Shell, Ezyhaul partner to transform M'sian road freight market

• Partnership helps provide improved pricing, visibility, transport optimisation
• Help to accurately control operational costs, fleet tracking, fuel payment and consumption

OIL giant Shell and digital road freight platform Ezyhaul announced a partnership both companies say will transform the Malaysian freight market.

The collaboration will see a combination of Shell’s over-60 years of global fleet management experience and expertise in mobility solutions with Ezyhaul’s digital freight capabilities. the companies said in a statement.

Shell said the partnership seeks to build a relationship with its customers by learning about their fleet management problems and providing solutions for issues related to safety, maintenance, and fuel consumption using telematics, mobility services, and other technologies.

“The freight industry is relatively analogue, with operations being managed without the use of online platforms. The concept of digitalisation is rising and at Shell, we aim to drive the future of mobility to address the various pressure points for both shippers and transporters,” said Zain Hak, general manager of Shell Fleet Solutions Asia.

According to Shell, outsourced transport operations face a number of challenges, the common ones being manual booking of shipments, limited real-time visibility on delivery status, lack of reliable and consistent data for analysis and improvement. Other difficulties include to measure, manage and control vendor performance, billing inaccuracies and lack of data integration.

At the same time, transporters are also faced with issues that include under-capacity and empty backhaul problems.

Digital and technology disruptions are bringing change to the industry. Citing Frost & Sullivan, Shell noted that effective data use can help fleet managers increase productivity by 10-15%, cut fuel expenses by 20-25% and reduce vehicle idle time by 20-30%.

“Road freight in South Asia is characterised by fragmentation and high inefficiencies. We are very proud to have gained such a strong global player as Shell as our partner and make our services available to more shippers and transporters across Malaysia,” said Raymond Gillon, co-founder and chief executive officer, Ezyhaul.

More transparency and convenience

Shell and Ezyhaul’s solution includes a digital marketplace to provide improve pricing, visibility, quality of service and transport optimisation. Ezyhaul’s cloud-based marketplace, for one, provides a user-friendly interface on mobile and desktop.

The platform also allows shippers to accurately control their operational costs while connecting with a host of new shipping clients, Ezyhaul said. Conversely, shippers can now access a new range of qualified transporters with transparent and competitive costs.

“Transporters are at the centre of the freight industry and therefore, with this partnership, we aim to further encourage their movement towards a digitalised business platform, as it will improve their profitability and permit affordability to scale based on market requirements,” Gillon claimed.

Transporters also face the challenge of maintaining their cash flow specifically with credit requirements from customers and their operational expenditure. According to Shell and Ezyhaul, most transporters have a 45 – 90-day payment term which could result in around 20% – 25% upfront fuel expenditure.

This partnership allows registered transporters to contract jobs via the Ezyhaul platform while being fuelled by Shell products, mitigating these large upfront payments, it said.

Zain Hak added: “Our transporters that use the Shell fuel card are facing increased expectations from their customers in digital capabilities. By partnering with Ezyhaul, we can enable our transporters to optimise capacity utilisation, increase their profitability and deliver real-time transparency their customers expect.”

The partnership is expected to provide increased convenience and transparency to transporters. For one, the Ezyhaul platform allows for truck tracking and tracing, granting shippers and transporters full transparency, the companies said.

With Shell partnership, customers can control fuel payment and consumption via real-time informatics, while providing business analytics and insights.