Fill Up! Fill Up! Shiply's Plea to Help London Lorry Fuel Protestors

New Service to Fill Thousands of Lorries with Cargo, Reducing Their Carbon Footprint, Congestion & Ensure Haulier's Expensive Fuel is Utilised to the Maximum.

Manchester, UK - 28/05/2008 - Yesterday's fuel protests by members of the haulage industry have alerted us all to the difficulties the industry is currently facing.  Official estimates have also revealed that a quarter of all lorries(1) and 15 per cent of vans(2) on Britain's roads are running completely empty of cargo. That's over 112,000 lorries and 450,000 vans, releasing a shocking 36 million tonnes of CO2 a year. A clever new web site - www.shiply.com helps ensure that those vehicles already on the road, run full to capacity maximising return on haulier's expensive fuel costs.

Announcing the new service, Robert Matthams, managing director said: "Anything that needs to be moved from a small box, to cars, boats or even entire household removals can be listed on the site - free. Our aim is to help ease monotonous consumer shipping processes, whilst also contributing towards a greener solution".

The transportation industry today is facing many threats, including the most expensive fuel prices in Europe, increasing congestion and low emissions zones(4). It is therefore unsurprising that over 13.6% of small independent transportation companies have ceased trading in the last three years(5). Shiply offers revenue opportunities that are no longer limited to their location, area of specialisation, size of their sales force or marketing capabilities.

1,810 million tonnes worth of goods were moved within Britain in 2006(3). With congestion on Britain's roads at bursting point and transport companies struggling with high diesel costs, ultimately it's the environment and British businesses that pay the price.

Consumers can list goods they want to ship/transport on shiply.com, and receive competitive bids (like a reverse-auction) from service providers wishing to utilise excess capacities. By giving work to vehicles that would otherwise be empty, users of the site can expect significant savings (up to 75% off) and will be helping to save the environment.

eBay

At any one time there are over 930,000(6) items listed on eBay which are available for local collection, usually due to their oversized nature. This may deter prospective bidders who don't live locally. The prospect of arranging a courier is time consuming and not to mention expensive. Shiply, a certified member of the eBay Developers Program, has developed eBay tools which allow bidders to import eBay items they have won or are currently bidding on into Shiply - ready to receive to bids from transportation service providers.

eBay sellers who copy and paste the Shiply widget into their listings can expect a higher winning price as more bidders are encouraged by the prospect of reduced shipping costs and less hassle.

Mr Matthams adds: "Users find that they no longer need to waste valuable time phoning around for quotes, they can let feedback-rated transportation companies bid and compete for their work. They can answer questions when it's convenient to them, online, and avoid those unwanted calls."

http://www.shiply.com

1 Freight on Rail - http://snipurl.com/21yn6
2 Department for Transport - http://snipurl.com/2569m
3 Department for Transport
4 FTA Journal, March 2008
5 UK Business, National Statistics
6 Taken: 11/03/08

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