4 ms·

Shipwell – Helping every business ship freight as well as Amazon

45 points by jasontraff 9y ago

nkurz 9y ago
Possibly off topic, but I'll ask it here anyway in case someone can point me in the right direction: I'd like to ship a preloaded and privately owned 20 ft shipping container from urban West Coast US to rural East Coast US. From what I can tell, probably would make sense as truck-train-truck intermodal freight transport. But this seems to be rare enough I'm not finding a lot of information online, at least given those search terms. Are there better terms to search for? Who would I talk to about this for what is likely a one-time shipment?
- ivraatiems 9y ago
  Sounds like you want freight shipping? E. g. these kinds of services: http://www.fedex.com/us/freight/portal/ http://www.fedex.com/us/freight/portal/? (Not endorsing Fedex, just an example. Lots of other companies do this too.) You could also consider hiring a moving company.
  - nkurz 9y ago
    Sounds like you want freight shipping? No, I've shipped pallets of freight before, using Fedex among others. The issue is that I've got one of these https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-foot_equivalent_unit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-foot_equivalent_unit, and I want to get it across the country full of stuff. It's possible Fedex has provisions to do this if paid enough, but I think I'm looking for something more specialized. Like this, but I'm looking for more specific recommendations: http://rapidexpressfreight.com/freight-services/rapid-express-rail-intermodal-freight-service/ http://rapidexpressfreight.com/freight-services/rapid-expres...
- walrus01 9y ago
  For a one-off shipment what you want is a freight forwarder. They will arrange the truck pickup at origin, rail transport, and truck transport to offload at destination. Truck transport at destination will need to be customized because you probably need a self-unloading trailer that can set it down on the ground, not a regular truck such as if it were going to another container yard. You might have difficulty shipping a standard 20 or 40' container by rail within the US unless it has a standard set of ownership markings on it.
ikeboy 9y ago
Do you handle shipments to Amazon FBA?
kevan 9y ago
>Freight brokers and third-party logistics companies (“3PLs”) are first-class citizens in Shipwell’s platform, which sets us apart from other startups in the space that are actively trying to disrupt them. This is an important differentiator. Many other freight network startups have failed because they couldn't get the supply/demand flywheel turning fast enough. Integrating with existing carrier networks means you won't undercut them on price, but you can compete on convenience for shippers.
joncrane 9y ago
Is there any way to get rid of the "you've read X articles this month, let's make things official" overlay on Medium? It annoys me every time!
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- hackerman12345 9y ago
  Making it official should get rid of it ;).
joncrane 9y ago
So to be clear, this is a B2B thing, right? Not for end consumers.
- jasontraff 9y ago
  Hi Jon -- we work primarily with businesses, but if you're shipping freight and have questions, you can always email us at sales@shipwell.com -- thanks!
foobaw 9y ago
Is this similar to Flexport?
blueblaze 9y ago
Uhm, truckstop.com has been doing this since 1995. This isn't new or anything earth shattering

45 points by jasontraff 9y ago

Possibly off topic, but I'll ask it here anyway in case someone can point me in the right direction: I'd like to ship a preloaded and privately owned 20 ft shipping container from urban West Coast US to rural East Coast US. From what I can tell, probably would make sense as truck-train-truck intermodal freight transport. But this seems to be rare enough I'm not finding a lot of information online, at least given those search terms. Are there better terms to search for? Who would I talk to about this for what is likely a one-time shipment?

ivraatiems 9y ago
Sounds like you want freight shipping? E. g. these kinds of services: http://www.fedex.com/us/freight/portal/ http://www.fedex.com/us/freight/portal/? (Not endorsing Fedex, just an example. Lots of other companies do this too.) You could also consider hiring a moving company.
- nkurz 9y ago
  Sounds like you want freight shipping? No, I've shipped pallets of freight before, using Fedex among others. The issue is that I've got one of these https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-foot_equivalent_unit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-foot_equivalent_unit, and I want to get it across the country full of stuff. It's possible Fedex has provisions to do this if paid enough, but I think I'm looking for something more specialized. Like this, but I'm looking for more specific recommendations: http://rapidexpressfreight.com/freight-services/rapid-express-rail-intermodal-freight-service/ http://rapidexpressfreight.com/freight-services/rapid-expres...
walrus01 9y ago
For a one-off shipment what you want is a freight forwarder. They will arrange the truck pickup at origin, rail transport, and truck transport to offload at destination. Truck transport at destination will need to be customized because you probably need a self-unloading trailer that can set it down on the ground, not a regular truck such as if it were going to another container yard. You might have difficulty shipping a standard 20 or 40' container by rail within the US unless it has a standard set of ownership markings on it.

ikeboy 9y ago

Do you handle shipments to Amazon FBA?

kevan 9y ago

>Freight brokers and third-party logistics companies (“3PLs”) are first-class citizens in Shipwell’s platform, which sets us apart from other startups in the space that are actively trying to disrupt them. This is an important differentiator. Many other freight network startups have failed because they couldn't get the supply/demand flywheel turning fast enough. Integrating with existing carrier networks means you won't undercut them on price, but you can compete on convenience for shippers.

joncrane 9y ago

Is there any way to get rid of the "you've read X articles this month, let's make things official" overlay on Medium? It annoys me every time!

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
hackerman12345 9y ago
Making it official should get rid of it ;).

joncrane 9y ago

So to be clear, this is a B2B thing, right? Not for end consumers.

jasontraff 9y ago
Hi Jon -- we work primarily with businesses, but if you're shipping freight and have questions, you can always email us at sales@shipwell.com -- thanks!

foobaw 9y ago

Is this similar to Flexport?

blueblaze 9y ago

Uhm, truckstop.com has been doing this since 1995. This isn't new or anything earth shattering