
CargoSphere, now a part of the forwarding software provider WiseTech Global, has for years been chasing a way to more effectively pull ocean carrier rates electronically into its system. Photo credit: Shutterstock.com.
Forwarders and non-vessel-operating common carriers (NVOs) are being pressed to provide accurate, up-to-the-minute quotes to shippers to win business, but traditionally, the speed at which rates are conveyed from container line to intermediary has been a hindrance in that process.
The freight rate management software company CargoSphere is aiming to overcome that hurdle through the release of a rate application programming interface (API) usable by all container lines. The rate API, along with an accompanying universal rate structure, enables container lines to transfer confidential customer contracts, amendments, and global surcharge tariffs to CargoSphere’s neutral rate network.
CargoSphere offers a platform that lets forwarders and NVOs manage their ocean freight rates to quote more effectively and share them among trusted partners. The company has long been trying to develop ways to pull carrier rate data more quickly and cleanly into its system.
CargoSphere, which was acquired in 2017 by the freight forwarding software provider WiseTech Global, said it developed the API in collaboration with major ocean carriers. That work “ultimately led to a common data model that takes into account the unique ocean pricing practices of each carrier. The industry has been challenged to digitalize ocean rates as each ocean carrier has its own discrete systems, underlying business logic, and data structures.”
No direct DCSA involvement
A CargoSphere spokesperson told JOC.com that the API was not built in collaboration with the Digital Container Shipping Association (DCSA), a non-profit consortium of container lines attempting to build process flow and data format standards across the liner shipping industry. “The technology was built independent of the group but in tight collaboration with many DCSA carriers,” the spokesperson said.
The API funnels rates into the company’s electronic Smart Upload and Diagnostics Solution (eSUDS) engine, which allows CargoSphere users to digitally distribute rates to their shipper customers.
“We have been working for nearly twenty years to systematize ocean rate management and distribution to break this tedious, time-consuming, and unproductive paradigm,” Neil Barni, managing director of CargoSphere, said in a statement.
The company noted Hamburg Sud is currently using the rate API, called eSUDS Connector, but declined to comment on which other container lines are using it or interested in doing so.
Contact Eric Johnson at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter: @LogTechEric.