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Drivers wait in their cabs at a loading dock. (TT File Photo)

Uber Freight has launched a new data analytics feature designed to help shippers pinpoint problem areas within their supply chains and take action to improve efficiency.

Freight Insights, available in Uber Freight’s shipper platform, enables shippers to track specific loads as well as long-term trends, such as the length of time drivers are waiting at certain facilities.

Armed with that information, shippers can make better strategic decisions to streamline their supply chains and boost carrier satisfaction, the company said.

By adding this layer of analytics to the platform, Uber Freight aims to “help [its] shippers understand how they’re doing and how their facilities are operating in a really simple way,” said Matt Wiseman, a product manager at Uber Freight.

Freight Insights (Uber Freight)

And shippers can then use that information to improve their performance and become “shippers of choice” for carriers, he said.

When Uber first entered the freight-matching business, the company focused initially on the carrier side of the industry with the May 2017 launch of its load-booking app geared toward individual drivers and small fleets.

But since then, Uber Freight also has been steadily expanding its product offering for the shipper side of the business.

Wiseman said Freight Insights will give shippers transparency into metrics such as how many loads were picked up and dropped off within their appointment windows, as well as Uber Freight’s load acceptance rate.

Shippers also can view performance at specific locations at different times. That detail might reveal, for example, that a certain shift is backing up a facility and increasing driver wait times and detention spend.

“The facility-level information really allows them to take more control over what’s happening on a day-by-day, hour-by-hour viewpoint in their operations,” said Kate Kaufman, an account director at Uber Freight. “Controlling operations at that granular level of detail is really where it makes the difference.”

Shippers can customize the dashboard to display the metrics that are most useful to them.

There is no added cost for Freight Insights. Uber Freight is rolling out the new feature to its shipper customers this month.