking service provider” for shipments.
Anheuser-Busch has already been using Convoy for some on-demand beer shipments. The companies were recently profiled on CNBC during a real-time delivery.
“Convoy’s data management platform has the potential to uncover valuable business insights for us by recording the DNA of shipments from order creation to delivery,” Ties Soeters, vice president of logistics procurement for Anheuser-Busch, said in a statement. “These insights allow Anheuser-Busch to make better, data-driven decisions so that we can improve our processes across our supply chain and create better jobs for truck drivers.”
Besides making more on-demand capacity available, Anheuser-Busch said Convoy’s technology has helped increase wages for truck drivers and reduce empty miles.
“Anheuser-Busch’s approach to using data and technology to create more sustainable practices while improving conditions for America’s independent trucking companies directly aligns with Convoy’s vision,” said Dan Lewis, Convoy co-founder and CEO.
Convoy is based in Seattle and one of a growing number of players including Uber Freight aimed at modernizing the freight brokerage space. It works with about 10,000 different trucking companies and uses technology to match and price available trucks with shippers that need to move freight.
This agreement will make Convoy among the largest companies working on Anheuser-Busch shipments. Forbes estimated Convoy would move about 9,800 truckloads of beer in 2018.