Industries · Freight forwarding
Know every job's marginbefore it sails.
We build forwarding systems that connect rate requests, quotes, carrier bookings, shipping documents, customs milestones and job costing — so operations, sales and accounts work from one job file instead of one inbox each.
- SI-24-3318Harbor Trading · 2×40HC Ningbo → Jebel AliOn scheduleVessel ETA Thu · BL released · FOBDeparted
- AE-24-1176Orbit Electronics · 340 kg DXB → NairobiCut-off 18:00Cargo at warehouse · AWB issued · flight WedCargo ready
- SI-24-3291Cedar Interiors · 1×20GP Izmir → Jebel AliFree time 3 daysDischarged Mon · bill of entry submittedArrived
- Rate requests & quotes
- Carrier bookings
- Job files
- Shipping documents
- Customs milestones
- Free time & demurrage
- Job costing
- Customer updates
01Where forwarding margins slip
The cargo arrives. The costs keep arriving.
Forwarding is a business of thin margins and late invoices. Most of the leakage happens in email threads, not at sea.
01Every quote starts with a dozen rate emails
What happens
Sales asks three carriers and two co-loaders for rates by email, copies them into a spreadsheet, adds local charges from memory and types a quote into Word.
What it costs
Slow replies to enquiries that go to whoever answered first, quotes that miss a local charge, and no record of which rate a job was sold on.
With one system
Rate requests, carrier replies and your tariff sit on one quote record. The quote is built from the chosen buy rates plus your margin rules, and the job inherits it when it's won.
02Costs turn up after the job has been invoiced
What happens
Destination charges, storage, inspection fees and detention invoices arrive weeks after the customer was billed. Some are absorbed, some are re-billed, many are simply missed.
What it costs
Jobs that looked profitable end up at a loss, and nobody finds out until the month-end margin report.
With one system
Each job carries expected costs from the quote as accruals. Supplier invoices are matched against them, and any cost without a matching charge is flagged for re-billing before it's forgotten.
03The job file is someone's mailbox
What happens
Bookings, BL drafts, commercial invoices, packing lists and arrival notices live in one coordinator's email folders.
What it costs
When that person is on leave, the team can't answer a customer or find the latest BL draft — and mistakes slip into documents nobody else checked.
With one system
One job file holds every document, version and message, with a checklist of what's required for that mode, route and Incoterm.
04Free time runs out quietly
What happens
Container free days, port storage and detention start dates are worked out by hand when a customer asks — or when the invoice arrives.
What it costs
Demurrage and detention charges that could have been avoided, and difficult conversations about who pays them.
With one system
Each container shows its free-time clock from discharge, with alerts to operations and the consignee before charges start.
05Customers chase status because nobody tells them
What happens
Coordinators check carrier websites and send status updates manually when they find time.
What it costs
Customers phone for updates on every shipment, and delays reach them late — usually from their own supplier first.
With one system
Milestones from carriers and your team update the job, and customers get milestone notifications and a portal view of their shipments.
02Forwarding platform preview
What your forwarding system could look like.
From the first rate request to the final margin — switch between the screens your sales, operations and accounts teams would use. Every screen is designed per forwarder in discovery.
- SI-24-3318Harbor Trading · 2×40HC Ningbo → Jebel AliOn scheduleVessel ETA Thu · BL released · FOBDeparted
- AE-24-1176Orbit Electronics · 340 kg DXB → NairobiCut-off 18:00Cargo at warehouse · AWB issued · flight WedCargo ready
- SI-24-3291Cedar Interiors · 1×20GP Izmir → Jebel AliFree time 3 daysDischarged Mon · bill of entry submittedArrived
- SE-24-2054Falcon Foods · 4×40RF Jebel Ali → DammamBookedBooking confirmed · reefer set to −18°CBooked
- SI-24-3260Northwind Retail · LCL 6.4 cbm Mumbai → Jebel AliDelivery ThuCleared Tue · delivery to Al Quoz bookedCustoms cleared
Illustrative interface with sample data — your system is designed around your modes, trade lanes and customers.
