Seoul, South Korea - T Map Mobility is shifting attention from the established first and last-mile markets to the middle-mile freight transportation sector.
Why it matters:
As the middle mile logistics vertical has proven to be a larger market than the last mile, legacy, and paper-based operations have been a significant barrier to digital transformation.
SK Square's subsidiary, T Map Mobility, brings digital technology to this traditionally analog industry.
Understanding the Middle Mile:
The middle mile spans the gap between the first mile, where goods are initiated for transportation, and the last mile, which marks the final delivery.
This sector manages logistics using commercial vehicles to connect manufacturers, distributors, and warehouses.
Notably, most of this market uses outdated methods such as phone-based deliveries and physical paper receipts.
At a press conference in Seoul, T Map Mobility Freight noted that the domestic middle-mile market is valued at approximately KRW 37 trillion.
What they do
With this significant market potential, T Map Mobility is exploring the digitization of this segment.
T Map's platform will directly link shippers and drivers, using digital means to streamline operations.
The prevalence of analog methods in this market, often attributed to the older age profile of shippers and drivers and manual intermediary processes, presents an opportunity for modernization.
To provide context, more than 8,000 small and medium-sized companies are in this space, but only 1.6% report annual revenues of more than KRW 5 billion.
T MapMobility is fully digitizing the middle-mile stage by leveraging data from its acquisition of YLP, a startup specializing in middle-mile brokerage, in 2021.
This integration has facilitated the analysis of more than 1.1 million transportation events in two years.
What's next?
Logistics costs continue to be a concern for the industry.
T-Map Mobility officials highlighted the platform's pursuit of leveraging big data and AI for fare estimation, efficient dispatch, and transit monitoring.
There are plans to develop optimal pricing mechanisms, precise matching, and multi-stop route design.
