Empty Trips was designed to address one of the biggest inefficiencies in the traditional logistics space – trucks returning empty from deliveries – by making those trips available to customers (shippers) directly via a smart freight-matching platform. Besides helping turn wasted road miles into income for hauliers, the platform gives shippers access to the best deals from a large fleet of reputable transporters who bid for cargo on an open exchange.
Andrew Crafford, Empty Trips managing executive, says, “For a country like South Africa, where roads are relied upon to transport goods, higher logistics costs ultimately translate into higher prices of goods for the end customer. The Empty Trips platform will bring efficiencies and greater transparency to the sector, make shipping more cost-effective, increase the availability of reliable haulier options for shippers, and increase supply chain visibility.”
Supply chain visibility is increasingly important for logistics managers, driven by a greater incidence of disruption, changing customer requirements and the need for better operational efficiency. One of the key benefits of Empty Trips is that it allows shippers to monitor deliveries in real time and to manage their contract seamlessly and transparently. The platform provides instant proof of delivery and invoices and payments are consolidated automatically, enabling administration to be concluded timeously and efficiently.
According to Crafford, the Empty Trips platform makes a fleet of over 3 600 trucks available to shippers.
Based on their available transport space and route at a given time, the platform’s algorithms match available capacity to loads to be moved. Carriers can then bid securely and anonymously, with payment secured through the platform.
