Opening a cargo transportation company: business plan. Logistics is a million-dollar business. How to open a logistics company How to organize a logistics company from scratch

Russia is a large country that requires the supply of a large number of goods and services to its various points, separated by vast distances. Consequently, passenger and freight transportation services are in demand, which makes the transport business very profitable. The formation of the structure of this business began with the country's transition to a market economy. This area currently employs about 20% of Russia's working population.

The road network in the country is continuously growing, which contributes to the development of transport business. In addition, cargo transportation has now become safer than, say, in the 90s, which cannot but attract entrepreneurs. This makes cargo delivery easier and cheaper. This area of business is developing despite the unstable economy of the country, which is a positive factor for investment.

Business organization

Before you open a company providing freight transportation services from scratch, you need to decide on the type of future enterprise and the type of transport required for this. If you plan to provide services to individuals, such as delivery of furniture, household appliances, moving assistance, etc., then you will need light-duty trucks (load capacity up to 7 tons).

If you want to open a large company to provide services to legal entities (shops, wholesale warehouses) in Russia or neighboring countries, you will need trucks with trailers, trucks, and refrigerators. To open a company that provides services to industrial enterprises, dump trucks, tractors and long vehicles are used. There is also the option of an intermediary company that searches for orders. Such a company does not require its own transport.

The next step when opening a transport company from scratch is choosing a legal form. If the company has one founder, then the individual entrepreneur form is ideal for it. For a company with several founders, it is better to choose a legal form such as LLC.

The form of taxation of your company will depend on the types of services provided and the amount of transport available. If your company has up to 20 cars and provides services to individuals, then the optimal type of taxation will be UTII. For transport companies providing services to industrial enterprises, you should choose the 3NDFL tax regime. For limited liability companies, a general tax regime is chosen. Intermediary transport companies can apply either a general or simplified tax regime.

When starting a business such as a transport company from scratch, you should remember that it is mandatory to open a bank account, even if you plan to provide services to individuals. Legal entities work mainly on a cashless basis, so they will not enter into a contract with a company that does not have a bank account.

Another important point is the selection of personnel for your company. When opening a transport company from scratch, you will need to hire drivers, the number of which depends on the number of cars and work schedule.

With round-the-clock operation, one car will require up to 3 drivers. The number of dispatchers depends on the number of cars and type of services. For companies with more than 5 cars, a car mechanic will be required. It is advisable to hire an accountant in a company that has more than 10 cars under the general taxation regime.

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How to make your trucking business successful?

The success of your business directly depends on the number of clients, so finding them is one of the most important tasks of a businessman.

When starting a business from scratch, you should take care of good advertising for your company. For a high-quality and quick search for clients, the following types of advertising will help you: posting advertisements around the city, advertising your company on the Internet sites of your city and region, in newspapers and magazines, placing advertisements in furniture stores and household appliance stores. Dispatch companies can also help you find clients.

If your company works with legal entities, then you can send commercial offers of your services with prices to a certain circle of companies. Currently, large enterprises hold tenders, in which your company must offer optimal conditions to win. In addition, you should enter into contracts with large dispatch firms.

When opening a transport company, you should remember that clients first of all pay attention to the quality of services, so starting such a business from scratch is quite difficult, regardless of whether it is urban, intercity or international cargo transportation. The profitability of your business depends on the literacy of your company's employees. The simplest option for a transport business is to provide customers with vehicles for rent.

The quality of the purchased transport determines the future profit of your company. Trucks from Mercedes, Peugeot, Ford, and Hyundai are best suited for this business. Such cars, although they are more expensive, last longer than inexpensive domestic cars. A couple of hackneyed “Gazelles” and “Bulls” are unlikely to bring you much income.

Freight transportation is a very popular business sector today. Transport companies will always be in the black if there is a need to transport goods or move. However, why do some companies go bankrupt? Simply because their owners initially pursued the wrong business policy. In the freight market, it is survival of the fittest, and that is a fact. But how not to become bankrupt and how to open a transport company from scratch? You will find out the answers to all these and many other questions in our article today.

