Have you had difficulty in finding an apt truck to move your load – say from one location to another? While there is no dearth of trucks, getting a suitable one to transport the goods is often not easy.
“This is mainly due to information asymmetry. The truck industry is highly unorganised. A good number of truck owners have just one or two vehicles and not a large fleet. While truckers say they find it difficult to get full load (both direction), manufacturers invariably say they are unable to get the right-size truck,” says Vellayan L, Chief Technology Officer and Executive Director of White Data Systems India Pvt Ltd.
To fix this issue, Chennai-based White Data Systems mooted a start-up — i-Loads.
This start-up company, a provider of logistics technology and process solutions, has got 1,800 trucks on to its platform within 3 months of operations.
Vellayan says that the company will add 1,100 trucks in the next 12 months.
i-Loads plays an intermediary role by documenting the details of the truck such as its owners, carrying capacity, registration details and so on and links up with the respective owners on receipt of a query. “Truckers complain of lack of sufficient load in the return route. With the use of technology, we are trying to fix this issue by connecting load providers, logistics agents, brokers and transporters. The platform offers a holistic solution that increases the utilisation and efficiency of trucks while significantly reducing the time and money spent on freight movement,” he says.
The company is working with machine tool manufacturers in this textile manufacturing hub for transportation of their goods. “We have, in the last three months, served 30+ ad hoc customers. Though a good number of trucks are registered on our platform, the daily deployment is roughly around 35- 40 trucks between cities,” he adds.
The company is currently present across 8 locations such as Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Visakhapatnam, Kochi, Hyderabad and Coimbatore.