Matt Petot, CEO, CargoAi and Magali Beauregard Ta, CCO, CargoAi share their plans in the third quarter of this year to enhance existing solutions such as CargoWALLET and CargoMART as well as move to the ISO:14083 certification for Cargo2ZERO’s CO2 calculation.
Ritika Arora Bhola
Take us through your innovative products such as CargoMART, CargoWALLET for the air cargo market?
Our products form an ecosystem worldwide in which forwarders, airlines, GSAs, TMS and network associations can work together—CargoMART being one of them. Our three pillars, e-booking, sustainability, and payments are the foundation of our product ecosystem. CargoMART conducts all air freight procurement-related actions within one hub.
Key features
- Accelerate searches with the autofill feature for the DIMS information
- Reduce multiple email exchanges by using the simple Quote Request button when no rate is displayed for a flight
- A separate tab keeps record on the status of all quote requests, an attractive alternative to the traditional email inbox filing system (The same goes for bookings made)
- Use auto-confirmation without needing to call or email the airline. The request is sent to them instantly. Once the booking is made, we of course offer the same visibility to keep track of all bookings and its status up to delivery
- We also offer the Modify Booking feature allowing forwarders to make updates, even with last minute changes, before delivery to the airline
- email push notifications are delivered for every status of the shipment—meaning that users do not have to actively follow a shipment to its destination, freeing up mental space for executing other bookings
CargoMART Payments, powered by CargoWALLET, allow forwarders to import freight from any location. After searching for routes on CargoMART, what is that forwarders can confirm these transactions without an IATA Cass Number, purchased via the secure encrypted online WALLET with either full sum upon confirmation (Prepaid) or with credit of up to 60 days (PayLater).
Cargo2ZERO, embedded in the CargoMART booking flow, offers two sets of solutions—the suite of sustainability data and purchase of SAF. Firstly, we offer CO2 calculations, which are embedded in all workflows on all our solutions. On a shipment level, we provide the data to inform clients about their carbon footprint and about how optimized their procurement decision was, using our CO2 Efficiency Score. The efficiency score informs how much better a shipping decision could have been, in terms of carbon emissions, by comparing it to the market data available for that route. In 2022, we announced a partnership with Neste, the leading producer worldwide of SAF. This enables forwarders access to purchase SAF at the transactional level for one booking or for bulk purchase, for any volume share, ranging from 1 per cent of SAF to 100 per cent SAF.
We also have CargoCONNECT comprising four API modules such as Schedules, Rates and Book, Tracking, and CO2 API, which leverage the same high-quality data available on CargoAi’s back-end derived from over 500 airlines and GSAs. The integration of one or all CargoCONNECT modules provides a method to retrieve and compare schedules, availability and pricing, book, and track shipments, and calculate CO2 emissions. This was created for TMS providers, although air freight players of all sizes from startups to enterprises can benefit from using the different elements of CargoCONNECT. We offer the quick plug and play routes or the option to customize the integration.
CargoGATE is our white-labelled solution for either forwarder associations, or airlines and GSAs to bypass the financial and technical investment to build and maintain an online distribution channel. By using CargoGATE, airlines and GSAs can achieve a leap in user experience to drive efficiencies, and loyalty in customer journey.
How are the new products going to boost operational efficiency and reduce cost?
In the second half of this year, we plan to announce enhancements to the existing solutions such as an extension of the CargoWALLET for airlines, rate management for CargoMART, move to the ISO 14083 certification for Cargo2ZERO’s CO2 calculation, and further rate management functionalities for CargoMART. The enhancements will boost efficiency by adding to the functionalities features for CargoMART, several forwarders carry out multiple daily activities for air freight booking. Having a centralized rate management system within CargoMART ensures multiple users or offices can access the same database without needing to send emails about different types of rates between offices, or to their shippers.
The CargoWALLET App extension will allow forwarders to pay carriers directly, this way the need for manual reconciliation by forwarder and airline accounts teams is reduced and improves workforce upskilling, allowing them to start moving away from low-value tasks.
CargoCONNECT and CargoGATE benefit from all these enhancements due to the API architecture, which makes feature deployment seamless from one product to the next.
Could you elaborate on global best techniques you are planning to infuse into the firm’s operations?
From its debut, CargoAi has implemented various global best techniques, which is what sets us apart from others. Using our strong anchor as air freight professionals, we evaluate how we want to import and implement the best technology practices from outside the industry to ensure a robust and scalable framework for all our products and company operations. By ingraining the agile methodology in our daily operations, CargoAi has achieved flexibility, speed, and adaptability in deploying solutions quickly for air freight. Many of our custom integration clients have commended our reactivity, which is achieved through iterative development, and continuous improvement. We are proud we can respond quickly to market demands and deliver high-quality and award-winning products.
Secure Encryption Technologies and ISO Compliance: CargoAi was recently certified as ISO 27001 compliant in a record time of two months, which attests to the implementation and reinforcement of secure encryption technologies and processes that were in place from the outset. in compliance with relevant ISO standards, such as ISO 27001 for information security management, this certification underscores the care from CargoAi ensures in ensuring the protection of sensitive data from its users and through operational safeguards its operations.
Robust encryption techniques, secure key management, and communication protocols have been employed to maintain data privacy, integrity, and confidentiality. These security measures bolster customer trust, compliance with data protection regulations, and mitigate the risks of unauthorized access or data breaches.
Overall, these practices have not only improved agility, scalability, and security, but also elevated the overall quality standards, driving network enhancement and fostering sustainable growth. We continue to keep an eye on global best practices such as in financial products/services, carbon reduction and other secure technologies to ensure the best experience for our team and clients.
Could you explain what makes your company better than its competitors?
Digitalisation and innovation are here to stay in air cargo, our vision is to revolutionize the industry by bringing the best technologies to air freight and create a connected ecosystem within all air freight players, to drive every stage of the air freight procurement process with greater efficiency and visibility. With cargo professionals at the helm of the company, we have a keen sense of air cargo knowledge and background to ensure that we produce solutions designed to solve the industry’s pain points. From planning, booking, and purchasing shipments right through to monitoring cargo deliveries, our products first and foremost are underpinned by ensuring ‘plug and play’ simplicity for all our users. Secondly, being cloud-native and having an API-first architecture, we ensure everything we build is robust, scalable and contributes to a connected data ecosystem for all stakeholders in the industry.
