Thinking freight ahead
Champ Cargosystems offers airlines and freight handlers its IT services, and also has freight forwarders and maritime shipping in its sights. Fred Werginz reported on recent progress from this front, as well as on some peculiarities in the US market.
Mr Werginz, you know Champ Cargosystems and its portfolio very well, don’t you?
That’s right. I used to be with Sita, which has owned 51% of Champ since it was established 15 years ago. The remainder is owned by Cargolux. So I’ve been in a position to be part of the rise of the company from the beginning. Our expertise is rooted very strongly in the airfreight sector, but we now also cover other links in the supply chain.
What is your assessment of last year?
It was a very productive year for us. Our ‘Cargospot Handling’ software was particularly popular. People who are moving to a new job within the industry are usually already familiar with our products and services, thanks to our very broad presence in the sector. I’ve also observed that business at airports in the USA, Mexico and across South America has been rejuvenated of late, as more players now offer their services there.
You’re talking about cross-border trade, aren’t you? How would you say your customs-clearance products have done?
This field is also very dynamic. Our products provide especially valuable support to players in whose countries customs policies are changing.
What can you tell us about this for Brazil, for example?
It’s a good example of what I mean. The Brazilian customs authorities is set to introduce new regulations in the first quarter of 2020. We at Champ have already been in dialogue with the authorities for a while now, so we’ll be ready when the starting gun is fired. We think ahead in the interest of our customers, who also need to be in the starting blocks when implementation actually starts.
How does Champ manage the large North and South American markets?
We’ve upped our presence in North as well as in South America – both being very vibrant markets, especially in the customs segment.
What else has Champ developed of late?
We’ve concentrated on application programming interfaces (APIs) over the past several months. They simplify the integration of our products into in our users’ own IT systems and establish additional communication channels between our clients and their customers. Another very interesting development is towards paperless and cheque-free financial transactions, which are growing in the USA, above all. We’ve teamed up with PayCargo in this field to create a secure interface in ‘Cargospot’.
Why did you, a pronounced IT specialist, join the Animal Transportation Association recently? (See also page 18 of our Aviation Special in ITJ 43-44 / 2019.)
This is a perfect example of how we build up our overall skills. We’ve noticed that there are ever more animal transports, which are always very sensitive.
With our technology we can contribute to the right hardware being in place at the right time to make these special consignments even safer. We believe in this potential.
What new services does Champ have to offer forwarders?
Our original offers considered them to be part of the same communication channels as airlines and ground-handlers. Now our ‘Logitude’ service offers them a TMS tailored to their needs and we continue to build on that.
Is that why you’ve linked ‘Logitude’ to Inttra’s ocean trade platform? (See also ITJ Daily of 2 October 2019.)
Exactly. Our freight forwarder customers can now easily make a multimodal booking through ‘Logitude’, where they can choose between air and sea freight.
Andreas Haug conducted this interview.
