Having recently announced a strategic technology partnership with Magaya, a digital freight platform for logistics service providers, CargoAi is on a mission to transform the air cargo industry by boosting the efficiency and productivity of quote and procurement processes. Collaborating in this way allows CargoAi to easily connect customers to digital solutions, giving them the ability to discover the best air shipment schedules and rates in mere seconds.
The integration of the CargoAi platform with Magaya Rate Management provides an efficient solution for its customers to retrieve and compare airfreight schedules, availability, and pricing, as well as book and track shipments, without the need to navigate between multiple airline websites or making myriad phone calls. This is just one example of a partnership that is bringing the industry into the 21st century, removing the need to use outdated processes that are costly and time-consuming.
“Our latest partnership with Magaya is a great opportunity for both companies to combine the strengths of our products…As such, it is also a step forward towards more digitalisation in our industry,” Matthieu Petot, CEO of CargoAi, said.
“The world is moving away from static and inefficient rate sheets and, thanks to the great work of our team over the past three years, we are enabling transportation management systems (TMS), such as Magaya, to get live rates and accelerate the quote and procurement process. It also makes the whole process more transparent and more efficient which is why we are seeing rapid adoption.”
Supply chain visibility
With supply chain disruptions having caused challenges throughout the logistics sector in recent years, companies are looking for reassurance when sending shipments that they will be delivered safely and in a timely fashion. That’s why visibility is key for customers who now want to track their shipments at every point of the journey, from origin to destination.
CargoAi looks to provide that, using its extensive network of connections to cargo airlines to offer customers the most complete and encompassing rate management solution on the market. By leveraging a multi-functional CargoAi API, Magaya Rate Management customers gain access to real-time visibility of air cargo schedules, aircraft type information, and valuable information about upcoming flights, including a state-of-the-art CO2 calculator that enables the most environmentally friendly transportation decisions.
“Accurate visibility in supply chain has been one of the big challenges of the last 10 years and has now accelerated in air cargo. That is why our unique CO2 tracking solution is replacing previous standards and tools. Real-time is important for quoting and booking processes but it is also becoming more and more important for tracking,” Petot explained.
Read more: Magaya and CargoAi announce strategic partnership
Reducing carbon emissions
CargoAi’s commitment to improve the airfreight sector is visible in another partnership that the digital solutions provider recently announced with Neste, a producer of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The move enables freight forwarders and their clients to significantly reduce the carbon emissions of their cargo transport by purchasing Neste’s MY SAF. With the industry facing the need to take steps to become more greener, this partnership opens the door for those that play a pivotal role in tackling climate change to take great strides forward.
As of November 2022 onwards, CargoAi offers the possibility to purchase Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel when booking a cargo transport. This can be done in the booking flow – either after a booking is confirmed or when the cargo is being tracked. This complements CargoAi’s Cargo2ZERO sustainability offering launched in October 2022. The use of sustainable aviation fuel significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions from air transport. Purchasing Neste-produced SAF helps companies meet their climate targets and credibly report their CO2e emissions reductions.
Being a younger player in the industry, CargoAI sees sustainability as being crucial, with the commercial demand for Cargo2ZERO growing rapidly, as companies are pushed towards more environmentally-friendly operations.
“We have an excellent collaboration with Neste and have been working for the last SIX months to produce a solution that will allow any freight forwarders in the world to access SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel) and offer a solution to their customers to reduce their carbon emissions,” Petot stated. “Neste is taking care of working with the airlines to deliver the SAF to the airport and make sure it goes into the system to actually reduce CO2 emissions and make an impact on the environment. This is another step in CargoAi’s commitment to help build the industry of tomorrow.”
“SAF is the only way to really reduce emissions today. The SAF premium is adding some costs, but is only a fraction of the current airfreight rates. As worldwide production ramps up and technologies improve, SAF is the main hope for decarbonising our industry,” Petot explained.
Partnerships drive progress
The global logistics industry is vast, meaning that change cannot occur within a silo. Digital transformation requires a collaborative approach from multiple companies at different levels of the supply chain. CargoAi recognises this. “We have our expertise in some specific areas of air cargo, but we don’t have the ambition to do everything ourselves, and it is great to collaborate with other like-minded partners,” Petot stated.
When creating a partnership, CargoAi looks for companies that offer solutions that provide real benefits and that have the same open and transparent mindset that they have. Although, Petot admits “It takes a lot of trust to build those long-term partnerships.”
“To convince those who remained attached to the old traditional way, we started by investing heavily in user experience. As a result, our applications are very easy to use and don’t require implementation or specific training sessions. We have a strong customer success team dedicated to onboarding. Using data, we can find out which users need more support, education and change management,” Petot said.
“There has been a forced acceleration in innovation with Covid and some companies have realised that it is now simpler to innovate than 20 years ago. With our modern SAAS solutions, companies don’t need a lengthy process of implementation and we mainly see bottom-up adoption versus traditional top-down approaches. As usual, the companies that innovate the most have a competitive advantage and our goal is to propose solutions that can be adopted by everyone,” he added.
