Amazon Supply Chain Service LTL Offering Goes Live

Amazon Supply Chain Services has launched its less-than-truckload (LTL) freight offering, expanding beyond shipping to its own warehouses to now cater to any destination, including third-party warehouses, distribution centres and retail partners. 

This follows the launch of its Supply Chain Services in May, which has already seen smaller sellers gain greater access to Amazon’s logistics network.

Following the expansion, the LTL offering will mean firms are no longer forced to reserve and pay for a full truckload. Instead, businesses will gain flexibility, with the option to ship by pallet. This works by sharing trailer space for partial loads for shipments, which typically range from one to six pallets, or between 150 and 15,000 pounds.

The destination is now open to an individual firm’s warehouse, between its facilities and, further still, to retail partners and distributors.

A truckload of demand

The booking system that facilitates LTL to move freight includes flexible pick-up options, such as next-day live pickup for orders confirmed by 5pm and same-day pickup through Amazon’s drop trailer solution. In addition, high-volume shippers also have the option of standing daily pickups. 

This flexible new offering is the most recent addition to Amazon Supply Chain Services’ (ASCS) existing portfolio of supply chain capabilities, which include freight, distribution, fulfilment and parcel shipping available for firms of all sizes.

Since 2019, Amazon says that its LTL operations have been utilised by tens of thousands of its selling partners and vendors, having moved millions of pallets throughout the US in the past year alone. 

Business benefits boosted

In addition to the increase in flexibility around pick-up options, the less-than-truckload freight service also offers businesses the following features:

• Unified drop trailer pool support for both LTL and full truckload shipments
• Real-time GPS tracking end-to-end 
• EDI integrations, including automated order tendering, shipment tracking and invoicing connect directly to supply chain systems
• LTL drivers who are trained specifically to handle pickup and delivery
• Centralised monitoring that enables automated driver alerts and real-time freight security.

This service allows for increased business agility, utilising Amazon’s existing logistics network that it has been growing over the past few decades.

“The feedback from Amazon selling partners using our LTL service was clear: the technology, visibility and reliability were exactly what they needed—and they wanted to use it more broadly,” says Jim Ruiz, Director of Amazon Freight.

“Now Amazon LTL can move your freight wherever it needs to go, servicing destinations nationwide for businesses of all sizes. With LTL, shippers get cost-effective freight shipping while still benefiting from the real-time tracking and dependability they expect from Amazon.”

Tapping into the network already utilised by Amazon to move its own freight will give shippers the opportunity to access a global infrastructure as they scale their operations. 

Amazon says that Amazon Freight, which operates as part of ASCS, has already supported over 80,000 trailers, 24,000 intermodal containers and terminals across major US metros. By further expanding its infrastructure, the multinational technology and e-commerce company says that it aims to help “businesses improve performance, reduce complexity and operate more efficiently”.