REVEALED! SA’s first digital road freight solution

AutoTrader: Freight in Southern Africa is on the increase, despite a shrinking economy. To what could this growth be attributed?

Maier: Despite South Africa declaring a technical recession, freight and demand for logistics services have increased and continue to be on the uptrend due to a number of factors.

Firstly, South Africa is reliant on the import and export of goods and services. This contributes to the growth of the economy and also encourages intra-continent and inter-continent trade with South Africa.

Secondly, the implementation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) will see South Africa’s trade with its neighbouring countries will grow exponentially. In 2019, South Africa exported and imported goods to and from the rest of Africa to the value of US$24 billion and US$10.2 billion, respectively.

Finally, the e-commerce market is growing, and a growing middle class will propel greater demand for logistics services to transport goods across the country.

Saloodo! was launched in Sub-Saharan Africa late last year. What has been the response thus far?

Since the launch of the platform in the Middle East and South Africa, we have made good progress connecting companies and transport providers. We have been very happy to see the interest of shippers and carriers alike – this has encouraged us to further drive the growth and expansion in the next few months across many key markets in Sub-Saharan Africa.

How successful has your company been internationally?

Since 2017, the digital freight service has been supporting businesses in Europe, as well as in the Middle East. Globally, the service has grown to more than 30 000 shippers and over 12 000 carriers covering 35 countries. During this time, the trucks managed by Saloodo! have travelled a total distance of more than 25 million kilometres, which is equivalent to approximately 631 trips around the equatorial circumference of the earth or 33 voyages to the moon and back.

Why is a digital platform such as this critical in today’s market?

Digital transformation is a top priority for the industry and this push for digitalization is in line with the Group’s purpose to connect people and improve lives by enabling trade and helping businesses to grow. Under the Deutsche Post DHL (DPDHL) Group’s Strategy 2025, we have committed to invest €2 billion into digitalization over the next five years.

DHL, of which Saloodo! is a part, is at the forefront of innovation and embraces digitalization – because it allows us to simplify processes and workflows by accelerating and streamlining them.

Could you explain, in practical terms, precisely how the system works?

Saloodo! enables B2B companies (shippers) to find verified freight carriers and, in turn, helps carriers to find suitable full truckload shipping (FTL) shipments to optimize their truck capacities. The portal has an easy three-step process, through which shippers are able to find a freight carrier, create a transport request, receive confirmation and track their shipment in real-time. 

In essence, it provides shippers and carriers with a one-stop platform for road freight connections for domestic shipments within South Africa and international movements to several neighbouring countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. With real-time visibility, Saloodo! will inject greater transparency and efficiency to the road network in the region, enabling shippers – from small enterprises and start-ups to large multinational groups – to find trusted and reliable freight carriers in South Africa.

 

The scale of cyber threat is growing. Is the Saloodo network secure? What measures have been put in place to protect your customers from potential malicious attacks by way of application, information and operational security? Should there be an attack, what data recovery measures, if any, are in place?

The Saloodo! network is protected by a minimum attack surface policy, meaning that only the parts of the network that are necessarily available to the greater internet are exposed.

Constant automatic and also manual monitoring as well as automated testing ensure high levels of customer data and application security. Our data is constantly backed up at high-frequency intervals using standard techniques that are state-of-the-art in the industry.

Data recovery is tested at regular intervals and using readily available commands from the AWS infrastructure service. (The AWS Global Cloud Infrastructure is claimed to be the most secure, extensive, and reliable Cloud Computing environment available.)

Our business continuity plans and disaster/data recovery plan conform to the highest global standards as set by the DPDHL Group.

Finally, South Africa is a price-sensitive market. What does Saloodo! cost?

This is a question many customers ask, and the good news is that there is no cost or charge for the usage of Saloodo! We operate as a traditional forwarder and use Saloodo! to enhance and simplify our customer experience.