Dive Brief:
- FedEx and Freightos have partnered to put FedEx Trade Network's brokerage services on the Freightos.com marketplace, according to a press release Wednesday.
- The move provides on-demand customs brokerage to more than 150,000 Freightos customers, allowing shippers to book through freight and customs brokerage services in one spot.
- Per the agreement, FedEx Logistics will also roll out a rate management platform and air cargo pricing and quoting tool from Freightos.
Dive Insight:
Several carriers across modes are making a push to integrate aspects of the supply chain and offer shippers a one-stop-shop to meet their logistics needs as quickly as possible.
"It saves our customers time, money and headaches, reducing the number of intermediaries they deal with from three to four to just one," Vincent Clerc, chief commercial officer for Maersk, said in a press release last April when the company became the first in the industry to launch a digital customs clearance platform.
A couple months before, Maersk had acquired New Jersey-based customs broker Vandergrift in the effort to offer more inclusive supply chain services.
"Customers have been asking us to simplify the complexity of their global supply chains and reduce their risk so we analyzed the North America market to see who had the best reputation in the brokerage/trade compliance industry," Klaus Rud Sejling, who was head of global logistics and services at Maersk at the time, said in a statement.
Amazon also acquired a customs broker last year when it bought Los Angeles-based INLT.
The growth of e-commerce has led to an increase in packages being delivered across borders — and with it an increase in the need to navigate customs. This can present challenges to sellers and buyers. A 2017 World Customs Organization report found manual processes can sometimes be a roadblock. Compliance with customs rules can be expensive and time-consuming for smaller shippers in particular. Having an on-demand customs broker can help get over those roadblocks.
The FedEx/Freightos partnership allows Freightos customers to work with a FedEx customs broker, as well as a FedEx freight-forwarder if desired.
Like digital customs brokering, companies are also rushing to offer digital freight brokering services. Amazon quietly launched freight.amazon.com, offering pricing some 30% below market rate, last April. The following October, Schneider and Truckstop.com partnered to launch Book it Now, which coordinates instant load booking.
Freightos wrote that it sees its digitization partnership with FedEx "leveling the playing field" for small- and medium-sized shippers.
