Linebooker, an online transport management company that matches trucks with loads in Cape Town, is disrupting South Africa’s freight transport industry. According to the company, Linebooker has enjoyed an excellent five months since its official launch in February 2017. It recently expanded its offering to manage all disciplines of primary transport, including agricultural raw materials and finished goods.
Naudé Rademan, MD of the company says Linebooker provides an affordable and efficient alternative in a space where costs are traditionally murky and broker fees high. “We’ve saved customers an average of 12% on their transport costs, with some clients enjoying a consistent saving of 21%. In the current tough economic climate, all savings matter, and our last 500 loads were achieved three times faster than the previous 500 – indicating a growth in customer momentum.”
Linebooker operates via an online, mobile-friendly interface that connects transport customers to trucking companies through a bidding platform. The service features one point of contact with an end-to-end execution of each load. The system currently has 106 transporters, with a collective fleet of over 2300 vehicles.
Rademan said Linebooker’s optimised user-experience functionality is resonating with clients. CDC’s Managing Director, Iselle Eibich calls it a ‘great tool,’ and Lucky Star Logistics Manager, Van Zyl Kotzé, applauds the fact that Linebooker has lowered the base price to service the transport lane. “The pricing is totally transparent and you agree upfront on the Linebooker fee per load or lane. The benefit of dealing with only one supplier compared to various transporters is obvious.”
In South Africa, the majority of large companies opt to contract their road transport needs to a transporter for a fixed price in order to plan for logistics costs in advance. As an example of the kind of savings customers can enjoy, assuming a business has a transport spend of R50 million and only 10% of their loads are managed through Linebooker, assuming an average savings of 12%, the company could see a savings of R600 000 on the bottom line.
“Road transport is a sizeable expenditure for any company moving products around the country, which makes all possible savings significant. Part of Linebooker’s growth as an online transport management company has been customers realising that they can save significant amounts in areas of their businesses where there is the opportunity to introduce transparency around the competitive forces of supply and demand. As we continue to earn customers’ trust, we expect more companies to show their confidence in our ability to efficiently manage their transport needs while also reducing costs.”
