Africa is a continent on the move, but logistics is stuck in traffic.

From bustling ports of Mombasa and Lagos to informal roadside depots across the continent, Africa’s transport and logistics sector is both a driver of economic growth and a source of operational bottlenecks.

While infrastructure is improving and regional trade corridors like AfCFTA promise better integration, logistics networks remain fragmented, operating in silos and under-optimised, costing billions in lost value.

At the centre of this challenge is the disconnect between moving assets and fixed operations: a broken link between road and warehouse.

The “Blind Mile”: Where Visibility Breaks Down

A silent crisis is playing out in African logistics, what we call the “Blind Mile”. – the critical stretch where goods leave the warehouse and enter the unpredictable African road network.

Without real-time tracking, predictive analytics or connected platforms, fleet operators and warehouse managers are navigating in the dark creating tangible risks:.

  • High fuel and maintenance costs due to inefficient routing and underutilised fleets.
  • Loss and theft of cargo, especially during last-mile delivery.
  • Delays in inventory turnover, hurting revenue and eroding customer trust.
  • Compliance challenges with safety, emissions, and cross-border regulations

Whether you run a five-truck cargo fleet in Uganda or manage a major FMCG distribution centre in South Africa, the operational pain points are similar: siloed systems, lack of visibility, lack of data and lack of control.

The First Step: Visibility is Power

Powerfleet’s modular, scalable solutions are designed to address these challenges head-on by delivering connected intelligence at scale:

  • For small fleet owners, our plug-and-play tracking and telematics help monitor driver behaviour, vehicle health, and cargo status all from a smartphone.
  • For large-scale operations, our Unity Ecosystem integrates fleet, warehouse, and yard data into one intelligent ecosystem, transforming fragmented data into coordinated, data-driven systems and actionable insights.

For instance, a regional food distributor in Kenya recently adopted Powerfleet’s real-time asset tracking to monitor perishables across warehouse loading and cold-chain transport.

The results? A 12% reduction in spoilage and a 20% improvement in delivery cycle times, all by connecting what moves with where it’s stored.

Long-Term Vision: A Unified Logistics Intelligence Network

Africa doesn’t just need tracking tools. It needs trusted, transparent infrastructure built on data and driven by strategy.

That’s why Powerfleet is investing in long-term partnerships to build a Unified Logistics Intelligence Network across the continent. This includes:

  • AI-driven route optimisation, built for the African region, from potholes to cross-border delays.
  • Predictive and preventative maintenance, reducing vehicle downtime before it hits.
  • ESG monitoring helps fleets align with sustainability goals and global reporting standards.
  • Regulatory dashboards to support compliance with national transport policies and regional trade agreements such as AfCFTA.

Why Warehousing and Fleet Cannot Be Managed in Isolation

Fleet upgrades alone won’t solve the problem. A more intelligent truck is only as effective as the warehouse it loads from.

Powerfleet’s In-Warehouse Solutions – including forklift monitoring, pallet flow visibility, and yard automation – close this loop.

Imagine knowing in real time when a pallet is ready, the optimal dock to load, and which truck is best routed to deliver – before inefficiencies multiply.

Case in point: A logistics park in Nigeria integrated Powerfleet’s forklift intelligence and yard management alongside fleet telematics.

Within three months, they saw a 28% reduction in dwell time and a 15% gain in warehouse throughput.

That’s the compound power of convergence.

Africa Doesn’t Need More Trucks – It Needs Smarter Ones

At Powerfleet, we believe that smarter logistics, powered by intelligence at every point in the supply chain.

Africa’s logistics future will not be solely defined by roads or ports, but by the digital highways connecting assets, data and people.

Powerfleet is proud to be building these connections, one truck, one warehouse and one insight at a time.