Akmann Van-Mary was an entrepreneur who ran a third-party logistics company, matching truckers and shippers. This was a solid, small-to-medium-sized business, but Van-Mary had noticed what seemed to him like a major problem in the industry — and therefore, a major opportunity.
The problem was with the way truckers unloaded their trucks.
When trucks show up at a warehouse or a logistics centre, the truckers need lumpers and warehouse managers to complete their business. A lumper is a specialised labourer responsible for loading and unloading cargo from trucks. (Think: the folks who operate the forklifts). On the other hand, warehouse managers (and their staff) managed the flow of operations, directed truckers into queues and dock slots, and made sure goods were documented and transferred to wherever they’re supposed to go next.
Unloading at a warehouse was quite often a mess. It wasn’t unusual for queues to move slowly and for truckers to idle, missing deadlines and wasting fuel. It was, in fact, a common sight for a truck to be directed to a dock where it waited for lumpers to come and unload, but then be shunted to the side to make way for another truck because the lumpers hadn’t arrived. Van-Mary had observed this situation for a long time, and thought that the issue was with payments. Payments in this industry wer ...
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