Blue Book Sets a New Standard for Fresh Food Transportation with First-Ever Broker Certification 

Blue Book Transportation extends the 125-year-old trust network of the fresh food industry to the brokers who move its freight — and, for the first time, lets shippers identify the individual brokers trained to handle it.

CHICAGO — June 1, 2026 — Blue Book Services, the market intelligence platform of the fresh food industry for the past 125 years, today launched Blue Book Transportation, the first subscription product — and the first professional certification — built specifically for transportation brokers operating in the fresh food supply chain.

The launch extends Blue Book’s credit, risk, and partner-discovery network, long relied on by produce growers, shippers, and wholesalers, to the brokers who move their freight. 

Transportation is not new ground for Blue Book. The company published its first transportation guidelines in 1971 and introduced Transportation Member recognition in 1973. But, as the supply chain has grown more complex, the broker has become one of its most consequential decision-makers. Over the past two years alone, Blue Book’s transportation claims have risen nearly 30 percent. 

Built around the way brokers actually grow their books, Blue Book Transportation combines verified shipper discovery, fresh food-specific credit and counterparty-risk intelligence, and a new professional certification under a single promise: Be the broker they call back. 

“For 125 years, our job has been to help fresh food do business with confidence — and we’ve always done it by telling the industry who can be trusted,” said Kirk Soule, Chief Executive Officer, Blue Book. “Until now, the market has had no reliable way to tell its best brokers apart. Our ratings tell you whether a firm is sound; they can’t tell you whether a broker has been trained to handle fresh food well. Those are different questions. Blue Book Transportation answers the second one — not with a badge you buy, but with a curriculum you earn. Bringing that standard to the people who move fresh food isn’t a departure from our mission, it’s the next step in it.” 

A product built for a problem generic logistics tools don’t solve 

Transportation brokers in fresh food face challenges general-freight platforms aren’t designed for. Produce shippers concentrate by region, commodity, and season, making generic prospecting inefficient. Counterparty risk — fraudulent carriers, non-paying shippers, credit-stretched buyers — moves fast and is increasingly common. And in a market with thousands of brokers chasing the same shippers, standing out requires a credibility signal that travels with you. 

Blue Book Transportation addresses all four through a single subscription: 

• Targeted shipper discovery across a directory of verified fresh food companies, filterable by region, classification, commodity, and credit score. 
   

• Fresh-food credit and counterparty-risk intelligence, including the Blue Book Credit Score — the only credit score built specifically for the fresh food industry — alongside payment history, risk signals, and identity verification for fraud prevention. 
   

• Visibility and credibility through a verified directory listing, an enhanced company profile, and inclusion in a network that buyers actively search. 

• Claims and trading-assistance support drawing on Blue Book’s dispute-mediation services. 

The Blue Book Transportation Certification – A Training to Improve How Fresh Food Moves 

At the center of the launch is the Blue Book Transportation Certificate, the first professional certification ever created for fresh food freight. Developed on the foundation of Blue Book’s Transportation & Trading Guidelines and 125 years of adjudicating industry disputes, the program spans nine modules and 27 lessons covering what determines whether a load succeeds or fails: the produce supply chain, prospecting and shipper vetting, carrier and equipment standards, freight fraud, cold chain management, and claims and dispute resolution. 

The credential is held at the individual broker level, with each certified team member earning a personal credential. Those certifications roll up to a company-level “Certified Brokers” badge that displays on the company’s profile and surfaces in directory search results — letting shippers look past the logo and search specifically for the brokers who have proven they understand this work, and turning a broker’s training investment into inbound demand. 

For brokers, it means expertise is finally something they can build, prove, and be found for. For shippers, it’s the confidence of knowing the person on the other end of the load was trained to handle it. 

Availability 

Blue Book Transportation is available now. Subscriptions are offered across a range of tiers scaled to the size and workflow of each brokerage, from independent agents to multi-office operations. Brokers can learn more and get started at https://www.bluebookservices.com/transportation/. 

About Blue Book  

Founded in 1901, Blue Book Services is the trusted market intelligence platform for the fresh food industry, helping businesses grow faster and trade safer. Blue Book is the only system that combines credit insight, fraud protection, business verification, and partner discovery — built specifically for the fresh food supply chain and updated daily. With access to 50,000+ verified decision makers and the only proprietary credit score built for fresh food, Blue Book is where serious operators go to make confident decisions. Learn more at bluebookservices.com. 

Media Contact  
Jeff Cartwright  
jcartwright@bluebookservices.com 

646-920-9862