Illustrative demo · sample dataPicture every job file in one place?
Build your forwarding system03Solutions
Forwarding modules — scoped to your modes and lanes.
Quotes in hours, from the right rates
Rate requests & quoting
Send rate requests to carriers and co-loaders, capture their replies, compare buy rates and build quotes from your tariff and margin rules — with validity and version history.
- Rate requests by lane and mode
- Carrier reply capture
- Tariffs and local charges
- Margin rules and approvals
Quotes in hours, from the right rates
Rate requests & quoting
Send rate requests to carriers and co-loaders, capture their replies, compare buy rates and build quotes from your tariff and margin rules — with validity and version history.
- Rate requests by lane and mode
- Carrier reply capture
- Tariffs and local charges
- Margin rules and approvals
Not every forwarding firm needs every module. We scope the ones your operation actually uses, and add the rest when you need them.
04AI inside the system
AI for the paperwork forwarding runs on.
Forwarding produces a constant stream of rate emails, commercial invoices, packing lists and carrier notices. AI in your forwarding system reads them, fills the job file and points out what doesn't add up — your team checks and decides.
AI reads, drafts and flags; your people decide. It doesn't make customs declarations, classification or valuation decisions — those stay with your licensed customs team. Quotes, invoices and customer messages are sent only after someone approves them, and AI sees only the jobs each user is permitted to see.
- 01
Document reading
Checked before useRead the shipper's commercial invoice and packing list for SI-24-3318.Extracts parties, item lines, values, weights and package counts into the job file and highlights differences between the documents — here, a gross weight mismatch — for the coordinator to resolve with the shipper.
- 02
Rate comparison
Sales chooses the rateCompare these five carrier replies.Pulls buy rates, free days, transit times and validity from the emails into one comparison and drafts quotes at your margin rules for each option.
- 03
Free-time and cut-off alerts
What's about to cost us money this week?Lists containers approaching the end of free time, jobs close to cut-off with missing documents and bookings at risk of rolling — each with the next step.
- 04
Margin leak checks
Accounts approves re-billingWhich closed jobs have costs we didn't bill?Matches supplier bills against job charges and quote terms, and lists costs that should have been re-billed with a draft supplementary invoice for review.
- 05
Customer update drafting
Draft this week's status update for Harbor Trading.Summarises each of the customer's shipments — milestones, expected arrival, documents needed from them — in one message for the coordinator to send.
05A day with ORCHESTR
A coordinator's day, two ways.
- 07:30Notices filed on the jobCarrier notices and replies are already attached to their jobs and quotes; exceptions are at the top of the list.
- 09:15Rates compared, quote draftedCarrier replies are compared on one screen and a draft quote at standard margin is ready to send.
- 11:40One draft, with versionsThe BL draft lives on the job with every version and the shipper's approval recorded.
- 14:00Free-time alert, delivery bookedThe alert came three days ago, delivery is booked and the consignee confirmed the slot.
- 16:20Customer already knowsThe customer received the arrival milestone automatically and checked documents in the portal.
- 18:30Job closed with costs matchedAccrued costs are matched to supplier bills, the storage charge is re-billed and the job closes with a real margin.
An illustrative day — every system is designed around how your team actually works.
06Integrations
Connects to carriers, customers and accounts.
Integrations depend on what each provider exposes — we confirm every connection in scoping before committing to it. Names are examples of categories we work with, not partnerships.
- Carriers & tracking
- Shipping line and airline tracking (via API where available)Container tracking providers (via API)Carrier booking emails
- Existing freight software
- Current forwarding or customs software (via API or export)
- Customs steps
- Declaration document packs (prepared for your customs team)Status tracked by your team — no direct portal connection
- Messaging
- Email (shared mailboxes)WhatsApp Business API
- Accounting
- Zoho BooksQuickBooksXeroERP exports
- Customer systems
- Customer ERPs (API or file exchange)Purchase order spreadsheets
- Data
- Spreadsheets & exportsExisting databasesBI tools
07How we build your system
Built around your forwarding firm — not a template.
