Terms & Conditions

These terms are an agreement between you and Cargo Motives ("Cargo Motives", "we", "us") for using Cargo Motives, a marketplace connecting cargo customers with transporter companies in Tanzania, through our mobile app and website. By creating an account or using the service you agree to these terms, our Privacy Policy and our Refund Policy. Our business details are on the company information page.

1. The service

A Customer posts a cargo job, verified Transporter Companies bid on it, and the app supports the job through assignment, tracking, delivery and review. We provide the platform that connects the two; we are not a transporter, freight forwarder or customs agent, and we never take possession of any cargo. Drivers don't need an account: a company's driver receives a private, time-limited link by SMS to update the job and record proof of delivery.

2. Accounts and security

You must be at least 18 and using Cargo Motives for a genuine business or personal shipping need. Give accurate information and keep it up to date. You're responsible for activity under your account and for keeping your password secret. We recommend turning on two-factor authentication in Settings. You can see and sign out your devices from Settings > Active sessions. Tell us promptly if you think someone else has accessed your account.

3. Verification

Customers

Customers verify their identity with their NIDA number and a photo or scan of their NIDA card. Until our team has approved it you can use the app but can't post jobs. We may reject a submission that is unclear, doesn't match your account, or is already used by another account, and you can resubmit.

Transporter Companies

A Transporter Company must complete verification — business registration details, supporting documents and a representative's identity — before it can bid. We may flag, reject or ask for more information about a submission that appears duplicated, incomplete or inaccurate. Each truck must be registered with its real Tanzanian registration number and its registration card and insurance; the same vehicle can't be registered twice. Verification means we reviewed what was submitted; it is not a guarantee of anyone's performance.

Transporter Companies are responsible for holding every licence, permit and insurance the law requires for carrying goods by road in Tanzania (including any required by the Land Transport Regulatory Authority), for their drivers being properly licensed, and for their vehicles being roadworthy.

4. Posting jobs and bidding

• Limits. A standard account has a daily limit on job postings or bids; a Cargo Motives Plus account has none. We may adjust the standard limit.
• Bidding deadlines. The Customer chooses when bidding closes. Bids are sealed: a company never sees another company's price.
• Changing a job. If a Customer changes an open job's pickup or drop-off location, pending bids are withdrawn automatically and the companies are told, because they were priced for the old route.
• Company filters. A company can filter and sort its job feed, set a minimum rate ("floor rate") below which same-currency jobs are hidden, and pause new-job alerts.
• Accepting a bid. When a Customer accepts a bid, the carriage arrangement is directly between the Customer and that company. Cargo Motives is not a party to it.

5. Permits and cargo

Where a port, border or other authority requires a pickup or drop-off permit, the Customer must obtain it and attach it to the job. Once the Customer and the company have both accepted the agreement, the Customer can see the truck's registration card, the C-28 certificate and the driver's licence in the app, uses them to arrange the loading permit, and uploads it; the company is told, and the truck goes to the loading point when it has arrived. A job can't be completed until its drop-off permit is attached. We don't check whether a permit is genuine or sufficient; each party must comply with the customs, port and transport laws that apply to their cargo. Cargo prohibited by Tanzanian law must never be posted or carried.

6. Carrying out a job

• Assignment. The winning company assigns a registered truck and a driver, who receives a private link by SMS.
• Driver instructions are one-way SMS messages. Don't include passwords, payment details or other sensitive information.
• Live tracking. If a company connects a GPS provider, the assigned truck's location is shared with the job's Customer while the job is active.
• Proof of delivery. The driver records proof of delivery (photos and the recipient's details) at hand-over. Only record a recipient's details with their knowledge.

7. Confirming delivery and automatic completion

After delivery the Customer confirms receipt or reports a problem. If a job stays in transit for several hours after GPS confirmed arrival at the drop-off point, and the drop-off permit is attached, but no proof of delivery has been submitted, we may record the delivery automatically. That record is clearly marked as system-generated, and the Customer can still report a problem.

8. Payment and Cargo Motives Plus

The agreement sets out how the price is paid: an advance of 70% of the price once the cargo is loaded, and the balance of 30% once the cargo has been delivered and the company has submitted proof of delivery. The company also returns the container to Dar es Salaam and submits the interchange document. The app records each of these steps with its time and tells the Customer when a payment is due; after each one the Customer has a short time to raise a problem. The same record is used to look at delays: the Customer is responsible for delays from permits, cargo readiness and documents, the company for delays from the company or its vehicle, as the agreement says.

