The air freight industry has long been slow to adopt digitization. The need for change was frequently talked about, but over the past 20 years it has been challenging to identify exactly what needed to be done, which led to delays in innovation.
In the past five years, however, the launch of online discussion has shown a game changer for many players, which has seen transformation logistics over the past year.
Since then, the industry has built on that foundation with numerous innovations, which have been the beginning of a significant shift, and now the industry is in a much stronger position.
“When we started convincing airlines to join the booking platform, was a challenge,” said Cargoai founder and CEO Matt Petot.
‘Since it is a market, you need both trucks and airlines. In the beginning, with just one or two airlines, it was difficult to get their buy -in.
‘But what is surprising is that we have managed to get big airlines to work with a smaller business, despite all the compliance controls and requirements. It is really empowering to see that it is possible.
‘We now have 105 airlines on board. We no longer have to explain to the airlines; Now they reach out to us, eager to join. It is clear to see the shifting of early employees to the point where we are now waiting for the decline, and they all come on board.
‘To the trucks it is similar. After having enough airlines on the platform, it became a no-brainer for cargo exhibitors. With 18,000 cargo exhibitors in 140 countries, the rest naturally followed.
“This growth has enabled us to offer more than just ebooks; We can now provide instruments such as tariff management and crew demand instruments, which are very valuable to our cargo exhibitors. “
Operating insights
From the beginning, Cargoai focused on hiring people with a deep knowledge in the industry because it is necessary. Each market is a little different and diverse, local insight offers the ability to connect with an American truck in the morning and a Brazilian business in the afternoon, as well as observing different trends in the markets.
“We were fortunate to attract people who not only have expertise in the industry, but also embrace a digital mindset, which is quite rare in this sector,” Petot explained.
‘Being 100 percent remote control enabled us to utilize a global talent pool, so we don’t just have to focus on one city to rent. We have team members in places like New Zealand, India, Mexico and Honduras, and that was a big advantage for us. “
Tools of the trade
Payment is still a major challenge, especially for cargo exhibitors who have to pay agents in other countries. There is no real guarantee, the process takes a lot of time, and banks often make it difficult.
To combat the situation, Cargoai Cargo launched Wallet to help cargo exhibitors facilitate payments. Although the company did not have the ability to make online bookings, it has since expanded its offer significantly.
Now Cargo Wallet is a standalone product that enables cargo exhibitors to pay each other across different countries and receive payments from shippers using various local payment methods, such as credit cards or wire transfers.
In addition, the company had a partnership with networks and integrated with TMS, which means that Cargo Wallet is now going beyond the original purpose.
“When I first started five years ago, I considered the name ‘Cargo Ai’, which was not trendy at the time, but now it is very much in demand,” Petot highlighted.
“We are excited to find a use case for AI. We use different language -ai models, combined with industry expertise to increase processes and increase efficiency.
‘We are just at the beginning of simplifying these processes. Our goal is to make payments much easier and more efficient, and this is the next step in our journey. “
