KUALA LUMPUR, 7 June 2017:
Driving around empty trucks makes little sense when there’s the possibility of picking up some paying cargo instead – and a group of enterprising haulier industry veterans have made it possible to do just that, picking up deliveries at literally the last minute.
Drawing inspiration from his experiences in Netherlands and US – where the concept of ‘Uber for trucking’ had sprung up – Ezyhaul founder Raymond Gillon roped in buddies Nicky Lum and Mudasar Mohamed decided to offer the same in Southeast Asia.
“At the moment, the average truck on the road in Malaysia is filled for less than 40-45% and 60-70% of the trucks return completely empty after a job,” said Gillon in an interview.
“This means there is a lot of empty truck space on the roads resulting in unnecessary emission and congestion.”
Since the Ezyhaul service was launched in October last year, he said around 1,000 truck drivers have joined the platform and singed up over 250 clients.
“Through Ezyhaul, carriers get to work for new clients and receive additional business which will allow them to make more money and better use their assets. We also eliminate a lot of the paper hassle for carriers, since most documentation is handled electronically on our platform.
“The carriers also have an opportunity to track their own trucks and drivers every moment of the day through our platform and get access to online driver performance reports.
“And the beauty is that they don’t have to pay any registration or membership fees. Essentially, Ezyhaul takes away a lot of the carriers headaches for free.”
With focus on increasing efficiency and hopefully reducing emissions by reducing the number of wasted empty trips, Gillon said: “A platform like Ezyhaul can support growth in shipment volumes on Malaysian roads with the existing fleet of trucks. No additional trucks are needed to handle increasing volumes.”
Given the service is still relatively new, he said service quality is a high priority.
“We have built in many elements in our processes and systems to safeguard the quality of our service. Before a carrier or trucker gets registered on our platform, we take them through an extensive 11 point checklist where the carrier, the drivers and the trucks are scrutinised.
“In the near future, we plan to provide training to our drivers not only on safety but on many different aspects of their service. We firmly believe that in working closely with the trucking community we can jointly raise the industry to another level.”
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