Middle East’s ‘Uber for freight’ matches empty trucks with loads
Sebastian Stefan, CEO of LoadMe.ae, explains the story behind the freight-exchange website
For most transporters in the Middle East, delivering cargo by road usually means loading a truck, dispatching it to the desired destination, and having it drive back empty.
The latter leg of the journey was a gap in the market that Romanian national Sebastian Stefan decided to tackle with the launch of the website LoadMe.ae, an online freight-exchange platform that enables transporters to find loads for trucks that would otherwise be travelling empty.
The idea for the platform came to Stefan from his background in logistics, he told MEConstructionNews.com. The concept, well established in Europe, is new to the Middle East.
Explaining how it works, Stefan said that even if transporters offer a reduced rate to carry a load back from their destination, they can still make a profit. “But the challenge is to find the right load owner at that specific moment. And the solution to it is to have the load owners in one pool, connected with a large number of truck owners.”
Describing LoadMe.ae as kind of an Uber service for the transportation industry, Stefan explained that it was founded with an investment from Dubai-based port operator DP World through Turn8, a seed accelerator program designed to encourage entrepreneurship.
Target customers for the site are transporters and load owners – which could be factories, logistics managers, or freight forwarders to name a few – all over the Middle East, said Stefan, who is CEO of the company.
“The business model is that we’re going to have monthly subscription,” he said, noting that this will be introduced later as the website, launched in January this year, is still finding its feet.
“Today, we have 860 users. Out of these, there are about 220 transporters, and they have a cumulative fleet of over 2,000 trucks at the moment,” he said.
Looking ahead, he says he plans on introducing the service in more languages, including Arabic and Urdu. He is also in talks with telematics providers to integrate their services with the platform, such that a transporter would be able to open the website or app on a smartphone and look for trucks close by.
“If you have the app, you can see the trucks that are in the area, and you can contact the sales in charge from that company. You can then book the same truck and carry out a shipment within hours, on demand,” he said.
Meetings with telematics companies have proved positive thus far, and a few major players have agreed to share information with the platform, he noted.
“We’re adding a new value to their products. GPS tracking units are currently used just for cost control and operational purposes but this will bring sales too. Customers can also track their shipments, so it is also safer.”
