Trucknetic: A digital approach to logistics efficiency

Arham Partap Jain

‘Smart shipping' is the new-age shipping, using intelligent technologies and data analytics to make better shipment decisions. The advancements in cutting-edge technologies have resulted in significant developments for the logistics sector. AI & ML are making hyper-automation a reality while immersive technologies such as IoT offer smart container tracking on the go.

New startups and entrepreneurs are updating the musty processes of the freight forwarders with automation and associated new-age technologies.

Founded in 2019, Trucknetic is a technology platform that connects shippers with carriers and establishes a marketplace that is a central portal for both front loads and backloads by using machine learning, automation, and other software services.

Via his entrepreneurial venture, Arham Partap Jain is helping logistics companies leverage technological breakthroughs to transform their supply chain and operational flows to meet growing consumer demand.

1. What are Trucknetic's service offerings for the industry?

Trucknetic is a tech-first logistics company that is redefining digital freight services by establishing a marketplace for shippers and carriers using artificial intelligence, automation and other software services through which it is providing both front loads and return loads. Trucknetic is made of two words Truck and Kinetic, which means that a truck should always have kinetic energy which means it should always be in motion. It is a platform that can be broadly classified as Uber for trucks.

Trucknetic platform consists of two applications, one is Trucknetic Carrier which is for Fleet Owners and Transporters and the other app is Trucknetic Shipper which is catering to Individuals, Traders, MSMEs and Corporates. It helps to reduce the wastage of miles without freight and increase the revenue of fleet owners per day/per truck and on the other hand, reduce the cost for the shipper and ultimately aligning itself and moving towards the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that is net-zero by 2070.

2. What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the logistics sector?

Covid for us has been a blessing in disguise. It has helped the entire logistics sector in a way as it has helped this very old and primitive sector to open for the first time to changes where the stakeholders involved in it started acknowledging that things are moving on the technology platform and they have to move with the change. It also has helped to make a shift in the thought process of multiple stakeholders in various ways for example acceptance towards the soft copy of Proof of Delivery.

Covid impact for us was in for a couple of months when there was complete lockdown of industries - otherwise in terms of business it has not affected us much considering the movement of trucks has been constant. We also were lucky that we were involved into the movement of a lot of essentials from edible oil, medicines, coal to various other products.

3. What is your company's turnover?

We have clocked a revenue of ~ USD 3 million till Jan'22 from Dec'19. We have moved close to 100,000 metric tonnes of goods. We have a network of close to 200,000 fleet owners and 50,000 transporters which roughly translates to over 1 million trucks in our network.

We have close to 50,000+ downloads on our Trucknetic Carrier app and 20,000+ downloads on our Trucknetic Shipper app. We will reach close to 100,000+ downloads on our Trucknetic Carrier app by March 2022 and close to 40,000+ downloads on our Trucknetic Shipper app by Mar'22.

Trucknetic strongly believe to become the biggest truck provider company in India by 2025. We envisage to have close to 3Mn trucks in our network out of 12 million trucks. We will have over 2 million+ downloads on our Trucknetic Carrier app and close to 500,000 downloads on our Trucknetic Shipper app. Trucknetic aims to become the one stop solution for all kind of Trucking needs

We have done a revenue of ~INR 23 Cr (USD 3 million) from Dec'19 to Jan'22. We have done ~ INR 1.4 Cr (FY20), ~INR 9 Cr (FY21) and ~INR 11.5 Cr (April'21 - Jan'22) - we are projected to close to INR 9 Cr in Feb'22 and Mar'22. IN FY22 Projected - we will close over INR 20 Cr.

In FY23, we are projected to do a revenue of close to INR 280 Cr, In FY24, we are projected to do a revenue of INR 560 Cr. From April 24 onwards we will reach INR 50 Crore revenue per month. We have been committed a revenue by one network of INR 200 Cr in next 2 years

4. How artificial intelligence is utilized in logistics and supply chain management?

Artificial intelligence -lead supply chain optimization software amplifies important decisions by using cognitive predictions and recommendations on optimal actions. This can help enhance overall supply chain performance. It also helps manufacturers with possible implications across various scenarios in terms of time, cost, and revenue.

5. What do you foresee in the logistics sector in the next few years?

The wind of the Digital Revolution is sweeping the Indian logistics industry and supply chain towards an upward trajectory. With the dawn of this decade, technological advances are doing wonders which are no less than a fairy tale. With campaigns like ‘Make in India' and ‘Make India Digital' the logistics sector has slowly begun its disruptive transformation.

A pick-up in demand along with reforms and construction of support infrastructure is expected to grow India's logistics sector by 10-12 per cent CAGR.

At present, India's logistics market is pegged at $250 billion. The growth is expected to be supported by the shift from organised to the unorganised sector (90 percent currently).

6. Are they any crucial areas you are currently looking at to further expand the company's offerings?

We are looking out to solve the problem of return load. In India, the transportation market is highly unorganised and fragmented. 95% of the fleet owners own less than 3 trucks. Working with the traditional approach, these fleet owners choose their base near supply-heavy areas and place vehicles in the clusters near their hometown. Thus, restricting them to cover remaining lanes and creating a huge gap in demand and supply.

On the lanes they go, they have to take massive fare cuts on the freights, although they incur the same expenses on diesel, driver and other overheads and most of the time they have to wait for a day/ two to figure out any return load which under-utilizes their truck. Therefore, until and unless one caters to this problem it is very difficult to make a viable aggregation platform for shippers and carriers.

7. Where do you see Trucknetic in the coming years?

Putting more stars to its sky, Trucknetic has proven its mettle in a highly competitive industry. Just within two years of its journey, Trucknetic has been acknowledged and appreciated globally.

We have set few targets for us:

- We will onboard close 2 Mn Trucks in our network which is 1/6 of the entire trucks in the country

- We are gamifying the entire platform of both of our applications which will create immense stickiness on to our portal.

- We will provide a feature using AI/ ML which will be a voice-enabled platform where both carriers and shippers can get loads and trucks respectively by speaking in their vernacular languages.

- We will have close to 1 Mn+ downloads on our Trucknetic Carrier App and 500,000+ downloads on our Trucknetic Shipper App.

- We are working on our supply massively which will become the first platform in the world to provide any kind of truck for any kind of commodity from anywhere in the country.

- Lastly, we will reduce the wastage of miles without freight, increase the asset utilization of trucks which will help to increase the revenue earned per day per truck and reduce the cost to shipper in terms of freight.