In the aftermath of political unrest and the pause on mobile broadband access, the absence of a transport policy resulted in the supply chain ecosystem coming to a halt.
Several workarounds took hold, with Careem introducing manual booking rides by launching three helplines for its customer base in Karachi. Meanwhile, transport management systems such as Trukkr and Truck It, which raised $6.4 million and $13 million in Q1 2023, saw their investor confidence shaken by the turn of events.
“Startups entering the logistics business are an opportunity, and we are working closely with these startups for the hardware components,” said Harris Jamali, the CEO of TPL Trakker, a 24-year-old Internet of Things (IoT) company with a $6 million market cap.
He said there are between 200,000 and 300,000 trucks in Pakistan, with transport management system start-ups forcing clients to install a dashboard. This helps with invoicing, paperwork, and eliminating instances of empty truck movement to bring efficiency to logistics.
“Eventually, it will bring pricing transparency,” said Jamali. “From all over Pakistan, trucks come empty in reverse mode from Lahore. If you don’t have a dashboard, you don’t have visibility, and big companies won’t take your services. Now every carrier knows that you will get a route if you are registered on the customer’s system. The fleet is not ours, but we invest in devices, and TPLT has around 40–45% market share in the tracking business.”
Corporate customers like Shell are subject to international compliance, so they value accident safety over theft or pilferage. They are more concerned with the real-time driver’s fatigue, whether smoking or feeling drowsy. A dash-cam on the dashboard provides the information. Meanwhile, fuel thefts are reported with the help of nozzle sensors.
“A smooth supply chain can bring down costs significantly,” said Jamali. “The warehouse system is broken. There is no transportation policy. There is a fear of prices being overregulated. Transport policy would give big macro views, such as ports and dry ports. The transport policy will galvanize SMEs; roads will be improved.”
He claims that TPL Trakker has surveyed more roads than the government, insisting on the need for a transport policy that acknowledges road inefficiencies and mandates tools for route planning.
“If there are no proper roads, even if you bring Mercedes and Volvo trucks, they will fall apart,” said Jamali. “The industry can’t be upgraded without proper road infrastructure. Capital will only divert where there are returns. Since returns are low in the industry, the money is being directed elsewhere, such as into real estate, where there are returns. There’s a significant slowdown in industrial activity.”
The industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and industrial solutions have a vast scope, with business entities interested in finding solutions, given the rising fuel price, forcing companies to find ways to reduce fuel consumption and reach higher levels of efficiency.
