Linking shippers & truckers to simplify commercial transport
Trukkin Middle East introduces new cloud-based B2B platform that creates new business opportunities and delivers streamline logistics operation by uniting customers with shippers and truckers in the region
In today’s world, the supply chain and logistics management utilizes resources, processes and technology to create solutions that deliver goods to the right place at the right time as quickly and cost efficiently as possible.
Managers looking for technology to support those solutions may find that cloud computing is more feasible for their compelling options.
The bidding competition amongst travel and transport businesses for operating individual franchises and journey routes—on land, sea and air—can be fierce.
As a successful incumbent operator you cannot stop putting efforts to try to innovate when it comes to successful reselection at the time any retender – and when introducing new routes, you cannot be sure how profitable they will be.
Successful businesses will be the ones that can deliver not only reliability and innovation but also a cost model, which results in competitive fares and copes with fluctuating demand, according to Matthew Allsop, Allsop’s Senior Account Manager.
Air Cargo Update met with Janardan Dalmia, Partner/CEO at Trukkin Middle East, to understand how their new cloud-based B2B platform creates new business opportunities and deliver streamline logistics operation by uniting customers with shippers and truckers in the Middle East region.
Revolutionizing tech-savvy world
The top reasons why supply chain managers decide to move to cloud include lower IT infrastructure cost, a significant factor. Scalability as agile operations makes the supply chain more effective in contributing to new technological agility.
Disaster recovery and business continuity by backing up software that continuously protects your data. Software – as a service models provide cloud-based systems for transportation management, warehouse execution and shipment execution.
Platform as a service provides options to configure more robust solutions like data analytics, informing strategic and in the moment decision making in keeping supply chain running. It will also help in standardizing technology in making it more accessible if your business has grown through mergers and acquisitions.
Lastly, the Internet of Things provides a multitude of ways for supply chain managers to gain efficiencies, improving supply chain operations by tracking product location in warehouses, automating picking, making loading/unloading at docks more efficient and tracking product consumption in enabling automated reorder.
“Cloud based apps allow transportation, logistics companies to harness the benefits of automation, centralized visibility of information and efficient management of processes and workflows. Cloud technology is faster to set up, highly scalable and cost effective which enables the small-to-mid-sized companies to have the power necessary to function as major corporations,” said Dalmia.
Business development channel
The techno-logistics platform enables logistics services on demand for clients, who can request bids through the app or on the web portal after registering. For clients, Trukkin unlocks new suppliers, services on demand, and lower transport overheads backed by transparency. For fleet owners and individual drivers, the Trukkin platform offers a powerful new channel for business development.
“Trukkin connects the Customers/ Shippers with the Transporters in the Middle Eastern region. Customers, Transports register on the Trukkin platform for free (no subscription charges). Trukkin offers two models for the Customers to choose from – Market Place model and Contract model,” explained Dalmia.
“In the market place model, customers’ login to the app and create a booking request by providing basic details like Loading location, Off-loading location, loading date & time, nature of cargo and type of truck. The booking request is broadcasted to the eligible drivers, fleet owners. Trukkin uses an intelligent algorithm to identify the eligible drivers, fleet owners. Drivers, fleet owners receive a notification and they provide their price and place the bid on the system.
“Customers will get notifications of the bids and they can choose the driver/fleet owner, based on the price and rating of the driver. The driver(s) chosen for the job will arrive at the loading location and ‘start the service’. The Driver(s) pick up the goods, travel to offloading location and deliver the goods at the offloading location.
Customers, Fleet owners can track the shipments during the entire journey. Driver(s) upload the proof of delivery and ‘ends the service’. Customers pay for the transaction using variety of payment methods like cheque, bank transfer, and cash on delivery etc. In the Contract model, Trukkin gets in to a contract with Customers to provide transportation services at an agreed price for an agreed period.
Simplifying commercial transportation
Trukkin was launched with the mission of making it the preferred logistics enabler region-wide by providing a state of the art mechanism to connect suppliers and clients.
It answers a genuine industry need for greater transparency, choice of providers and the ability to request transport services from available fleets. The team has developed the product after extensive on-the-ground market research, working very closely with partners from Saudi Arabia.
“My Partner (Ahmed Al Nafie) and I did a market research on the transportation and logistics operations in the GCC region, we found a lot of opportunities to improve and streamline the processes. We created the Trukkin platform using technology as the core to simplify the transportation process. Customers can place the job request in seconds by providing basic details. Driver has the visibility of all the jobs created on the system and place the price at which they want to do the job. Customers can track their shipments using Trukkin’s real time tracking system,” said Dalmia.
Multi-lingual web portal
The Trukkin ecosystem comprises a multi-lingual customer app on iOS and Android, and a web portal. Fleet owners and individual drivers can also take advantage of the multi-lingual online portal and apps.
“Customers/Clients and Fleet owners register on the Trukkin platform by providing basic details for free (No subscription charges). Clients create a job request and this request is broadcasted to the fleet operators. Fleet operators place the bid by providing the price. Customers choose the fleet operators based on the price and rating of the fleet operator. After every transaction, Customers and Fleet operators rate each other based on the experience they had”.
Trukkin has simplified the transportation processes. Customers can create the job request within seconds, view bids, track shipments. Drivers can easily view jobs, bid for the jobs and execute the jobs. All the operations can be done with a few taps and clicks on the mobile or PC.
Customers and fleet owners can also track their shipments in real-time through Trukkin’s tracking system. The Trukkin team also provides clients with operational support throughout the transaction experience.
“Trukkin uses GPS/GPRS technology to locate the shipments real time and display the position on map. Customers, Fleet Owners have to just login in to their app using their mobile phone or desktop/laptop and select the shipment that they want to track. The shipment location will be display on the map”.
Aligning logistics services
Trukkin offers two models for the customers to choose to operate. Contract model, which caters to the existing logistics services wherein customers can call up Trukkin operations and avail transportation services. Customers can utilize the tracking feature to track their shipment.
For Customers, market place model provides new business opportunities by providing visibility to huge list of transporters (individual drivers, fleet owners) that they can choose to work rather than working with their existing transporters.
For Transporters, market place model provides the visibility to all the jobs created in GCC region, which they can bid. This increases the chance of load availability especially during in back haul.
Techno-logistics platform
Customers/Shippers login to the app and create a booking request by providing basic details like Loading location, Off-loading location, loading date & time, nature of cargo and type of truck. The booking request is broadcasted to the eligible drivers, fleet owners.
“Drivers, fleet owners receive a notification and they provide their price and place the bid on the system. Customers will get notifications of the bids and they can choose the driver/fleet owner, based on the price and rating of the driver”.
Trukkin’s market place model connects the customers and transporters. Customers place the job request and Transporters respond to the job request by placing a bid. Customers have the complete visibility of all the prices and can choose the best price.
“Logistics and transportation market in GCC is still operating in traditional ways. There are many opportunities and challenges that need to be addressed to make the processes simpler and efficient. Customers are Fleet Owners can leverage the Trukkin platform to improve the efficiencies and thereby reduce costs”.
Future expansion
A pilot was done in Saudi Arabia last year for two weeks and received an overwhelming response.
“We are constantly upgrading our platform based on the feedback from the market and continue to invest in technology. Big data, machine learning and AI are some of the areas that we look to invest in the coming future.
“We want to focus on Trukkin at this point and continue to invest in it to make it the preferred logistics company in the Middle Eastern. We also want to focus on GCC countries and expand elsewhere,” concludes Dalmia.
