Logistics software vendor project44 and commercial insurance agency Reliance Partners are collaborating to deliver real-time cargo insurance quoting and purchasing to shippers and logistics providers, the companies said today.

The solution combines project44's advanced visibility platform with Reliance Partners' insurance brokerage, allowing customers to purchase cargo coverage as they book freight shipments. The partnership automates the manual process of quoting and purchasing insurance, allowing customers to access insurance information via their company's Transportation Management System.

The insurance product offering is available for trial now, the companies said, and supports Less-than-Truckload (LTL) shipments. Additional modes, including Full Truckload (FTL) will be included later, the companies also said.

"The project44 and Reliance teams have decades of experience in the trucking industry," Chad Eichelberger, president of Reliance Partners, said in a statement announcing the service. "We understand which improvements will make the largest business impact to shippers and logistics providers. Our customers can spend up to 20 minutes per transaction obtaining and reconciling shipping and insurance quotes and rates. If you expand that out to a mid-sized logistics provider doing this all day, every day, you're talking nearly 1,000 hours a year that this offering can virtually eliminate. The automation allows our customers to seamlessly handle hundreds of transactions, and empower opt-in decisions to instantly purchase primary coverage."