Selecting a work plan

Before opening a transport company, you should determine a suitable work pattern. There are two options:

Organizing your own transport company with your own fleet of trucks. In this case, you can rent cars or purchase them in the required quantity, re-registering them to an individual or legal entity. In addition, if you expect a large share of cargo transportation, you should hire qualified workers (mainly drivers). If the company's budget is small, you can hire a driver with a personal car. This way you save not only time searching for suitable personnel, but also money on purchasing your own fleet of vehicles.
Providing forwarding services. In this case, your company turns into a freight dispatch service. The essence of her work is to find outsourced carriers. Thus, companies receive quite high profits. On average, they charge from 5 to 10 percent of the total cost of transportation (for 1 freight). And this is despite the complete absence of its own vehicle fleet and a minimum recruitment of working personnel. In general, the business is also very profitable.

How to open a transport company providing dispatch services? Pitfalls and more

The work pattern of a company providing forwarding services is quite simple: cargo owner - dispatcher - cargo carrier. What does it mean? The dispatch company connects the cargo owner with the carrier for the purpose of mutually beneficial cooperation. In this case, the forwarding company takes into account all the interests of these two parties.

How to recruit your carrier base?

In order to make a profit, the company must first have its own base of carriers, otherwise there will be no one to cooperate with. Here you can make a list of transport companies and private carriers - owners of freight transport.

This database must be compiled in such a way that you can organize not only road types of cargo transportation, but also sea, air or rail. Most modern forwarding companies operate according to this scheme. However, at first you can try yourself in only one type of transportation (preferably, it should be road transport).

Documentation

All companies and drivers with whom you will cooperate must have a full package of registration and permits. An agreement should be concluded with the owner of the cargo transport, since without it the dispatch company will be responsible for the delivery and safety of the cargo. What should be included in this document? When drawing up a contract, pay attention to the following points:

Shipping Name.
Its mass.
Type of cargo transported.
Volume.
Loading/unloading area.
Type and number of the vehicle.
Penalties for failure to deliver (penalty).

At the bottom of the contract, indicate the signature and seal of both parties (the carrier and the dispatch company). Documents can be exchanged in several ways: by fax or email. Delivery of cargo can also be paid in several ways: in cash (upon loading/unloading) or by bank transfer.

In the latter case, payment is made within 7-14 banking days. But, as practice shows, money via bank transfer may not arrive even after a month (fortunately, this happens very rarely).

How to open a transport company for cargo transportation?

First of all, you will have to think about purchasing transport, since in this case you simply cannot do without it. How does a transport company work? The whole essence of your company’s work will be to search for orders (this can be done through the same dispatch services) and deliver goods in various directions.

Thus, trucks will be the main “gear” in the operation of the entire huge mechanism of the carrier company. Many start-up companies rent a fleet of vehicles. But if your company’s initial capital is large enough, it is best to buy your own trucks and not pay monthly rent, as in the previous case.

When the number of cars in your fleet is 15 or more, think about building your own service station or working closely with a specific company engaged in the maintenance of such equipment.

How to open an office?

Where exactly your office will be located does not matter. And if you decide to equip it, be sure to connect a multi-line telephone to it. Next, you should think about purchasing furniture, office equipment and connecting to the Internet. In general, an office for such a company that delivers goods is not a mandatory aspect.

Most often it is needed by dispatch companies that simply do not have their own fleet of vehicles. If you are a private carrier, open a website instead of an office. There you can provide all the detailed information about your company, tariffs, and also post photos of your fleet. This way you will definitely interest the customer who will want to cooperate with your company.

Company staff

When drawing up a business plan for a transport company, it is impossible not to touch upon the problem of employing employees in your company. Is it even worth hiring people for your company? The question is very ambiguous. And the exact answer to it depends on the scale of transportation and the number of units of equipment. Agree, why hire a dozen people if you only have one car.

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Starting a freight forwarding business is the right decision. But there is a danger: along with the high demand for this business, competition is also growing. It is better for entrepreneurs with experience in the transport sector to do this business from scratch. All they have to do is find out how to open a cargo transportation company.

Demand for the freight forwarding business

Those who are not involved in logistics often ask the question: is it profitable to engage in cargo transportation? The volumes of imports and exports in the country are increasing every year, therefore, the demand for this type of activity is also increasing. Cargo transportation is a current business, which entails the growth of numerous organizations engaged in providing this type of service. Most often, such companies are founded by entrepreneurs, most of whose knowledge is logistics. There are departments that have mastered cargo transportation, studied documents and offer their own services. If a problem arises with a shortage of cars, the organization attracts cars from neighboring companies. Thus, a new department is created, offering customers a variety of types of transport and services.

