{"id":377633,"date":"2024-05-07T15:45:11","date_gmt":"2024-05-07T10:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/?p=377633"},"modified":"2024-05-07T15:45:11","modified_gmt":"2024-05-07T10:15:11","slug":"matchlog-matchmaking-for-containers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/rainmatter\/matchlog-matchmaking-for-containers","title":{"rendered":"MatchLog | Matchmaking for containers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Shipping containers are one of the most important cogs in the wheel of global trade. We wrote about how shipping <a href=\"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/subtext\/shipwrecked-why-everything-may-soon-cost-more\">affects global trade and inflation<\/a> recently, explaining the importance of shipping routes. Bhuvan has also explored the <a href=\"https:\/\/bhuvan.substack.com\/p\/revolution-in-a-box-the-extraordinary\">history of shipping containers<\/a> themselves. Once those containers are loaded onto a truck and hit the road, they become figures in GST accounts and traffic annoyances for most people. Adding to carbon emissions.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why shipping containers are part of the climate conversations.<\/p>\n<p>Nearly half of all shipping containers on the road are empty because they are driving to or from the nearest port after having dropped their cargo. These \u2018dry runs\u2019 add to emissions, without being productive. That\u2019s exactly what the startup <strong>MatchLog<\/strong> is trying to fix. In a nutshell, MatchLog reduces dry runs in the container transport segment of the logistics industry.<\/p>\n<p>In this episode, we meet Dhruv Taneja, the CEO and one of MatchLog&#8217;s three co-founders.<\/p>\n<p><iframe width=\"100%\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/iEkxYhxSd3E\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>After examining the basics of the logistics industry, we discuss the main reason dry runs exist: lack of data and visibility across shipping lines. Dhruv&#8217;s family firm only had this data because it was one of the largest container management companies in India, handling close to 10% of India\u2019s volume of empty containers. Once he realised the scale of the problem, Dhruv partnered with his co-founders to apply a technology lens to this data and create a \u2018matchmaking\u2019 service &#8211; matching empty containers with firms that were going to book one within a day or so.<\/p>\n<p>While this sounds easy enough, this process not only requires one to deal with large shipping lines but also truck fleet operators on the ground. 95% of these fleet owners are small operators with five or fewer vehicles. They have very basic education and a high capital barrier \u2014 it costs 35-40 lakhs to buy a truck. So MatchLog provided operators something they didn\u2019t get elsewhere \u2014 timely payments. Meanwhile, it worked with fleet managers, who gave MatchLog basic information like where vehicles are going, mobile numbers of the drivers and deal numbers &#8211; all of which combined to make a data goldmine.<\/p>\n<p>With this, MatchLog built a rules-based engine which looks at the type of vehicle, size, type of container as well as the import\/export dates. The fleet managers share this information on a simple Google form, seeing an opportunity to make some money on their otherwise dry run.<\/p>\n<p>The company offers 3 services:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Transport Management Solutions or TMS<\/strong>, a one-stop platform functioning as a digital end-to-end model for a transaction. It allows users to explore inter-modal and multi-modal options, do quick price comparisons, manage documentation and bookings, track shipments in real time, invoice for both partners when trips are completed, and report trip milestones, all under one work order.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Stinder or Street Turn Finder<\/strong>, a container-user platform that converts visibility into actionable matches.<\/li>\n<li><strong>MatchLog Integrated Street Turn Yard (MiSTY)<\/strong>, a strategically located network point in the hinterland which acts as an interface for modal operators to bring in containers that are digitally surveyed, aligned and triangulated to export bookings available on MatchLog&#8217;s TMS platform.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>MatchLog receives a 1-3% brokerage from supplying containers to shipping lines. The revenue from its matching service is a flat fee between \u20b92000 to \u20b95000 per match. At the time of recording, in 2023, MatchLog was on course to achieve a topline of 50 crores.<\/p>\n<p>The company has raised 3 million dollars in December 2021, including from Rainmatter. It also turned down a buyout offer from a global shipping company during COVID. Its team has grown to about 60 people. It just announced a <a href=\"https:\/\/inc42.com\/buzz\/matchlog-bags-funding-to-scale-up-its-cargo-container-platform\/\">pre-Series A fund-raise<\/a> for global expansion.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, I was curious about why it took so long for the industry to recognise the financial and environmental cost of dry runs. Dhruv thinks it was due to a lack of awareness and intent.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We hope to raise such awareness and inspire more founders to have climate conversations.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Half of all shipping containers on the road are empty, driving to or from the nearest port. These \u2018dry runs\u2019 add to emissions without being productive. MatchLog reduces these dry runs, matching empty containers with firms. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":242542,"featured_media":377634,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[478],"tags":[753,751,648,752,754],"class_list":["post-377633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rainmatter","tag-climate-conversations","tag-matchlog","tag-shipping","tag-shipping-containers","tag-transportation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.5 (Yoast SEO v26.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>MatchLog | Matchmaking for containers &#8211; Z-Connect by Zerodha<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Half of all shipping containers on the road are empty, driving to or from the nearest port. These \u2018dry runs\u2019 add to emissions without being productive. MatchLog reduces these dry runs, matching empty containers with firms.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/rainmatter\/matchlog-matchmaking-for-containers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MatchLog | Matchmaking for containers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Half of all shipping containers on the road are empty, driving to or from the nearest port. These \u2018dry runs\u2019 add to emissions without being productive. MatchLog reduces these dry runs, matching empty containers with firms.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/rainmatter\/matchlog-matchmaking-for-containers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Z-Connect by Zerodha\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/zerodha.social\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-05-07T10:15:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Match_Log_X_Rainmatter.