Web entry / interface for freight forwarders

At the end of the 1990s, when the author of this short blog post began his training as a forwarding agent, there was actually no electronic data transmission of transport orders to my employer’s TMS (Transport Management System).
The local transport drivers who brought the customers’ goods to the terminal for further loading had a stack of waybills from each customer. Some were typed, some were filled out by hand.
In the so-called handling department, there were around 10 employees who manually “tapped” the consignment details from the waybills into the system via data terminals.

In the course of new technical possibilities and efforts to increase efficiency, the first interfaces for the largest customers emerged.
Subsequently, attempts were made to use these interfaces for all customers.
Mostly with offline software solutions that had to be installed and maintained at the customer’s premises. Regular software and routing updates – for all customers – had become necessary.

The next step in the “evolution” was the ability to record shipment data via the Internet.
A dream come true for the software developers, who only had to install updates (or bugs) in one place.
In the mid-2000s, however, bandwidth was still a problem at many locations in Germany, which made recording via the web too time-consuming.

These times are largely over, at least in Germany.

With SPEEDORDER, we offer freight forwarders both worlds.
Customers with large shipment volumes can transfer data to Speedorder via an interface and then to the TMS or manually enter shipments and print labels in a responsive and fast web platform from a PC, tablet or smartphone.
Customers can start entering orders via the Internet and eliminate the effort of entering data in the carrier’s TMS.
If the shipper’s order volumes become so large that it becomes inefficient, the customer can switch to data import via an interface.
Electronic data transmission to the carrier is guaranteed in any case.

In addition, the web-based SPEEDORDER platform also offers added value for shippers and transport service providers after transportation. For example, in the form of shipment tracking or shipment archiving.