Main types of enterprises

To answer the question - how to open a transport company from scratch, you need to understand the different types of enterprises:

Companies providing services to individuals.
Individual entrepreneur providing assistance to legal parties.
Establishments transporting goods for industrial enterprises.
Companies that deliver groupage cargo.
Enterprises engaged in searching for orders, intermediary firms.

Features of the transport organization

We should start with the fact that logistics involves developing an optimal route, including all possible stops, breakdowns, and breaks. Logistics exists as an independent transport area. The advantage of this business is that bankruptcy is almost impossible. Also, to organize a business from scratch, you do not need to invest a fortune. Trucking business does not require a license. However, many unscrupulous companies have appeared that are not responsible for their actions. They also do not have permits. They often don't even know how to open a transport company. Logistics in transport has six key rules:

The right cargo.
The right place.
The right time.
Required amount.
Adequate quality.
Minimum costs.

Logistics has its own approach to organizing transport business. This:

More than 2 types of transport.
Availability of a single through rate for transportation.
The interaction pattern is sequential-central.

Company registration and types of taxation

To the question of where to start a business activity, there is only one answer – documents. You should register a company and decide on the taxation system. You should also decide on the legal form of the enterprise:

IP (individual entrepreneurship).
LLC (when several founders are involved).

For individual entrepreneurs, a single tax on imputed income has been adopted. This tax is suitable for enterprises cooperating with individuals and for those who operate without VAT.

For an LLC, the best option is a general taxation system.

Financial sector

If an entrepreneur is thinking about how to open a transport company from scratch and plans to start a long-term business, then he needs to open a bank account. Many clients will be willing to pay for services by bank transfer. The total revenue of an individual entrepreneur or LLC consists of profit from freight transportation. If the question arises whether it is profitable to engage in cargo transportation, then the answer is unequivocal - yes. Freight transportation as a business is quite profitable. Average figures are from 25 to 40% profit. Main expense items:

Salary.
Taxes.
Spare parts.
Documentation.
Purchase of fuels and lubricants.
General expenses.

Recruitment for the company

To stay in the market, an individual entrepreneur or LLC needs to efficiently organize a personnel department. The number of hired workers depends on the size of the vehicle fleet. In any case, you need to start by selecting the following employees:

Drivers. There should be more of them than cars. Based on one car, 3 people are required.
Mechanic. If an entrepreneur has more than six machines, then he will need at least 1 specialist.
Dispatchers. The control room needs exactly as many employees as there are cars in the fleet. The control room must be equipped with high-quality equipment, since this is one of the main workplaces.
Accountant. It will be needed if you have a fleet of ten cars or more, if the company operates in the LLC format. This person will prepare all financial and reporting documents in a timely manner.

Dissemination of information about the company

After the individual entrepreneur is registered, documents are drawn up and personnel are selected, it is necessary to take care of material support. Then you should form your regular customer base and select suppliers. Initially, there may be distrust on the part of the customer; he will doubt the quality of the product and the competence of the workers.

In order to appease the client, you need to provide him with as much information as possible about your institution, staff and services.

Prepare the necessary documents confirming the existence of the company. We must not forget that to start a business, advertising should not be in the foreground. It can greatly affect the budget of a newly created enterprise. At the same time, aggressive advertising may attract too many clients that a novice entrepreneur will not be able to serve. First, you need to place advertisements about individual entrepreneurs and LLCs on information boards and on social networks. As your business increases, your circle of consumers will also increase. This way, you can increase your advertising campaign.

When to start your own business

When starting a business from scratch, you should consider the time of year. For what? In order to correctly calculate your strength when increasing the volume of work. The summer period is considered the quietest for organizing cargo transportation. Autumn is the busiest season. The cargo transportation business is a very profitable niche, but it requires close attention from the entrepreneur. Organizing a transport business from scratch will not be difficult, especially since you will not need a business license. Therefore, you can use an individual entrepreneur to start your own business. Logistics and its knowledge will help an entrepreneur organize the optimal route and rationally organize expenses. When registering an enterprise, the business entity receives all the necessary documents.

Cargo transportation is a fairly promising type of activity. People living in villages, big and small towns use the services of transport companies or individuals to transport things and cargo to different places.