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Pranav\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@zerodhaonline\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@zerodhaonline\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hansi Mehrotra\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/rainmatter\/matchlog-matchmaking-for-containers\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/rainmatter\/matchlog-matchmaking-for-containers\",\"name\":\"MatchLog | Matchmaking for containers &#8211; Z-Connect by Zerodha\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/rainmatter\/matchlog-matchmaking-for-containers#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/rainmatter\/matchlog-matchmaking-for-containers#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Match_Log_X_Rainmatter.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-07T10:15:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/#\/schema\/person\/01e659a83a429879f3e0f8f86a76c0fe\"},\"description\":\"Half of all shipping containers on the road are empty, driving to or from the nearest port. These \u2018dry runs\u2019 add to emissions without being productive. MatchLog reduces these dry runs, matching empty containers with firms.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/rainmatter\/matchlog-matchmaking-for-containers#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/rainmatter\/matchlog-matchmaking-for-containers\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/rainmatter\/matchlog-matchmaking-for-containers#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Match_Log_X_Rainmatter.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Match_Log_X_Rainmatter.png\",\"width\":1400,\"height\":800},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/rainmatter\/matchlog-matchmaking-for-containers#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Rainmatter\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/category\/rainmatter\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"MatchLog | Matchmaking for containers\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/\",\"name\":\"Zerodha product and business updates\",\"description\":\"Z-Connect is Zerodha&#039;s official blog. Get the latest updates, product announcements news, and insights all in one place.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/#\/schema\/person\/01e659a83a429879f3e0f8f86a76c0fe\",\"name\":\"Pranav\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c05220ce90808922d44304320212189dc94a35eb86424d36fadd7bab9377e61?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c05220ce90808922d44304320212189dc94a35eb86424d36fadd7bab9377e61?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Pranav\"},\"description\":\"Senior writer at Zerodha\",\"url\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"MatchLog | Matchmaking for containers &#8211; Z-Connect by Zerodha","description":"Half of all shipping containers on the road are empty, driving to or from the nearest port. These \u2018dry runs\u2019 add to emissions without being productive. MatchLog reduces these dry runs, matching empty containers with firms.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/rainmatter\/matchlog-matchmaking-for-containers","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"MatchLog | Matchmaking for containers","og_description":"Half of all shipping containers on the road are empty, driving to or from the nearest port. These \u2018dry runs\u2019 add to emissions without being productive. MatchLog reduces these dry runs, matching empty containers with firms.","og_url":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/rainmatter\/matchlog-matchmaking-for-containers","og_site_name":"Z-Connect by Zerodha","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/zerodha.social","article_published_time":"2024-05-07T10:15:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1400,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Match_Log_X_Rainmatter.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Pranav","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@zerodhaonline","twitter_site":"@zerodhaonline","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hansi Mehrotra","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/rainmatter\/matchlog-matchmaking-for-containers","url":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/rainmatter\/matchlog-matchmaking-for-containers","name":"MatchLog | Matchmaking for containers &#8211; Z-Connect by Zerodha","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/rainmatter\/matchlog-matchmaking-for-containers#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/rainmatter\/matchlog-matchmaking-for-containers#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Match_Log_X_Rainmatter.png","datePublished":"2024-05-07T10:15:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/#\/schema\/person\/01e659a83a429879f3e0f8f86a76c0fe"},"description":"Half of all shipping containers on the road are empty, driving to or from the nearest port. These \u2018dry runs\u2019 add to emissions without being productive. MatchLog reduces these dry runs, matching empty containers with firms.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/rainmatter\/matchlog-matchmaking-for-containers#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/rainmatter\/matchlog-matchmaking-for-containers"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/rainmatter\/matchlog-matchmaking-for-containers#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Match_Log_X_Rainmatter.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Match_Log_X_Rainmatter.png","width":1400,"height":800},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/rainmatter\/matchlog-matchmaking-for-containers#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Rainmatter","item":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/category\/rainmatter"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"MatchLog | Matchmaking for containers"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/#website","url":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/","name":"Zerodha product and business updates","description":"Z-Connect is Zerodha&#039;s official blog. Get the latest updates, product announcements news, and insights all in one place.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/#\/schema\/person\/01e659a83a429879f3e0f8f86a76c0fe","name":"Pranav","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c05220ce90808922d44304320212189dc94a35eb86424d36fadd7bab9377e61?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c05220ce90808922d44304320212189dc94a35eb86424d36fadd7bab9377e61?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Pranav"},"description":"Senior writer at Zerodha","url":""}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Match_Log_X_Rainmatter.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/242542"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377633"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377633\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":377805,"href":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377633\/revisions\/377805"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}