Global agribusiness giant Louis Dreyfus Co (LDC) has teamed up with logistics platform Circular to help coordinate trucks delivering grain to its operations in Argentina, World Grain reported on 17 June.
The partnership involves the use of Circular’s app to help coordinate logistics and manage appointments in LDC’s grain transport activities, according to the report.
“We continually look to embrace the latest solutions that can facilitate and drive efficiency in our activities,” LDC regional head of oilseeds for South & West Latin America Fernando Correa Urquiza said.
Already available to producers and carriers who supply LDC’s General Lagos facility, Circular’s platform was expected to be used at all LDC plants, ports and warehouses in Argentina over the coming months, World Grain wrote.
During the harvest season, LDC’s plant in General Lagos receives about 900 trucks/day, according to World Grain. Circular’s application would give LDC real-time access to information that would simplify appointment scheduling and increase efficiency in the flow of pick-up and drop-off operations by controlling the number of trucks arriving at the plant throughout the day and reducing wait times, the report said.
The app also allows drivers to interact with logistics departments at warehouses and plants, schedule delivery times and upload all operational information to any PC or mobile devices with android operating systems, according to World Grain.
Circular’s app can be downloaded free of charge from Google Play and is used in combination with the STOP system developed by the national government to create a standard truck appointment system for all plants in the country.
Founded in Argentina in 2018 by Andrés Augspach and Marcos Laffaye, Circular works through a free download app that serves as a virtual assistant to transporters, producers, contractors, cooperatives and grain companies, to organise and streamline logistics from the field to unloading at ports.
Following a pilot test with 200 trucks in March 2019, Circular was now working with 30,000 drivers in Argentina and had plans to expand in Mercosur, World Grain wrote.
