The warm weather shipping season has begun. There are encouraging signs that the increase in demand the summer season typically brings will reignite the freight industry. Injecting some of that demand will be Amazon Prime Day 2024 coming up on July 16-17.

At Amazon Freight, we’ve been trucking along and giving shippers access to the Amazon network. Here’s what else we’ve been up to.

More trailers, more capacity
Put simply, shippers need capacity. At Amazon Freight, we’re delivering on that need. Amazon now has more than 60,000 owned trailers in its fleet. This pool of assets has come a long way since the first trailer was received by Amazon in May of 2015.

The trailers are 53-foot dry vans with GPS tracking and provide shippers big and small with capacity that they can tap into. But what makes them even more valuable is the ability of the Amazon network to flex their availability based on customer needs, whether that’s enterprise organizations with large volume surges or small businesses that need help breaking down shipping barriers to growth.

It’s all part of making sure our capacity is geared towards helping mitigate uncertainty so our customers have greater consistency and reliability with our service. The milestone comes shortly after we reached more than 20,000 intermodal containers.

A look at Amazon AI at Gartner
How is AI being used to optimize the Amazon network? Attendees at the annual Gartner Supply Chain Symposium got a look at the tech behind the scenes last month. Cary Rotman, Vice President of Amazon Freight and Middle Mile Optimization presented, Amazon: Digital transformation and middle mile optimization with ML and generative AI to an audience of more than 450 supply chain professionals.

The session looked at how we use AI, machine learning, and generative AI to optimize our network and operations—in both the digital and physical supply chain worlds. Such tech allows us to forecast more accurately, increase safety, and choreograph the delicate dance of trucks, trailers, and drivers more efficiently.

It’s part of what has allowed us to, over the last few years, help make our transportation routes 10% more efficient, avoid the need to travel over a billion miles, and reduce millions of tons of carbon. Looking forward, as the supply chain becomes increasingly complex, organizations must rely on this type of tech to increase resiliency and flexibility.

Amazon: Top logistics provider
In April, Amazon was named by Transport Topics as the top logistics provider for 2024. Transport Topics is a leading publication that covers the transportation and logistics industry. The award recognizes not just Amazon’s delivery speeds but how Amazon “offers a range of third-party logistics and supply chain management services to businesses.”

For instance, Amazon Warehousing and Distribution is a low-cost bulk storage solution for organizations and Fulfillment by Amazon manages fulfillment for orders placed on Amazon.com. And, when it comes to the middle mile, there is Amazon Freight. Amazon Freight lets shippers tap into the Amazon network, advanced tech, and assets (see 60K trailers above) to get their goods to where they need to be.

Refer someone to Amazon Freight and earn
Do you know of a fellow shipper out there who might be interested in trying Amazon Freight? If you are a current Amazon Freight customer, and you refer a new shipper who signs up and completes their first shipment, you’ll receive a $150 Amazon gift card. Plus, your referral also gets a $150 gift card.

You can help a colleague leverage Amazon’s advanced tech and network of trailers – and get a little spending money for yourself this summer. All you need to do is submit a few details about your referral here.

Summer vibes
At the very least, the winter weather that can throw disruptions into the transportation world is in our rearview mirror and the future looks bright. Know that Amazon Freight is here for shippers to tap into the reliability of the Amazon network and give you confidence when that trailer door closes. Create an account to start getting quotes. Or, if you’re an enterprise shipper, go here.