Indonesian start-up Transporta has launched a free transport management system (TMS) for the archipelago nation’s small business truckers.

The TMS allows logistics players to handle the entire order management and delivery fulfilment cycle from a single cloud platform. It will offer free trips to small and medium enterprise (SME) truckers.

Transporta says it aims to revolutionise SME truckers’ largely-manual processes by streamlining every aspect of their business on a single central cloud platform: submitting bids, managing orders, scheduling routes, assigning drivers, tracking deliveries and invoicing clients.

The brainchild of experienced IT professionals who are familiar with the Indonesian logistics space, Transporta is helmed by IoT start-up Lacak.io board advisor Willy Anwar and cloud expert Emma Hartono.

They formed Transporta with the aim to make digitised logistic operations affordable and accessible for everyone, particularly for Indonesia’s SME truckers (20 lorries or less), who account for over 75% of the country’s estimated 100,000 trucking companies.

“Today, the vast majority of Indonesia’s SME truckers are using basic ERP systems while communicating with clients, drivers and suppliers on separate messaging apps,” said COO Hartono. “Not only is this onerous and time-consuming, but the massive inefficiencies often result in idle trucks, half-empty hauls and, worst of all, late deliveries and unhappy customers.”

The answer, she said, was simple: park all the communication and business tools on a single streamlined TMS platform. However, many small businesses and SMEs cannot afford the sky-high prices of hardware-heavy, complicated TMS offerings that are in the market.

Various researches have put cost savings from implementing TMS from anything between 5% and 15%, but even a 15% gain may not be enough to convince an SME trucker to digitise. Most buyers are required to pay an upfront licence, plus additional cost for setup, maintenance, hardware and staff training, which is different to Transporta’s TMS.

Transporta’s TMS immediately changes the game with its quick and easy self-onboarding process, no-cost staff support, asset-light web-based, and seamless integration with existing apps such as WhatsApp.

It also provides free online training and enablement to new users and trucking companies’ staff, so everyone can use the technology.

“Essentially, small truckers in developing nations like Indonesia are competing with both eyes closed,” said Hartono. “Now, with Transporta at their side, Indonesia’s SME truckers can take on the big guns at practically zero cost.”

Expanding its partnerships with the Indonesia Truck Association (Aptrindo) and Lacak.io, Transporta is targeting to onboard 10,000 SME truckers onto its TMS in three years.

“As we grow with Indonesia’s booming logistics sector, Transporta will continuously enrich our TMS offerings,” said Hartono. “Upcoming features in our product pipeline include driver ratings, a mobile app, a shipper platform, as well as seamless integration with other logistics systems.”