Russia's new digital freight exchange aims to transform road transport logistics

Russia has launched a new digital freight exchange platform to streamline its road transport industry. The market, worth several trillion rubles yearly, currently relies on fragmented and time-consuming negotiations. The platform aims to connect shippers, carriers and logistics firms in one system. The Russian road freight sector operates mostly on a spot basis. Payments and goods change hands immediately for each shipment. Over 70% of shippers do not know transport costs to a city until they start negotiations.

Most deals happen through scattered contacts. Shippers search for carriers for every trip, while carriers hunt for suitable orders on their own. Selecting a provider can take up to three days.

The new exchange, developed by Avito, offers a single digital space for posting and matching requests. Key shipment details are set in advance, reducing the need for repeated negotiations. It targets a market where rates and terms often depend on real-time supply and demand. The platform will provide a unified way to fix shipment terms before transport begins. It is designed to cut down the time and effort spent coordinating across multiple channels. The exchange could bring more transparency to a largely unstructured market.