An 'Uber' for trucks: connecting cargo owners with transporters

Hassan Magufuli on his phone, truck crosses, demonstration of how the app works, Hassan interacts with drivers, trucks parked

Hassan Magufuli is searching for a transporter amid a logistical nightmare. However, he doesn’t need to hustle physically. When he started working as a broker ten years ago, it would take hours to get cargo on the road but now on a phone, it takes just a few minutes to complete the process.

“Before we had many challenges. Brokers would steal money, cargo would get lost, even clearing at the border was problematic but now we thank Apex that is solving all these aspects.”

Kenyan aerospace engineer Charles Thuo is the brain behind the intervention. Educated in the US, he ventured into logistics as a transporter.

“Because if you stop logistics people are not going to get their medicine, people are not going to get their food, people were not able to get the masks. That was what you would call the silver lining for that Covid 19 cloud that people were able to start that conversation about supply chain. How does supply chain really work?”

Thuo says Africa is still a decade behind developed regions in logistics technology, but the truckers and companies using his app are already experiencing the ease.

Apexloads is a cloud-based freight marketplace that connects cargo owners with transporters to streamline the freight-truck matching process and facilitate faster payments.

“But we are giving a platform where all these players come together to expand their reach and to expand their business.”  Henry Kibnia who is the regional business developpment manager.  

On a mission to close the logistics technology gap between developed and developing regions, the app now covers Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.