Trucking in Bangladesh has moved from phone calls, truck stands and brokers towards app-based booking. For decades, a shipper found a truck through personal contacts or a middleman, prices changed from one week to the next and many trucks came home empty. New bridges and expressways opened up faster routes, the Road Transport Act 2018 tightened the rules, and since 2017 platforms such as Truck Lagbe have let shippers post a trip and compare bids from verified owners. Truck Lagbe grew from about 20,000 registered trucks in 2021 to more than 80,000 by 2023. The change is far from complete, but how loads are found and priced is shifting.
This article traces how Bangladesh’s trucking got here, what digital booking changed and what still needs fixing.
How trucking worked before apps
Roads carry most of Bangladesh’s freight, and their share has grown since the 1980s while rail and waterways fell behind. Only about 4% of freight now moves by rail, compared with 20% in India, The Daily Star reported in 2025. That made trucks the backbone of trade, from rice and cement to garments heading for Chattogram port.
The business itself stayed informal. A shipper who needed a truck phoned an owner they knew, went to a truck stand near a market or highway, or used a transport agent. “Truck businesses rely heavily on word of mouth,” the Dhaka Tribune wrote in 2020, and middlemen connected owners and shippers for a cut of the fare.
Three problems followed from that system:
- Unpredictable prices. With no public rates, the price depended on who you asked and how urgent your load was.
- Empty return trips. An owner who delivered a load to Jessore rarely knew of a load going back, so the truck often returned empty. The World Bank estimated about 35% of truck trips in Bangladesh ran empty, The Daily Star reported in 2019.
- Too many trucks, too few loads. A 2020 estimate put the number of trucks working on any given day at about one lakh out of roughly four lakh registered, the Dhaka Tribune reported.
Truck Lagbe’s founder, Anayet Rashid, ran into these problems in his own FMCG business. One shipment to Jessore cost Tk 35,000 and a similar one a week later Tk 8,000. He traced the gap to owners overcharging for one-way trips because they had no return load. “That was such a waste and, at the same time, a huge opportunity,” he told Future Startup.
How Truck Lagbe started
Rashid and his childhood friend Mir Hossain Ekram tested the idea before building anything. They visited truck stands and transport agencies in Comilla and Tejgaon and spoke to brokers, agents and truck owners, and found owners keen on a way to get loads directly. They decided to go ahead in December 2016, began hiring a technology lead in January 2017 and formally started the company in February 2017 with seven shareholders and four managers, according to Future Startup. In May 2017, Truck Lagbe won a startup competition run by the ICT ministry, which brought early media attention.
The first version was simple: a mobile app where a shipper could post a trip and truck owners could respond. Business accounts, GPS trackers, an online parts shop and insurance came later.
The roads that changed the routes
Infrastructure reshaped where trucks go and how fast they get there. The Jamuna Bridge, opened in 1998, gave trucks from the north and north-west a road link to Dhaka. The Padma Bridge, opened in 2022, did the same for the south-west, cutting out the ferry queues that once held trucks for hours or days. Its toll for a truck up to 5 tonnes is Tk 1,600, TBS reported. In 2023, the Dhaka Elevated Expressway and the Karnaphuli tunnel in Chattogram opened.
The new crossings came with stricter checks. Axle-load stations at the major bridges and the Elevated Expressway weigh trucks and make overloaded ones unload the excess, which is one reason the cost of overloading a truck has risen for owners.
Key milestones
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 1998 | Jamuna Bridge opens, linking the north-west to Dhaka by road |
| 2016 | RHD sets axle-load limits by number of axles |
| 2017 | Truck Lagbe launches; it wins an ICT ministry startup competition in May |
| 2018 | Road Transport Act passed; in force from November 2019 |
| 2019 | Truck Lagbe raises US$1 million pre-Series A |
| 2021 | Truck Lagbe raises US$4 million Series A, with IFC investing US$2.5 million; about 20,000 trucks and 43,000 shippers in all 64 districts |
| 2022 | Padma Bridge opens, linking the south-west to Dhaka by road |
| 2023 | Series A+ led by port operator PSA International; more than 80,000 registered trucks. Dhaka Elevated Expressway and Karnaphuli tunnel open |
| 2024 | Green Delta and Truck Lagbe sign a deal for comprehensive motor insurance for trucks on the platform |
| 2026 | Diesel rises to Tk 135 a litre; BRTA starts deducting licence points; Truck Lagbe adds an iPhone app and BRTC trucks |
Funding and fleet figures come from Future Startup, the IFC and the Dhaka Tribune.
