ShipBob Launches FreightBob, an End-to-End Managed Freight Transportation Solution

FreightBob Will Provide Transparent, More Seamless Inventory Distribution Options for Current and Future ShipBob Customers

ShipBob, the leading global omnifulfillment platform, announced the launch of its end-to-end managed freight and inventory distribution program, FreightBob. The service includes ocean freight, which is powered by Flexport, combined with ShipBob’s cross-docking, automated inventory distribution, and goods transfers across their fulfillment network. Current and future merchants that use ShipBob’s fulfillment solution and ship inventory from China to the U.S. (to start) can achieve faster transit times, lower freight costs, greater visibility, and the ability to distribute inventory more seamlessly across ShipBob’s fulfillment centers.

By working with Flexport as part of its service offerings, ShipBob is the first fulfillment company to successfully execute ocean freight distribution by chartering boats specifically reserved for customers’ goods. Over the last few months, ShipBob piloted the program by delivering shipping containers directly from China to their Southern California fulfillment centers via ocean freight. Once in Southern California, ShipBob then automatically distributed the inventory across the United States to their final fulfillment center destination to start shipping orders directly to consumers. The entire process took just over two weeks and has been repeated many times over.

“We’re thrilled to offer FreightBob to our existing and future ecommerce clients, unlocking a seamless, cost-efficient and dependable inventory distribution service,” said ShipBob Co-Founder and CEO, Dhruv Saxena. “FreightBob will enable some of today’s fastest-growing ecommerce brands to navigate volatile freight markets, all while meeting strong U.S. consumer demand.”

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“The more time that I can save spending energy on things like freight and fulfillment, the more time I can spend on other details for my company. To know that I can trust somebody to complete the tedious stuff and be organized like I would is a huge stress reliever!”

“Shippers will continue to face unreliable transit times, service levels and cost transparency for years to come,” said Steve Bozicevic, Sr. Director, New Product Development at Flexport. “It’s imperative we collaborate with like-minded leaders in the global logistics space to provide the infrastructure and services to help fast-growing ecommerce brands meet the demand and expectations of their customers.”

FreightBob will initially be open to all customers shipping LCL (less than container load) ocean freight containers from China to the U.S. The associated costs are comparable to other LCL ocean freight carriers that take two or three times as long.

“FreightBob was about 30-40% faster than anything else we’ve sourced,” said Jerry Sever, COO at Complement. “From a pricing standpoint, I was looking at the total price that we were going to pay per unit, including shipping — rolled altogether, and it was still substantially cheaper than any of the quotes we received from other companies.”

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This program is able to provide faster shipping times by loading inventory on faster ships and prioritizing delivery to ports strategically located in Los Angeles and Long Beach, California, reducing transit times from the standard 45-60 days to 15-30 days (on average). With FreightBob, ShipBob customers will now have access to bi-weekly departures from China on ships that will then be transferred directly to ShipBob fulfillment centers in the U.S. FreightBob’s highly competitive rates are available for shipments as small as 1 cubic meter, allowing customers the ability to keep inventory flowing and shelves stocked.

“FreightBob is too easy to use to not utilize,” said Emily Coolbaugh, Logistics Coordinator at Driveline Baseball. “The more time that I can save spending energy on things like freight and fulfillment, the more time I can spend on other details for my company. To know that I can trust somebody to complete the tedious stuff and be organized like I would is a huge stress reliever!”

ShipBob brings FreightBob to market to help customers avoid spot market rates that often prevent accurate forecasting. FreightBob helps avoid varying freight rates that may result in profit degradation and/or increased cost for consumers by taking advantage of FreightBob’s flat pricing structure (per cubic meter freight rate), inclusive of delivery and custom clearance fees, all designed to simplify cost projections and promote ease of use.

While this solution is currently for delivering shipping containers directly from China to the West Coast and East Coast of the United States, it will be expanded worldwide in 2022.