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After cabs and autos, startups now disrupt trucks business
Backed by large venture capital funds and e-tailers, these apps are using the cellphone to connect truck owners and users.
Technology startups such as BlackBuck, Rivigo and Load 24x7 are changing India’s $50-billion freight, merchandise and transportation business.
Backed by large venture capital funds and e-tailers, these apps are using the cellphone to connect truck owners and users.
The transportation business, with over five million trucks, is highly unorganised. This results in unavailability of truck drivers and delay in transportation of goods, which lead to millions of dollars in revenue losses.
BlackBuck, which has taken a page from taxi-hailing app Uber’s playbook, has aggregated over 65,000 trucks. It is a marketplace for truck owners. “On request, you get confirmation within 45 minutes and can make the payment through the app… It reduces idle time for trucks,” said co-founder Rajesh Yabaji.
Trucks in India have only 15-16 run days. There are also issues around discoverability of trucks on particular routes — a truck registered in one state may not be allowed to enter another . This results is trucks lying idle most of the times. The apps help customers address the issue.
Delhi-based Rivigo is looking to reduce delivery time by a third. For example, it promises to deliver goods from Delhi to Chennai within two days, something that happens only by air.
Operating on a relay-like model, the trucks don’t stop on the highway, but drivers change at pit-stops at regular intervals. Rivigo monitors tolls, real-time movements and truck speed through sensors.
“We are putting high-end chipsets, GPS tracking, and high-quality electronics,” said Vinod Aggarwal, CEO of Volvo-Eicher Commercial Vehicles.
Aggarwal also said that while startups are changing the trucking industry, they will have to build a large- service network, which allows vehicles to stop, do a quick check, and move on.
There are startups, including Porter and LetsTransport, which focus on moving trucks within a single city. Then there are classifieds ones like Load 24x7 and TruckSuvidha, which also operate between cities.
“We have data of over 45,000 transporters,” said Lokesh Gupta, co-founder, Load 24x7.
