Transport and logistics management software in Morocco: see what every truck earns

Why a fully booked truck can still lose money

In road freight, revenue tells you very little. A semi-trailer can run back-to-back trips between Casablanca and Tanger Med and still make nothing if diesel, motorway tolls and empty return legs swallow the price of the trip. Margin is earned truck by truck and route by route, and it is usually thin.

Carriers also advance a lot of cash: fuel is paid immediately and drivers receive advances for the road, while large shippers pay by LCN bill of exchange at 60 or 90 days.

• Revenue known per customer, never per truck or route
• Diesel and toll receipts piling up in the cab
• Shippers' LCN bills filed away with no due-date follow-up
• Fixed-term or temp driver contracts expiring without warning

One cost centre per truck or route, with budget and actuals

In SOGESTIO you create a cost centre for each truck or for each regular route, such as Casablanca–Tangier. Sales invoices and expenses are assigned to it, a monthly budget is set per line item, and the budget-versus-actual comparison shows the variances.

Example for one month on a Casablanca–Tangier truck: 48,000 DH excl. VAT billed to shippers, 21,500 DH of diesel, 3,200 DH of tolls and 7,500 DH of driver salary cost. The direct margin comes to 15,800 DH, about 33% of revenue, before maintenance, tyres, insurance and depreciation. The cost-centre result brings together the invoices and expenses assigned to the truck; the driver's cost, taken from payroll, completes the calculation.

In the table below, the Agadir truck bills the most but earns the lowest margin as a share of its revenue, which usually points to a trip price to renegotiate or too many empty return legs.

Diesel, tolls and road expenses: every cost justified and approved

Expenses are recorded by category (diesel, tolls, washing, minor repairs) with their deductible VAT, and each one can be assigned to the cost centre of the truck concerned. A fuel supplier's monthly invoice received as a digital PDF is read automatically and prepared as a draft to check, with duplicates flagged. VAT deduction rules on fuel can have specific features, so have the set-up reviewed by your chartered accountant.

For road expenses, each driver with a user access files an expense claim with the receipt. It goes through the approval workflow, is then booked as an expense and marked as reimbursed. Nobody can approve their own request, and cash advances go through the petty cash book.

Billing shippers per trip or with a fixed monthly fee

An occasional shipper is billed per trip: one line per journey, for example "Casablanca–Tanger Med, full semi-trailer", with a price taken from your price list. A regular shipper, such as a plant sending a daily shuttle to its warehouse, can receive a recurring invoice generated automatically on each due date.

Each customer carries its payment terms (30, 60, 90 days or custom) and a credit limit. PDF invoices show your ICE, IF and RC numbers, the amount in words and a QR code, in French, Arabic or English. The VAT rate that applies to your business is configured in SOGESTIO: have it confirmed by your chartered accountant, as rates change with each finance law.

Collecting 90-day LCN bills without choking cash flow

The Bank & treasury module records every bill and cheque with its number, bank, due date and status: in the portfolio, sent for collection or returned unpaid. Bank statements are imported in MT940 or CSV format for reconciliation.

The 13-week cash forecast places each LCN in the week it falls due, against diesel, salaries and suppliers. You see in advance the week your account may go into the red, and you have time to chase a late shipper or talk to your bank.

Driver payroll, contracts and leave

The Payroll module produces payslips for drivers, handlers and operations staff with CNSS, AMO, income tax (IR) and seniority, posts the payroll entry automatically, and prepares the DAMANCOM file and a preparatory 9421 statement to transfer into SIMPL-IR. The treatment of bonuses and travel allowances should be checked with your chartered accountant.

The Human resources module tracks permanent, fixed-term, ANAPEC, internship and temp contracts, with an alert before a contract or trial period ends, which matters when the team is reinforced in peak season. Leave, counted in working days, goes through the approval workflow.

What SOGESTIO does not do, and which plan to choose

SOGESTIO is not fleet tracking software: there is no GPS tracking, no vehicle maintenance planning and no route optimisation. It covers the management side of operations: invoicing, costs, cash, CGNC accounting and human resources.

Cost centres, budgets, banking, payroll and employee expense claims are included in the Pro plan at 449 DH/month excl. VAT (4,490 DH/year), for one company and up to 10 users, so count the drivers who will file their own expense claims. A transport company paired with a warehousing company will take the Groupe plan at 990 DH/month excl. VAT: 3 companies, up to 30 users and a consolidated view. The free 14-day trial needs no bank card and no commitment.