How digital booking changed the game
Prices before the trip
On Truck Lagbe, a shipper posts the route, truck size, date and goods, and verified owners send bids. The shipper sees and compares prices before committing, instead of negotiating at a stand. For a 1 ton pickup inside Dhaka, the app shows a fixed fare. Truck Lagbe says bids usually start arriving within about 30 minutes. For most people, posting a trip on an app has replaced the trip to the stand.
Loads for the return leg
For owners, the biggest change is reach. A truck that has delivered in Bogura can find a load going back to Dhaka without the owner knowing the shipper. The Truck Lagbe Owner app shows trips near the truck, so drivers can look for a return load instead of driving home empty. That is the problem the company was built to solve, and in 2023 it said reducing empty trips remained a focus of its growth plans, according to the Dhaka Tribune.
Verified trucks and a helpline
Owners register their trucks with documents before they can bid, and shippers have a customer care line if something goes wrong. Neither existed in the truck stand system.
Services around the truck
The platform has grown beyond booking. Owners can fit a GPS tracker that works with the Owner app, buy engine oil and parts from TL Shop, and get motor insurance through the Green Delta deal, which TBS reported in 2024. Companies that ship regularly use business accounts with fixed or spot pricing and payment after the trip, including port trips from Chattogram, Mongla, Benapole, Bhomra and Burimari. In August 2026, the app’s Google Play release notes added 18 ft and 20 ft trucks from the state-owned BRTC fleet, bookable only in the app.
What changed for each side of the market
| Before | With app booking | |
|---|---|---|
| Shippers | Price depended on contacts and urgency | Several bids to compare, fixed fares for small pickups |
| Small businesses | No access to regular, fair rates | Any business can post a trip; regular shippers get accounts |
| Truck owners | Loads through brokers, empty return trips | Direct access to trips, including return loads |
| Drivers | Work depended on the owner’s contacts | Ratings and trip history follow good drivers |
For small shops and wholesalers, the main gain is access. A business that ships twice a month can now book the same way as a large company, and some corporate clients have reported logistics cost reductions of up to 17%, the Dhaka Tribune reported in 2023.
What has not changed yet
Digital booking has not fixed everything. Brokers and truck stands still handle much of the market, especially outside Dhaka and in commodity markets where personal trust matters. Many older owners and drivers are also more comfortable with a phone call than an app, which is one reason Truck Lagbe keeps a 24-hour customer care line alongside it. Unofficial payments remain a cost: in August 2026, fruit trucks at Badamtoli and Babubazar in Dhaka paid Tk 2,000 to Tk 5,000 each in unofficial charges, the Dhaka Tribune reported. The fleet is old: about one goods vehicle in eight was past its 25-year economic life in 2025. And logistics still takes up as much as 16% of Bangladesh’s GDP, against a global average of about 10%.
Some of these problems are beyond any platform. Better roads, working weighing stations, fair enforcement and a scrappage policy for old trucks depend on the government. What platforms can do is make prices visible, cut empty trips and give owners and drivers more work.
What comes next
The next stage is already under way. Diesel prices, licence points, GPS rules and the 25-year age limit are reshaping the business in 2026, and owners who run their trucks as a business are best placed to adapt. Those fuel, enforcement and fleet changes will decide which owners and drivers do well over the next few years.
Book your next truck with Truck Lagbe
Truck Lagbe connects shippers with verified truck owners across all 64 districts, from 1 ton pickups to 25 ton trucks. Download the Truck Lagbe app to post your next trip.
Frequently asked questions
How has trucking changed in Bangladesh?
Loads used to be found through contacts, truck stands and brokers. Today, shippers can post trips on apps and compare bids from verified owners, while new bridges, expressways and stricter rules have changed routes and costs.
When did Truck Lagbe start?
Truck Lagbe launched in 2017. Its founders began work in early 2017, and it won an ICT ministry startup competition in May that year.
How many trucks are on Truck Lagbe?
More than 80,000 registered trucks in 2023, up from about 20,000 in 2021, according to reports at the time of its funding rounds.
Why do so many trucks in Bangladesh run empty?
Owners often have no load for the return trip. The World Bank estimated about 35% of truck trips ran empty, which pushes up one-way fares.
Do brokers still exist in Bangladesh trucking?
Yes. Many loads, especially outside Dhaka and in commodity markets, are still arranged through brokers and truck stands, but app booking is growing.
