It’s been a busy spring for Amazon Freight. We’ve been on the road at the transportation industry’s biggest events. Most importantly, that’s meant lots of interactions with our customers, listening to the challenges they are facing, and discussing how Amazon Freight can help.
Here’s where the events season has taken us recently.
Talking sustainability and trucks at ACT Expo
If it has wheels and moves shipments, it was probably talked about at the Advanced Clean Transportation Expo (ACT) earlier this month. ACT brings together transportation professionals from all over the world to discuss all things advanced commercial vehicle technology.
Amazon Freight General Manager Ari Silkey was in Anaheim, California for the show and participated in the panel, Shippers and carriers partnering to achieve economic and environmental success. Ari shared Amazon’s approach to building its network with tech and the company’s latest sustainability initiatives, including co-founding The Climate Pledge. He also spoked about some of Amazon’s electric and compressed natural gas vehicles and what it takes to successfully pilot a new program while keeping scalability as a priority. See the video below for the full panel.
Customers and tech at Gartner
On the other coast was another gathering of top transportation minds. The Gartner Supply Chain Symposium brought supply chain professionals to Orlando, Florida to make sense of the global transportation network and the tech and capabilities to make it more resilient.
The Amazon Freight team was there to meet with shippers and see how they can tap into Amazon’s network, 60,000+ trailers, and 20,000+ intermodal containers for their freight needs. We also co-led a roundtable with the AWS Supply Chain team on the challenges shippers are facing and cost optimization strategies they are deploying.
Ari was onstage here as well presenting Customers before tech: A look at the capabilities in Amazon’s transportation network that deliver.
Getting transportation tech right and keeping it customer-focused are huge challenges and Ari shared how Amazon has been working to overcome them to build its network. From the Relay app that guides drivers on their tours to smart trailers providing critical alerts and data, he showed how tech can build resiliency and add consistency in an inconsistent world.
Going virtual with the University of Minnesota
As a final bonus, Amazon Freight was invited to participate in the University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies’ “Unpacking Freight: From Producers to Front Doors” webinar series. The program looks at the ins and outs of the freight system, where it might be heading, and what obstacles need to be addressed to move forward. You can view the full webinar here and get an overview of the Amazon network and some of the tech in place to make it run safely and efficiently.
