e2log digitises the oversized cargo sector in the GCC
News
Mar 5 2019
At any given point in time, billions of dollars of oversize cargoes are being shipped across the globe. Due to their sheer size, these high-value cargoes generally take extended durations of time to move across geographies and shipping costs are extremely high. The shipping of oversize cargoes is consequently a multibillion-dollar industry.
Such cargoes are mostly shipped for high profile projects in the Middle East for Oil & Gas, Construction, Solar Energy, Chemicals, Mining and such industries, which are time sensitive and shipping delays can often lead to project delays with significant financial consequences.
Despite this being the case, the industry operates without many of the sophisticated, technology-driven solutions that are today taken for granted across most industries.
A deep dive into the end to end process of shipping such oversize cargoes in the Middle East region reveals that whilst some process verticals reflect modern technologies, most are manual and generally managed using emails, spread sheets and phone calls, with a dearth of tracking visibility.
e2log is trying to change this reality – they have built a digital ecosystem for the door to door shipping of oversized cargoes. Participants include Shippers, global, regional and local Logistics Service Providers (LSPs), including their sub-contractors such as packers, transporters and Customs brokers, as well as Ocean and Air Carriers.
These companies can easily transact with one another and an easy to use technology platform digitises processes across verticals, yielding significant process efficiencies, costs savings and transparency.
But, e2log doesn’t want to be another e-marketplace or aggregator, they have incorporated project and asset management, e-procurement, reverse auction, LSP sub-contracting, quality control, document repository, track and trace and audit functionalities, all into this single platform.
Adolph Colaco, the founder and CEO of e2log, is an industry expert, having spent more than 25 years in various executive leadership roles with multi-billion-dollar corporations.
He has a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities the world of logistics presents within this region and has pulled together a team of seasoned professionals from industry leading Shippers and LSPs.
“We are excited to be leading the charge with the digitization of the oversize cargo world. Integrating across process verticals and providers is a fascinating opportunity which is poised to transform how this business has been run for decades,” says Colaco.
Bruno Sidler, former CEO of Panalpina, COO of CEVA, board member of various logistics and transportation related enterprises and ardent investor in logistics start-ups with a focus on digitisation, is an investor in e2log.
“e2log has identified a white space and the oversize cargo market is ripe for digitisation,” he says. “They not only have a solid concept, but have also put together a team which has a proven track record for outstanding execution. e2log is poised to cause a major disruption in the oversize cargo world.”
San Francisco based 8VC, one of the largest Venture Capitalists in the Logistics start-up world and Berggruen Holdings, the investment arm of billionaire entrepreneur Nicholas Berggruen, are also investors. Charles Songhurst, former executive from Microsoft, who lead the Skype and Yahoo acquisitions, has also invested in this venture.