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technology to the doorstep of our
customer and handhold in the change HOW DOES IT WORK?
management process makes us unique
from other technology platforms. Registration is open for licensed customs house agents (CHAs) & SME
forwarders who will have access to the platform's products and services.
What is your addressable market? Shipping line schedules and container tracking features will be on the
Growth potential? platform, and ocean freight rates will be posted “as given by'' the shipping
Logistics has gone through a sea line for the registered members.
change in the past 24 months in Transpost USPs
adoption of digital technologies and 1. Rate procurement from multiple shipping lines with a single click.
applications. India is an export market 2. Booking management service that includes placing booking with your
of 8 million TEUS, which carries exports preferred shipping line, submission of shipping instruction till release of
worth $200 billion. This industry sits at Bill of lading.
the bottom in digital innovation which 3. Shipping schedules and container tracking facility.
opens up a big canvas of opportunities 4. Dashboards to keep you informed of your booking status and analytics.
for start-ups in the sector.
Shipping lines have recently made 5. Value added products such as trade finance for customers’ clients.
new inroads in offering digital options 6. Separate freight finance can be offered as a part of trade finance terms
to their customers, which paves way for logistic solutions.
for cargo aggregators to also benefit 7. Cargo insurance specially for Transpost clients.
from these moves. The market today is
basically working on analogous process
applications without end-to-end visibility. an annual fee for renewal?
The SME segment is undeserved by Our members may not want to invest in
service providers such as shipping lines, Small forwarders & high-cost technology but are extremely
banks and insurance companies, which custom brokers are open to renting the technology on
therefore opens up opportunities for usage level. The role of our logistic
disruption of the existing scenario. unable to scale up platform is to create visibility &
In addition to this, there is also lack businesses due to lack transparency for our members and
of transparency on cost of logistics and of adequate resources, simplify their logistic needs. There
information on the shipment of cargo. is no cost involved for our members
India’s market is poised for sustained broken/manual for using the platform but there is a
growth with the government focused on processes, lack of booking management fee for the cargo
export-led economy and the Make-In- revolving credit & very booked through our platform (only for
India initiative. materialised bookings).
high cost of technology
You also talk about trade finance for Is Transpost limited to India? What are
your customers' clients? What are the the expansion plans?
products proposed by Transpost? the need expressed by freight forwarders Being a technology platform, we have no
Trade finance is a shipper-based as their growth was being curtailed due boundaries or limitations. Currently our
product where we act as a sales to lack of funding. We are still in the POC services can be availed by our members
channel for established trade finance stage and working on risk analysis for across India. We had a good start in
companies. These are new age fintech providing such a credit facility. 2021, and our expansion plan is to grow
companies which offer a variety of the customer base exponentially in India
products such as non-recourse loans Why do you feel cargo insurance and internationally.
to exporters selling to buyers in North can be your key differentiator? Are Our current focus involves FCL ocean
America, Europe, the Middle East, and insurance tie-ups in place? exports, which is currently offered to
the Asia Pacific. Based on the eligibility Our core product is booking our international customers as well.
criteria, exporters can avail credit facility management; however all our ancillary Our ambition is to extend our footprints
to not just fulfil more buyer orders but products are independent of each other. to LCL/imports/air in the medium-
also pay for inventory, raw materials, Cargo insurance is not a key differentiator to- long term both in the domestic &
employees or other short-term needs. but an add-on service to provide ease of International market.
doing business. It adds to the bouquet of We will continue to explore
With freight rates skyrocketing and services we want to offer to our clients technology-based products to be
no relief in sight, do you think freight when they come on our platform. offered by Transpost. This will be
financing is going to be your revenue implemented based on market trends
driver for the next couple of years? Are you charging a fee from CHAs/SME and needs of our customers in the next
The idea of freight finance emerged from forwarders for registration? Is there phase of our journey. 

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www.itln.in January - February 2022