Copperfrontline Logistics Business Plan — Commercial Model

Copper southbound and mining consumables northbound, and why a loaded return leg contributes US$3,392 against US$349 for an empty one.

Commercial Model

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  • 4.1 Two sales functions, not one
  • 4.2 Customer concentration
  • 3.5 What the operating model is actually optimising

4.1 Two sales functions, not one

The company runs two distinct commercial efforts. Southbound capacity is sold to mining houses and metal traders on term contracts with committed monthly tonnage, which underwrites the fleet and satisfies asset financiers. Northbound capacity is sold to importers, mine procurement functions, consolidators and forwarders, largely on shorter cycles and often spot. These require different people, different relationships and different rhythms. The most common failure in corridor haulage is to staff the first function properly and treat the second as dispatch administration.

Target

FY2027

FY2029

FY2031

How it is achieved

Northbound fill rate

62%

72%

78%

Dar es Salaam commercial presence, forwarder relationships, consolidation of part loads

Round trips per truck per month

1.55

1.88

2.05

Double-manning, pre-lodged documentation, border agents, controlled turnaround at mine and port

Fleet availability

92%

94%

94%

In-house preventive maintenance, parts inventory, premium vehicle specification

Fuel shrinkage

5.5%

3.5%

2.8%

Tank sensing, fuel cards, route-level reconciliation, driver accountability

Round trips completed, productivity and northbound fill
Figure 7. Round trips completed, productivity and northbound fill.

4.2 Customer concentration

Mining-house contracts are attractive because they are large, contracted and bankable, and dangerous for the same reasons. A single customer providing more than about a third of southbound volume gives that customer effective control over the company’s rate card at renewal. The plan targets no southbound customer above thirty per cent of volume from FY2029, accepting some rate dilution to achieve it.

3.5 What the operating model is actually optimising

Lever

FY2027

FY2031

Worth at FY2031

Who owns it

Northbound fill rate

62%

78%

About US$39 a trip for each point

Commercial manager, northbound

Round trips per truck per month

1.55

2.05

US$0.24m for one dwell day

Operations director

Fleet availability

92%

94%

US$0.32m across an 8-point range

Fleet engineer

Fuel shrinkage

5.5%

2.8%

US$0.10m across the range

Operations director

Southbound rate per tonne

US$185

US$174

US$0.98m for a 10% move

Not owned. It is a market price

Diesel price per litre

US$1.32

US$1.36

US$1.06m across a 20% range

Not owned. Partially transferable

The first four rows are internal, measurable weekly and owned by a named person. The last two are larger in absolute effect and owned by nobody in the company. That split is the honest description of a haulage business: management determines whether the assets are productive, and the market determines what the productivity is worth. A plan that promises to manage the bottom two rows is promising something it cannot deliver, and this one does not.