A digital freight marketplace has secured a major contract with a logistics firm.

HaulageHub, based in the Liverpool city region, has partnered with WS Transportation, a Runcorn-based firm specialising in construction logistics and high and heavy haulage.

The multi-year deal aims to streamline subcontracting operations, boost logistics efficiency, and support sustainable growth for WS Transportation.

The haulage industry faces challenges with inefficiency, with more than 30 per cent of HGV miles in the UK being empty.

This inefficiency increases operational costs for hauliers and shippers and contributes to over five million tonnes of avoidable CO2 emissions annually.

HaulageHub's platform addresses these issues by connecting shippers and hauliers, reducing the carbon footprint associated with empty truck runs.

Its digital freight marketplace uses artificial intelligence to pair shippers with hauliers, allocating loads to hauliers with historically empty routes to reduce their empty miles and increase their profitability.

Scott Robertson, co-founder of Haulage Hub, said: "We’re thrilled to have secured this major new contract with WS Transportation.

"Being able to deploy our innovative technology at the scale WS operates will allow for major efficiencies to be achieved and – most importantly – significantly reduce empty miles and needless CO2 emissions.

"It is a particular honour to be deploying our technology with the Stobart family – a name synonymous with the proud history of the UK’s transport industry.

"This new partnership further cements HaulageHub’s standing as the UK’s premier freight marketplace, and reflects the appetite from within the haulage sector for technologies that push the envelope to help make our sector more dynamic and environmentally friendly."

The platform underwent a soft launch in October 2021, followed by a full-scale launch in January 2022.

It's now an 'invaluable' tool for many of the UK's fastest-growing haulage companies.

The new partnership with WS Transportation will create 'efficiencies' in supplier costs, 'reduce administration', and have a 'positive environmental impact' by reducing empty miles.

Ed Stobart, CEO of WS Transportation, said: "The implementation of HaulageHub into our subcontracting and brokerage operations further enhances our already industry leading offering.

"By coupling our state-of-the-art trucks and planning systems with our partnership with HaulageHub, we continue to offer our customers a total solution for all of their road transport needs."