Convoy’s debut ‘Freight Insights Report’ offers up wealth of applicable data for shippers

The debut edition of a new report recently issued by Seattle-based digital freight network Convoy, entitled the “Freight Insights Report,” offers up a whole host of data based on in-depth analysis from its data collected in 2020 on key freight trends.

Saying just “data” does not really come close to presenting how replete this report’s findings are, with Convoy explaining it includes data from millions of pickups and deliveries, with more than 1,000 unique data points collected on each shipment and more than 50 terabytes of freight data.

Taking that a step further, the report explained that through the Convoy app, the company has collected roughly 1.5 million facility ratings, carrier dwell times, incidental costs, and on-time pickup and delivery, among others.  And Convoy officials said that “this data has helped companies make more informed decisions to save on transportation costs.”

Looking at facility ratings, the report found that the average facility rating, for 2020, came in at 4.33 out of 5, with the average facility rating for pickups at 4.36 and the average facility rating for deliveries at 4.30. The industrial sector was the pacesetter for facility ratings by industry vertical, at 4.62, followed by paper & packaging, at 4.40, food & beverage, at 4.40, CPG, at 4.36, and retail, at 4.33.

Shifting to average dwell times for pickups and deliveries of live loads, Convoy reported that the average dwell time for 2020 was 2 hours and 10 minutes, with the average dwell time for pickups, at 2 hours and 4 minutes, and the average dwell time for deliveries coming in at 2 hours and 14 minutes.

For the month of November, Convoy said dwell times peaked, lengthening as overall truckload volume rose, hitting their longest averages over the month, with the highest shipment volumes and lowest facility ratings. And it added that CPG and retail sector dwell times were up from 2019 to 2020, with an average above 20 more minutes on average. Convoy also pointed out the correlation of increased dwell times with lower facility ratings, with CPG and retail shippers with the lowest facility ratings in 2020 seeing the longest dwell times on average.

Another key metric in the report focused on drop-and-hook shipments, which said outperformed live shipments, with higher average facility ratings and reducing dwell times by 50%.

“In a year of tight capacity, drop-and-hook programs can help provide reliable coverage while minimizing disruption to facility operations,” said Convoy.

For shippers and other industry stakeholders looking to gain different types of practical and applicable industry insights, for more than a few sectors and metrics, reading the full “Freight Insights Report” would be time well spent. For more information on the report, please click here.