The airfreight industry has been slow to adopt digitisation for a long time. There was frequent talk about the need for change, but for the past 20 years, it was challenging to identify exactly what needed to be done, which led to delays in innovation.
However, in the last five years, the introduction of online booking has proved to be a game changer for many players, sparking the transformation logistics has seen in recent years.
Since then, the industry has built on that foundation with numerous innovations, marking the beginning of a significant shift, and now, the industry finds itself in a much stronger position.
“When we started out, convincing airlines to join the booking platform was a challenge,” Matt Petot, Founder and CEO of CargoAi, stated.
“Since it’s a marketplace, you need both freight forwarders and airlines. At the start, with just one or two airlines, it was hard to get their buy-in.
“But what’s amazing is that we managed to get large airlines to work with a smaller company, despite all the compliance checks and requirements. It’s really empowering to see that it’s possible.
“We now have 105 airlines on board. We no longer need to explain much to the airlines; now they’re reaching out to us, eager to join. It’s clear to see the shift from early adopters to the point where we’re now waiting for the laggards, and they’re all coming on board.
“On the freight forwarder side, it’s similar. Once we had enough airlines on the platform, it became a no-brainer for freight forwarders. With 18,000 freight forwarders across 140 countries, the rest naturally followed.
“This growth has enabled us to offer more than just e-bookings; we’re now able to provide tools like rate management and crew request tools, which are really valuable to our freight forwarders.”
Industry insights
From the very beginning, CargoAi focused on hiring people with deep industry knowledge because it’s essential. Every market is a bit different and diverse, local insight provides the ability to connect with a US freight forwarder in the morning and a Brazilian company in the afternoon, as well as observing different trends across markets.
“We’ve been fortunate to attract people who not only have industry expertise but also embrace a digital mindset, which is quite rare in this sector,” Petot explained.
“Being 100 percent remote has allowed us to tap into a global talent pool, so we don’t have to focus on just one city for hiring. We have team members in places like New Zealand, India, Mexico, and Honduras, and it’s been a huge advantage for us.”
Tools of the trade
Payment is still a major challenge, especially for freight forwarders who need to pay agents in other countries. There’s no real guarantee, the process takes a lot of time, and banks often make it difficult.
To combat that situation, CargoAi launched Cargo Wallet to help freight forwarders facilitate payments. While the company didn’t have the ability to make online bookings, it has since expanded its offering significantly.
Now, Cargo Wallet is a standalone product that allows freight forwarders to pay each other across different countries and receive payments from shippers using various local payment methods, such as credit cards or wire transfers.
Additionally, the company has been partnering with networks and integrating with TMS, which means Cargo Wallet now goes well beyond its original purpose.
“When I first started five years ago, I considered the name “Cargo AI,” which wasn’t trendy at the time, but now it’s very much in demand,” Petot highlighted.
“We’re excited to have found a use case for AI. We leverage various language AI models, combined with industry expertise to streamline processes and increase efficiency.
“We’re just at the beginning of simplifying these processes. Our goal is to make payments much easier and more efficient, and that’s the next step in our journey.”