How the price is paid. The Customer pays the company directly, by bank transfer, in the currency (Tanzanian Shilling or US Dollar) chosen when the job was posted; your display-currency setting never converts a job's own currency. Cargo Motives does not collect, hold or guarantee the price. Where payments are switched on in the app, it works like this: the company saves its bank account in its profile, where only its owner can see it; a copy of that account is kept with each job when the agreement is signed, so a later change cannot redirect a job already agreed; once a payment is due the Customer can see the account for that job, and every view is logged; the Customer attaches the bank receipt (reference, date, amount and a photo of the slip); and the company confirms in the app that the money arrived, or says it did not. The job ends only after the balance has been confirmed. If a payment is not made, a receipt is not answered, or the two sides disagree, Cargo Motives may review the records — the receipt, the timeline, messages and proof of delivery — decide, and limit the account of the side at fault. Check the account name before you send money: we are not responsible for money sent to an account that the company gave wrongly, or that you mistyped.

Service fee. Cargo Motives is free to use during our launch phase. We may later charge the Customer a service fee for each job, separate from the price and not paid to the company. If we do, we will announce it in the app; it applies only to agreements made after the announcement, the amount is written in the agreement before you accept it, and the company's bank details are shown once it is paid.

Cargo Motives Plus is an optional subscription bought from us by mobile money, for the period and price shown before you pay. It includes no daily posting or bidding limit, earlier access to new jobs and priority placement, preferred routes and return-load suggestions for companies, priority handling of your support messages, and a Plus badge. Plus does not renew automatically; we remind you before it ends. Refunds are covered by our Refund Policy.

9. Reviews

Reviews on Cargo Motives come only from real jobs: only the Customer and the company on a completed job can rate each other, once each. You agree that your reviews will be honest and based on your own experience. You must not write reviews for yourself or a business you're connected to, offer or accept anything in return for a review, pressure someone to change a review, or post reviews for jobs that didn't happen. Reviews can't be bought or removed for payment. We may remove a review that is fake, abusive, irrelevant or reveals personal information, and may suspend accounts that manipulate reviews.

10. Your content and intellectual property

You keep ownership of what you upload — photos, logos, documents and messages — and you give us permission to store, display and process it to run the service. Only upload content you own or have permission to use; don't upload anyone else's copyrighted images or logos. The Cargo Motives name, logo and app are ours and may not be copied or used without our permission. See credits and licences for third-party material we use.

11. Acceptable use

You must not: submit false information or documents; post or carry prohibited cargo; get around posting or bidding limits, verification or security controls; access another person's account; copy, scrape or systematically collect data from the service; use anyone's contact details for anything other than the job they relate to; post unlawful, abusive or misleading content; test or interfere with our security without written permission; or harass or abuse anyone.

12. Suspension and closing accounts

We may suspend an account that breaks these terms, submits fraudulent information, or puts other users at risk. A suspended account is signed out of every device and can't sign in; we tell you why by email, and you can contact us to ask for a review. We may delete an account for a serious or repeated breach, once it has no open jobs, pending bids or deliveries in progress (so no one else is left without a contact).

An account whose sign-up is never finished — a customer who doesn't submit their NIDA card, or a transporter company that doesn't submit its company verification — is deleted after the deadline in the reminder emails we send (five days after the first reminder). You're welcome to sign up again afterwards.

You can delete your account at any time from Settings > Delete account, once you have no open job, pending bid or active assignment. Your personal information is then erased as described in the Privacy Policy, you are signed out everywhere, and any remaining Plus time is forfeited. Records of past jobs, payments and disputes are kept in anonymised form.

13. Disputes between users

If something goes wrong with a delivery, the Customer can report a problem instead of confirming receipt. We review it using the proof of delivery, permits, messages and, when available, GPS history, and record an outcome. This review doesn't replace any legal remedy either party has.

14. Availability

We work to keep Cargo Motives available and accurate, but it depends on mobile networks, GPS providers and SMS and payment partners outside our control, so we can't promise it will always be uninterrupted or error-free. If a GPS feed drops or a message fails, the job carries on and the app shows the last known information.

15. Liability

Cargo Motives provides the platform; we are not a party to the carriage contract between a Customer and a company. To the extent the law allows, we are not liable for loss, damage or delay of cargo, or for the acts or omissions of any company, driver or Customer. Nothing in these terms limits any right you have as a consumer that the law says cannot be limited.

16. Changes to these terms

If we make material changes, we'll update the date above and tell you in the app before they take effect.

17. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the United Republic of Tanzania, and disputes about them are for the courts of Tanzania. Please contact us first — most problems can be resolved directly.

Contact

Cargo Motives. Questions about these terms: support@cargomotives.com.