At the moment, cargo transportation is in great demand in our country, so the number of companies offering their services in this area is growing every day. If you want to get into this business, you need to take your place and try to organize work in such a way that it generates income, to create conditions that are radically different from the conditions of competing firms.

Cargo transportation: business from scratch

This is quite a troublesome and costly matter. In order to start work, you will have to acquire your own vehicle. If you are limited in funds, then a car like a Gazelle or something like that is quite suitable for the first case.

What is the job? At the first stage, a written agreement is concluded with the client. The next step is packing goods and belongings. Timely delivery plays a big role in this matter: if you miss delivery deadlines even once, the company’s reputation will suffer, and then you will have to earn a good name for the company again. Unpacking and putting things in place - this work is performed upon additional agreement with the customer.

How to open a freight transportation company so that the business brings real benefits? Transportation is often carried out by everyone who does not know what to do with themselves. They put the dispatcher on the phone, take orders, but are in no hurry to fulfill them. The cost of work very often does not coincide with that stated in the agreement, so people are dissatisfied with the work of such “firms”. The final amount is sometimes announced only when things have already been unloaded and the client has to pay the announced amounts. To avoid such mistakes, you need to organize your work honestly towards the customer. Only then will people use the services of your office, and it will generate good income.

The relevance of this type of business

The relevance of cargo transportation in the modern world is difficult to overestimate. Transportation services are in more and more demand every year.

Until recently, the customer had to wait for his cargo for several weeks, or even months. Now the situation has changed radically. People began to value their time more. Therefore, we try to deliver luggage as quickly as possible. Regardless of the purpose of delivery, the relevance of transportation is growing at a rapid pace.

It is difficult to even imagine what will happen if the freight market ceases to function for any reason. Life will come to a standstill, especially in big cities. Essential goods and food products will not be delivered, and medicines will disappear from pharmacies. This list can be continued indefinitely. Therefore, the importance of cargo transportation in the modern world cannot be underestimated.

Basic goals

Competent organization of transportation by vehicles of various types.
Delivery of commercial cargo.
Office, apartment, country, industrial moves.
Transportation of large-size cargo.
Providing trained personnel for loading and unloading operations.
Providing services for forced storage of goods.

The most important thing is to have perseverance and strive to achieve your goals. Confidence in yourself and your capabilities is also not in last place.

Company registration and taxes

In order to open a freight transport company, you need. If you plan to deal with small-tonnage transportation, your fleet will have several small Gazelle-type vehicles, and your staff will have a small number of employees, then in this case you can.

You will need to pay a state fee and collect a package of necessary documents. The tax office will give you a list of them. Then an application in the appropriate format is submitted here. It should contain your passport details, a telephone number where tax officials can contact you if necessary, and. All these manipulations can be carried out by you personally or through a trusted person.

Every registered carrier must pay taxes to the state treasury on time. In order for taxation to be optimal, the following factors must be taken into account:

the scale of the future company;
types of transportation.

For sale.

Coffee machines as an easy way to earn money. about the features of vending.

Types of taxation for cargo carriers

. This is the most acceptable option. It means the following: you can pay 6% of the company’s total income or 15% of income minus expenses.
General system. This is not the best option for small businesses. In this case, you must pay all taxes. In your case, this will be a direct road to ruin.
. It can only be applied if your fleet has no more than 20 cars. If you cannot choose a taxation system for yourself, then the regional authorities will automatically transfer your company to a single tax.

In order to earn decent money, make every effort to switch to a single tax. Don’t forget to pay the state in full, and most importantly, on time. There is also a Pension Fund, to which you will also have to make contributions. The amounts of contributions to the Pension Fund often change, so it is necessary to constantly clarify the figures that are transferred from the accounts of your company.

Where and how to open a transport company?

Selecting a room

You cannot do without an office space in which the dispatch service will be located.

The premises can be rented. The choice of its location must be taken very seriously. Saving money by working from home will not achieve good results. The “home” level of work will not bring much income. If you do not have the funds to rent your own premises, you can rent an office in a call center. This will require less cash investment. The dispatch service can be located on 20 square meters. meters.

The office needs to be set up. Dispatchers must have computers or laptops at their disposal. Having a printer and scanner is a prerequisite. Without a landline telephone, work will not be carried out at the proper level. Having two telephone lines is a huge advantage for the company. Employees' mobile phones will be used no less. It is advisable to purchase a walkie-talkie for conversations between drivers and the dispatcher - it is convenient and inexpensive.

