“How to Start a Trucking Business?”
Comment Page 4

Hi. I have read all the above questions with disbelief. It is amazing how many people want to start up a transport company without doing enough research or further education. the truth is you will need to pay for that business to start up, operate, and hopefully flourish. the ans justifies the means. (meaning you reap what you sow, or what you get in the end will be determined by what you put in). I have been in the road freight sector for 18 years, since 1994. i do NOT run my own transport business. I have hung up my gloves for a less stressful business. I am more than happy to advise all potential transporters on what i believe are best practices, though you will find practices differ from region to region. I have been operating in the Southern Africa region for the last 18 years.

My services are simple. i help you access capital (if you qualify..it is not a given that because you have a big idea, some one will throw money at you)..i have templates for monitoring your efficiency levels, monitoring your vehicle performance, driver performance, cost and income levels, communication between client, yourself, your drivers etc..and ultimately you determine your ability to make money or lose money. All this comes at a cost but then again there's no business that comes for free..or we would all be smiling all the way to the bank. Email me on chris@cnm.co.zw and i will respond individually to your questions. Give you a quick analysis and take it from there. After the analysis you will get a cost sheet with terms and conditions for your specific requirements and we can take it from there. So long.

@dikeledi have you identified the type of work you would like to be contracted to carry out? this would determine the type of truck you are shopping for, thus in turn the contracts you are looking for. It would be extremely vague and ambitious to attempt to get a contract without understanding the contractual requirements first. I would suggest looking at the type of work that is being carried out in your area that needs transporting and looking for the type of truck to suit your needs, identifying the costs of purchase, maintenance and after sales support from truck dealers, preferably in the Gauteng area (where you are located)and then approach the marketing of your service after that. Good luck

@Blessing Pontsho. Hi. firstly you say you need advise on a promising coal transportation deal, but you currently don't have a contract, neither do you have the trucks i take it? Well put simply coal transportation is lucrative if the rates are right. secondly the decision to lease or buy brand new, needs more scrutiny on your finances..ie. how much do you intend on borrowing, what will your income be and will your cash flows be able to accommodate the payments to the bank...over what period...etc. That however is a whole ball game on its own. What i can highlight off the top of my head are the challenges you can expect to face: you will face stiff competition from other transporters 1st of all, rate cutting and contesting with others who have been running those contracts before you will be your 1st challenge. Rail is your biggest challenge when moving coal. rail is half the price of road and carries 10 times the capacity of road in a single haul. so you will need to bear that in mind. the determination of rates is done on the fact that road can move the product much quicker and hopefully more efficiently thus you will have the slight edge. Analise your route, loading and offloading conditions and times to determine the impact of the contract on your maintenance costs and turn around times, you do not want to be parked unnecessarily during productive time either waiting to load/offload or repairing trucks. Analise their loading requirements, is it 1ton bags which can be loaded onto a flat bed trailer (thus requiring cranes or forklifts to load and offload)or is it break bulk (requiring you to have a tipper truck which is more efficient and professional but more expensive for you to acquire)these things considered will determine how much you will need as initial start up capital, thus if you're borrowing how much to borrow and in the long run how profitable the contract is. Having said what i have said... this is just an overview...more detail is needed to get you running. do your own evaluation and if you still have queries lets us know. Good luck!

@bheki, your enthusiasm is fantastic, but i must warn that with R30,000, you will not really  be able to set a 'Trucking business' per say. You probably wouldn't even buy a reasonable bakkie to set up a courier company with. however i think because you have the interest, i would recommend you shop around from various truck dealerships in your area, get an idea on pricing for trucks and trailers and we can take it from there if you should still wish to pursue your intentions of setting up a transport business.