Saloodo! has launched a new one-stop digital trucking platform offering road freight connections for South Africa domestic shipments and international movements to neighboring countries.
The logistics-start-up, a subsidiary of Deutsche Post DHL Group, will use South Africa as a “launch-pad” into Sub-Saharan Africa for its digital trucking solutions.
Southern Africa relies heavily on road freight, but trucking operations are fragmented. Saloodo! claims its platform will, as “the first digital platform available in the region,” help address these shortcomings by delivering the “visibility, efficiency and security that technology offers.”
Tobias Maier, CEO of Saloodo! Middle East and Africa, said, “With real-time visibility, Saloodo! will inject greater transparency and efficiency into the road network in the region, enabling shippers – from small enterprises and start-ups to large multinational groups – to find trusted and reliable freight carriers in South Africa.”
Maier added, “This will in turn help carriers manage existing fleets and optimize capacity with full truckload shipments.”
The company will piggyback the footprint of its parent company to roll-out the service, with all contractual relationships on the platform organized via existing local DHL entities.
The Saloodo! platform was first launched in 2017 in Germany and is now available in Italy, Poland, the U.K. and the Middle East, where it was launched six months ago.
“After successfully entering the Middle East we have taken the decision to continue on our growth path by expanding to the African continent,” said Thomas Grunau, CEO of Saloodo!
“As the world’s youngest continent with 60% of the population below 25, economic decisions and growth are increasingly driven by a dynamic generation of digitally minded young adults. These are ideal conditions for offering and further developing our smart solution.”
Deutsche Post DHL Group said with a market value of Rand121.1 billion ($8.2 billion) in 2018, road freight volumes in South Africa have been increasing steadily, growing at 5.6% year-on-year in June this year.
“Equally, intra-Africa exports already accounted for 26% and 12% of South Africa’s 2018 total exports and imports, respectively – almost 50% of which are with neighboring countries in this landlocked region,” said a Saloodo! statement.
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AscendTMS already has active clients all over Africa (carriers, brokers, 3PL’s, 4PL’s, shippers, forwarders). So Saloodo definitely isn’t the first. But good luck to them as it’s definitely a fast growing market and will continue to add volume over the coming decades.