Recruitment

A company that plans to engage in cargo transportation must have dispatchers on staff - at least 2 people. Their main quality should be good diction, excellent memory, communication skills and the ability to think logically.

A good manager will help to properly organize the work of the enterprise. A competent accountant will maintain all the company’s documentation, and there will be a lot of it.

A prerequisite for successful work is effective advertising. Therefore, an advertising manager will also come in handy.

Buying cars

Business in this area begins with the purchase of a car. When choosing cars, you need to clearly understand for yourself what goals you set for yourself and what means you have. Used foreign cars are more reliable than domestic cars and are more convenient to use. But Russian cars are much cheaper to repair. At the same time, imported cars break down less often.

Which car to buy is up to you. Gazelles are often purchased for cargo transportation within the city. Thanks to their maneuverability, they cope well with assigned tasks in urban areas. Gazelles are fuel efficient and inexpensive to maintain.

If you plan to transport products, tilt vehicles are suitable for this purpose. For large volumes of cargo, vehicles with additional trailers are suitable - in this case, the carrying capacity will increase to 24 tons. For perishable products you need to buy special refrigerators or isothermal vans. For transporting furniture or office moves, the Russian-made Zil-Bychok machine is indispensable. This car will go where a large truck cannot go.

Which car should I buy to develop my freight transportation business? This question is individual. One point is worth remembering for sure - in order to provide quality services to the population, it is necessary to have an appropriate fleet of cars.

Road transport services for cargo transportation

It is very important if you can organize the work of a company that will provide clients with a full range of services. It will be nice if you provide the customer not only with a suitable vehicle, but also with loaders.

Companies that specialize in this area provide the following services:

cargo insurance;
services for customs clearance of documents;
office, country house, apartment moving;
transportation of oversized and heavy cargo;
transportation of dangerous and especially valuable things.

In order for the quality of services to be at a high level, it is necessary to adhere to the following rules:

develop a clear route;
calculate the cost of the entire procedure;
prepare the necessary documentation;
carry out continuous monitoring of the movement of cargo along the entire route.

Marketing plan for company development

Before you begin the paperwork for starting your own business, you need to have a well-developed marketing plan. What does this include?

Conducting an active advertising campaign that will fully highlight the services provided by your company. In this case, it is necessary to attract local media, design and distribute the company’s business cards as much as possible.
In the near future, try to attract as many clients as possible and interest regular customers with advantageous offers and bonus discounts.
A clearly developed enterprise development strategy, which will outline effective measures to promote and develop the business.

A well-developed marketing strategy and the right tactical actions will take your company to a leading position among similar companies in the region.

Marketing research is necessary before drawing up a detailed business plan for the transportation of goods. This data will be the basis for the successful operation and development of the enterprise.

Financial questions: is it profitable to engage in cargo transportation?

You must understand that preparing a detailed financial report to create a trucking company is unrealistic. To obtain specific figures, you need accurate data on the state of the future enterprise. An approximate picture will look like this:

"Gazelle" will bring about 10 thousand rubles of net profit;
“Zil – Bychok” - 20 thousand rubles;
a machine with a carrying capacity of 5 tons will give a profit of up to 25 thousand;
truck - 100 thousand rubles.

These figures reflect the picture of an enterprise that regularly pays taxes and salaries to employees.

If you plan to start a business by purchasing 2 cars, you will have the following expenses:

costs for the purchase of cars - 900 thousand–1 million rubles;
machine repairs and fuel and lubricant costs – 40–45 thousand rubles;
rental of premises – 10 thousand rubles;
boxes – 10 thousand rubles;
salary to employees - 40 thousand rubles;
advertising – 15 thousand rubles;
other expenses – 30 thousand rubles.

Thus, you will need about 1 million 200 thousand rubles. This is provided that you have 1 dispatcher, 1 driver and 1 loader on your staff.

If you need to attract a second car, you will have to drive it yourself. Accounting reports will be kept by a specialist from another company. This scheme of work assumes an income from one car of 30 thousand rubles. per month.

All your expenses will pay off no earlier than 1.5–2 years. If you use rented cars, this period can be halved.

More accurate calculations depend on many factors. So, one of the main components is the location of the company.

Drawing a conclusion, we can say that organizing a small-tonnage transportation business is a profitable and promising business that novice businessmen should pay attention to.