Operating Model

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• Overview & contents
• i. Important Notice and Basis of Preparation
• 1. Executive Summary
• 2. The Corridor
• 3. Operating Model
• 4. Commercial Model
• 5. Market and Competitive Position
• 6. SWOT and Strategic Response
• 7. Financial Projections
• 8. Capital Expenditure, Funding and the Balance Sheet
• 9. Sensitivity and Scenario Analysis
• 10. Risk Analysis
• 11. Regulatory and Compliance
• 12. Organisation
• 13. Implementation Roadmap
• 14. Key Performance Indicators
• 15. Investor Returns and Recommendation
• 16. Assumption Register
• A. Appendix A: Consolidated Financial Summary
• B. Appendix B: Round Trip and Fleet Schedules
• C. Appendix C: Funding, Debt Service and Balance Sheet Schedules
• D. Appendix D: Risk Register
• E. Appendix E: Glossary

3.1 The fleet

The company operates premium European tractor units with locally built or imported trailers configured for the cargo mix: flat-deck and side-curtain for cathode and containerised concentrate, and tipping or tanker units where the northbound cargo requires them. Vehicles are specified with telematics, fuel-level sensing, driver identification and satellite tracking as standard, not as a later retrofit.

3.2 Cost structure

Transit fees and tolls at US$750 per round trip are the second largest line and are entirely outside the company’s control: road user charges and permits in three jurisdictions, bridge and weighbridge fees, and border processing charges. They are a cost of access to the corridor and they should be modelled as escalating with government revenue needs rather than with inflation.

Cargo loss at US$150 per round trip reflects in-transit shortage on high-value metal net of insurance recovery. Copper attracts organised theft, including substitution of cathode with lower-value material during transit stops. The response is operational rather than contractual: sealed and tracked loads, controlled stopping points, driver rotation on high-risk sections, and reconciliation of weight at both ends of every leg.

3.3 Drivers

Cross-border drivers are the scarcest input in this business and the hardest to manage. They operate for two to three weeks at a time across three jurisdictions, they hold the company’s most valuable moving asset and its customer’s cargo, and they are the point at which fuel shrinkage, cargo loss and border delay are either controlled or not.

The plan budgets US$480 per round trip in direct driver cost including per diem and cross-border allowance, and a separate driver management, training and welfare line rising to US$0.13m by FY2031. Double-manning on the long legs is assumed from FY2028, which is a cost but is also most of the productivity gain from 1.55 to 2.05 round trips a month.

3.4 Depot and workshop