Freight forwarding software

A typical system covers the whole job: customer and agent contacts, rates and quotes, carrier bookings, shipment files for sea, air and road, documents such as house bills of lading and arrival notices, tracking milestones, and the accounting behind each job, from sales invoices and vendor costs to profit per shipment. Many systems include a customer portal where shippers request quotes, follow shipments and download documents.

Freight forwarding software differs from a transport management system (TMS). A forwarder's system is built around the shipment file and its profit: several vendors, currencies, customs steps and documents on one job, for many customers. A TMS is built for a shipper or carrier planning and executing its own transport, mainly carrier selection, load and route planning, and freight-cost control. Some products cover both, but the starting point differs.

When comparing systems, look at the daily workload rather than the feature list: how fast a quote goes out, whether rates, documents and invoices reuse the same data without retyping, how email and tracking feed the shipment file, and whether the margin is visible on every job. Smaller forwarders also weigh setup time, total cost, mobile access and whether customers can check status themselves instead of calling.