Maximizing empty ‘backload’ trips

Carga opens for business, seeks to serve logistics needs of SMEs

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are seen to benefit from the entry of a new app-based logistics service provider that is touted as the country’s first “backload transport solution for shippers and truckers.”

Dubbed “Carga,” the online logistics platform will use a pioneering mobile app to serve as a gateway for shippers to connect to a pool of truckers at more affordable rates due to backload, while meeting their preferred schedules and needs.

The app will also allow truckers to increase their load and maximize vehicle use through real-time demand visibility, which allows them to carry backload—referring to cargo vehicles’ often empty return trips to their home base—anytime.

On top of being a backload solution, the Carga app will also help ease traffic congestion by reducing the volume of empty trucks plying the road, company officials said during its launch on Wednesday. The service will also help SMEs meet their cargo and shipping needs without having to purchase their own trucks.

Carga CEO Sam Lato said there were about 480,000 trucks registered with the Land Transportation Office. So far, Carga has 20 company-owned trucks with five corporate partners for a combined fleet of 150 units and still growing.

“Carga helps maximize load,” he said. “Our company’s study showed that about 30 to 60 percent of trucks plying [the South and North Luzon Expressways] are empty. Backload will optimize the use of these trucks instead of running empty.”

The idea behind the backload solution business was born because of the owners’ personal experience while ferrying engineering materials and equipment for their company, MJAS Zenith. The company would frequently dispatch truckloads of materials to their branches in Cebu and Davao via roll-on, roll-off (Ro-Ro) vessels, only to have these trucks return to Manila empty.

“Why not optimize all resources and the truck’s travel home by carrying load?” Lato said, explaining that the result was a win-win and innovative solution for all logistics players.

Scheduled to start accepting cargo last Feb. 6, Carga paves the way for accessible delivery of goods and commodities for everyone, anytime, nationwide.

Its initial service area extends from Aparri down to Davao. The app offers several vehicle model options like forward and semiforward trucks as well as four- to 12-wheeler trucks from its own fleet and partner corporate and private truckers. Carga regularly dispatches trucks all over Luzon and to any point in the Visayas and Mindanao via Ro-Ro.

With Carga’s promised transparent pricing and flexibility, shippers and truckers can find the best deals, ensure reliable and cost effective transport, hasten farm-to-market transportation and create more business opportunities.

“Carga will charge per volume,” Carga chief information officer Allan Catu said. “Our rates are 40 to 60 percent cheaper than regular logistics rates since we will only use the backload route.”