- 01
Understand your business
We sit with sales, operations and accounts: how enquiries arrive, how rates are gathered, how jobs are run and how costs reach the job. - 02
Map your workflows
We map the life of a job by mode and Incoterm — from rate request to close — including amendments, rolled bookings, holds and late supplier bills. - 03
Design your system
We design the quote, job file, document and costing screens around those flows, with permissions for each team and branch. - 04
Build and integrate
Built in stages — usually quotes and job files first — then documents, free time, costing and the customer portal. - 05
Test and launch
We migrate customers, tariffs and open jobs, pilot with one mode or branch, then roll out across the business. - 06
Support and improve
We support the system after launch and add lanes, branches, carriers and integrations as the business grows.
08Why it matters
What changes for the forwarder.
We don't quote savings we haven't measured. In discovery we baseline how your team works today, so improvements can be tracked against your own numbers.
Faster, more consistent quotes
Rates, tariffs and margin rules sit in one place, so every quote is built the same way.Margins that survive late bills
Expected costs are accrued and late supplier invoices are matched or re-billed.Job files anyone can pick up
Documents, versions and messages belong to the job, not to one person's inbox.Fewer avoidable charges
Free-time and cut-off alerts arrive while there's still time to act.Customers who chase less
Milestones reach customers automatically, with documents in their portal.Profit you can see by lane
Margins by lane, customer and carrier are visible as jobs close.
09Possible use cases
How different forwarders could use it.
Examples of what we could build — not completed client projects.
Containers from Asia, cleared and delivered
Quotes, job files, document checklists, free-time clocks and delivery booking for regular FCL and LCL imports into Jebel Ali.
Tight cut-offs, fast turnarounds
Air quotes by weight break, AWB generation, cut-off tracking and shipper document collection for urgent export cargo.
Trucks across borders
Road jobs with transit documents, border milestones, trucker assignment and costing per trip across the GCC.
Several offices, one profit picture
Branch-level jobs and tariffs with a group view of volume, margin and win rates by branch, lane and salesperson.
FAQs
Forwarding questions, answered.
Logistics & automotive
01Do you connect to Dubai Customs or other customs portals?
No. The system tracks every clearance step, records duty and deposits, and prepares document packs for your customs team or broker, who submit declarations through the official channels. We don't claim or build direct portal connections.
02We already use forwarding software. Do we have to replace it?
Not necessarily. Some forwarders keep their operational system and add quoting, costing, free-time tracking or a customer portal around it, connected by API or export. In discovery we'll tell you honestly whether extending or replacing makes more sense.
03Can it pull tracking from shipping lines and airlines?
Where carriers or tracking providers offer an API, we pull milestones into the job automatically. Where they don't, coordinators update milestones in a few clicks and customers still see them.
04Can it handle consolidations and LCL?
Yes. Master and house shipments are linked, with costs apportioned across the house jobs by the rule you choose — weight, volume or a fixed split.
05How does job costing work?
When a quote is won, its buy rates become accrued costs on the job. Supplier bills are matched to those accruals, differences are flagged, and costs without a matching charge are raised for re-billing before the job closes.
06Will AI classify goods or decide duty?
No. AI can read documents and organise item details, but HS classification, valuation and declarations remain decisions for your licensed customs team. AI also never sends quotes or invoices without approval.
07Can we migrate our tariffs, customers and open jobs?
Usually. We import customers, tariffs and local charges from your current files or system, and bring open jobs across so the team doesn't run two systems for long.
08Does it work across branches and currencies?
Yes. Branches can have their own tariffs, numbering and teams; jobs can be quoted and costed in different currencies, with a group view in the reporting currency you choose.
09How is a forwarding system priced?
It's quoted after a discovery call, based on modes, modules, branches, integrations and users. Support and hosting are agreed separately, in writing.
Start here
Let's mapyour job file.
Tell us how a shipment moves from rate request to closed job in your business today. We'll show you how one system could connect sales, operations and accounts.
- 01We get back to you to arrange a call.
- 02A focused conversation about how your forwarding firm runs today.
- 03If there's a fit, a written scope and quote — no obligation.