Channel 40 - Uber for freight

Running a machinery rental business had owner-operator Tom Cavanagh plagued by freight delivery issues and costs all year long.

Cavanagh, who owns the Dubbo(NSW)-based EMS Group, decided to do something about it and established Channel 40 – a desktop and mobile app which he says is "a cross between Uber and Facebook for freight owners".

"If you buy a piece of equipment from constructionsales.com.au, in less than 30 seconds you can find a driver able to ship it exactly where you need it," Cavanagh says.

"After that you can see exactly where your machinery is at any given time."

Cavanagh claims Channel 40 is Australia's first and only independent application that connects freight owners with drivers. It has been designed to make the job of transporting freight and machinery easy, convenient, and a lot less costly – with full transparency and absolute certainty about pick-up and delivery times.

"Running a mining and agricultural machinery rental business with a big annual freight requirement, I wanted to make shipping easier," Cavanagh says.

"It turned out the way to do that was to put power in the hands of drivers and freight owners. That’s why we built Channel 40."

Today – just months after it was launched - Channel 40 has grown to involve over 500 drivers, carrying $95,000 in freight in its first full month of operation.

"Whether you’re a commercial machinery business like me; an industrial or engineering business; or a contractor, the savings on freight shipping are fantastic for everyone in the industry," Cavanagh says.

"It’s so much easier and cheaper than trying to directly arrange a backhaul load with your local trucking company."

Once a piece of equipment has been purchased, the buyer can access the Channel 40 app via their smart phone, tablet, laptop or desktop computer to request for delivery. They will need to submit a photo of the item that needs to be shipped, as well as some basic information including dimensions and weight of the equipment; and pickup and delivery address.

For general requirements, the drivers on the app will search for available loads.  If there is an express load to be delivered, drivers in the area are automatically notified of the job and can respond with the click of a button. The buyer can also request for a particular driver to carry their load for them, if they already know someone.

Machinery owners can either opt for a fixed price, or negotiate prices on the fly. Once a price has been agreed upon, the job is allocated to the successful driver and the machinery owner can see where the truck is and how long until pick-up or delivery.

Drivers and freight owners are all rated so quality and reliability is assured.

Payment is made via credit card or bank transfer through the Channel 40 system. Money is held in escrow until delivery of the goods and when freight owners click the 'accept delivery' button, the money is transferred straight to the driver.

All loads have $3000 cargo insurance automatically included, with the ability to add insurance to each load via the app.

Users can sign up to the platform in less than a minute on the Channel 40 website, or download the app from either Google Play or the Apple app store.  Once on the app, users can start sending and responding to shipping orders instantly - wherever they are in the country. All that is needed is a smart phone, or any other connected device, and a credit card.

Cavanagh says he is very excited to see hundreds of drivers already signed up to Channel 40.

"We shipped $95,000 worth of freight in January and that was before the app was live on all platforms," Cavanagh says.

"We really want to thank all those users who have helped us iron out some of the bugs. We are working around the clock to improve the experience based on their feedback."