Ryder System announced a new drop-and-hook trailer service to complement its freight brokerage business. By leveraging available capacity through its peer-to-peer truck- and trailer-sharing platform, COOP by Ryder, customers have access to a fleet of dry and refrigerated trailers. Currently, COOP has about 6,000 trailers listed across the U.S.

“Despite a severe capacity shortage in the U.S., Ryder is in a unique position to tap into a sizeable pool of underutilized trailers through our vehicle-sharing platform,” said Dave Belter, vice president and general manager of transportation management at Ryder, in a statement. “By blending the expertise of our freight brokerage team with the trailer capacity available on COOP and our network of 45,000 qualified carriers, we have created a new solution to solve our customers’ needs.”

With Ryder’s drop-and-hook trailer service, customers can rent one or more trailers to preload on their own schedules and then schedule for carrier pickup as needed, or customers can keep the trailers onsite for additional storage when warehouse capacity is tight. A majority of the 48- and 53-foot dry and refrigerated trailers have digital tracking available so shippers can keep track of their loads.  

“Shippers gain flexibility and efficiency, and carriers improve productivity by eliminating time wasted waiting for live loads," added Romain Rousseau, vice president of COOP.  "And, in this case, vehicle owners listing with COOP have the opportunity to earn even more revenue. With COOP scaling rapidly and Ryder’s continued growth, it’s exciting to look across the broader business, find synergies, and develop innovative solutions that answer our customers’ needs.”

APL Cargo started leveraging the COOP platform in April to rent out its idle trailers, earning more than $728,000. And, with the recent roll out of the drop-and-hook trailer service, APL Cargo has increased its rental days by 900, earning an additional $57,000.

“COOP has been simply amazing to work with," said Grigore Canali, CEO of APL Cargo. "The vehicle-sharing platform has enabled us to increase asset utilization and generate a significant amount of revenue in just a few months. Having the ability to offer affordable access to tractors and trailers on demand and in a variety of locations across the U.S. has been a game changer!”

Both COOP and Ryder’s freight brokerage business announced expansions earlier this year. Building on 250% year-over-year growth since its 2018 launch, COOP announced in February that it would expand nationwide making about 50,000 trucks and trailers from 14,000 businesses available to customers.