In today’s operating environment, Lebanese agrifood businesses are navigating unprecedented challenges. Rising transportation costs, supply chain disruptions, infrastructure constraints, and economic uncertainty continue to place significant pressure on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), making logistics one of the sector’s greatest operational hurdles.
Addressing these challenges requires more than individual action. It calls for new ways of thinking about mobility using existing transport resources more efficiently, reducing duplication, and creating opportunities for businesses to collaborate when it comes to logistics. By optimizing what already exists, SMEs can lower costs, improve resilience, and strengthen supply chains without significant new investment. At QOOT Cluster, collaboration has always been at the heart of innovation. Building on this vision, QOOT has successfully launched its Shared Transport and Cargo Pooling Initiative, a practical solution designed to help agrifood SMEs reduce logistics costs, improve transportation efficiency, and strengthen supply chain resilience through collective action.
Implemented in collaboration with Fleet Forum and supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) through its EU-funded Resource Efficiency and Circularity Programme the initiative adapts Fleet Forum’s proven mobility-sharing framework, originally developed to help humanitarian organizations maximize the efficiency of limited transport resources for the agrifood sector. It marks Fleet Forum’s first collaboration with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), demonstrating how the same evidence-based approach can support more resilient, efficient transport systems well beyond the humanitarian sector.
A Collaborative Response to Shared Challenges
Since the escalation of regional conflict and renewed instability in Lebanon in 2026, the country’s agrifood sector has faced increasing pressure on transportation and logistics systems. Rising fuel costs, infrastructure constraints, and disruptions to supply chains have significantly affected the ability of MSMEs to transport goods efficiently and cost-effectively.
Recognizing these challenges, QOOT Cluster identified an opportunity to rethink logistics through collaboration. Rather than each company operating independently, members could work together to share transportation resources, consolidate deliveries, and optimize routes, thereby reducing costs and environmental impact while improving operational efficiency.
Through the technical support of EBRD and Fleet Forum, QOOT has been working to establish a logistics mobility-sharing programme tailored specifically to the needs of Lebanese agrifood SMEs. The initiative launched in May 2026 aims to equip cluster members with the tools, governance structures, and operational mechanisms needed to independently implement shared transport solutions and strengthen supply chain resilience.
Broadening the Application of Shared Mobility
For over two decades, Fleet Forum has supported humanitarian organizations to improve mobility through better collaboration, data-driven decision making, and more efficient use of transport assets. This initiative represents an important milestone by applying these principles within Lebanon’s agrifood sector.
In 2022, Fleet Forum created a ride-sharing project in Lebanon that continues to operate today for the humanitarian sector. While the Lebanese SME’s operating environment differs, many of the underlying challenges are remarkably similar: underutilized vehicles, fragmented transport networks, rising operating costs, and limited resources. The pilot demonstrates that shared mobility is not only relevant in humanitarian operations but can also strengthen the resilience and competitiveness of SMEs by creating practical opportunities for collaboration.
From Concept to Action
While the project initially focused on needs assessments, tool adaptation, and pilot preparation, implementation is already underway. To date:
- Eight QOOT Cluster members expressed interest, with four members actively engaged in the pilot initiative.
- 36 successful shared delivery operations have already been completed involving participating members.
- Shared warehouse arrangements have been established among some participating members, improving storage efficiency and reducing logistics costs.
- Across the first four shared movements, joining organizations cut transport costs by 24% and lead organizations saved 30% from their first ever shared movements.
- Additional cargo-sharing opportunities are currently being explored among other cluster members operating on similar transportation routes.
- Members are actively using a shared online tool to identify opportunities for delivery consolidation and shared cargo space.
The initiative has already revealed several common delivery destinations among members, including major retail and distribution channels such as Toters Fresh, NokNok, Spinneys, Grab & Go, and other market outlets. By identifying overlapping routes and delivery schedules, participating SMEs can coordinate transport activities and maximize vehicle utilization.
This approach demonstrates how innovation can emerge through cooperation and better use of existing resources, rather than solely through investments in new infrastructure or equipment.
Innovation Through Partnership
The Shared Transport Initiative combines data-driven planning, and collaborative business models to deliver practical value for Lebanese agrifood SMEs.
Drawing on Fleet Forum’s international experience supporting collaborative mobility solutions across humanitarian operations, the programme has been adapted to the realities of Lebanon’s agrifood sector. Rather than introducing entirely new transport systems, the initiative focuses on unlocking greater value from existing vehicles, routes, and logistics networks through data-driven planning and structured collaboration.
This approach reflects a core Fleet Forum principle: better mobility is not always about having more vehicles, but about making better use of the ones already available.
Advancing Sustainable Industrial Development
The initiative also aligns closely with Sustainable Development Goal 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure.
By promoting shared logistics and more efficient transportation systems, the programme contributes to:
- Improved resource efficiency.
- Reduced operational costs for SMEs.
- Lower environmental footprint and CO₂ emissions.
- Enhanced competitiveness of Lebanese agrifood businesses.
- Stronger collaboration across the value chain.
- Increased resilience during periods of crisis and uncertainty.
These outcomes reinforce the importance of collaborative innovation in strengthening the competitiveness of Lebanese SMEs while promoting more sustainable business practices.
Beyond immediate operational savings, the initiative demonstrates how collaborative logistics can contribute to more sustainable and resilient transport systems. By improving vehicle utilisation and reducing unnecessary journeys, shared mobility helps businesses lower costs while reducing environmental impact, supporting both economic resilience and more sustainable industrial development.
Building Resilient Agrifood Ecosystems Together
At its core, the Shared Transport Initiative reflects the power of clustering and collective action. It demonstrates how businesses can achieve more together than they can individually by sharing knowledge, resources, networks, and operational capacities.
Through initiatives like these, QOOT continues to empower Lebanese agrifood enterprises with practical, scalable solutions that enhance competitiveness, improve resilience, and build a stronger, more sustainable future for the sector.
Beyond supporting QOOT members and empowering Lebanese agrifood enterprises, the pilot demonstrates the wider potential of shared mobility as a practical solution for resource-constrained organizations. For Fleet Forum, it represents an important step in expanding the application of its mobility-sharing framework beyond the humanitarian sector, showing how the same principles of collaboration, resource optimization, and evidence-based decision making can strengthen resilience across industries.
The lessons learned will help shape future approaches to collaborative logistics, demonstrating that organizations do not always need more vehicles or more resources to improve mobility. Sometimes, the greatest opportunity lies in working together and making better use of what already exists.
