Improving International Trade Through Logifreight
Every customer wants to be a hero in their buying journey. If a seller can provide that journey, the customer may be more likely to purchase. I’ve started a new venture called Logifreight, and our service is to move commercial goods across borders using software. Logifreight is the seller, and Bangladesh is the hero of this journey.
Putting aside the massive $100 billion trading activity the country experiences each year, Bangladesh lags behind in moving goods internationally. We are triple digits in “The World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index 2018” (Ranked 100th). Our customs are ranked 121st and our international shipments are the 104th most competitive. As for timeliness of goods arrival, we are triple digits in that too.
So why are we so bad at moving freight across borders? Simply put, our technological advancement over 49 years has been slow. We aren’t the most resource-rich geography on the planet, our dependence on buying from other countries is greater than selling, and we’ve had a pretty complicated legal and political system stemming out of colonial history, tradition and culture. All culminating to a cross-border trade long broken, but never fixed.
In 2020, I launched an initiative to solve this problem called Logifreight. Our job is to improve trust in Bangladeshi logistics by initiating cross-border movement of goods seamlessly through software. Bangladesh grew at 8% p.a. (pre-lockdown, March 2020) and 5.7% p.a. projected today. We’re the fastest growing economy in the world prior to the pandemic, and our industries are diversifying from ready-made garments and jute everyday (we make Samsung phones now).
All this does is validate our market size that is only second to India in South Asia for trade volume ($100 Billion in 2019). However, our economic growth exceeds India comfortably. At Logifreight, our job is to put our traders, shippers and carriers of today at ease while providing three services:
- Sourcing goods from overseas. If you are buying fabric from Alibaba to use at your factory, consider buying through our platform and we’ll take care of the full shipment from door-to-door.
- Shipping air and ocean freight . Need freight quotes? Book through our air and ocean carrier space available and we’ll have your goods shipped.
- Clear goods through customs. We act as a customs broker, and clear customs with minimal fuss. Using software, we calculate the taxes due, and time needed to clear ports with reasonable accuracy to allow you to spend your resources more effectively.
In a short amount of time, Freight-Tech has revolutionized how startups challenge the traditional movement of goods globally. Tracking goods in transit is valuable time lost, and transparency of shipments are at its lowest in Bangladesh because we are outgrowing our logistical infrastructure. With Logifreight, we aim to create a software infrastructure in Bangladesh that will put door-to-door shipping at ease and make this growth more sustainable and efficient for the rising class of Bangladeshi traders.
P.S: We are rebuilding our website to include new features. Stay tuned to book through our new UI.
