One of the characteristics of cargo.one as a company and team is that we’re constantly improving, driving forward and focusing on the next challenge. However, as we enter this peak season, it is useful to reflect on what progress has been made and how powerful a proposition digital booking has become for freight forwarders worldwide.
When my co-founders and I first explored building cargo.one back in 2017, it was puzzling to us how far adrift the air cargo business was from the highly digitalized passenger business. As a passenger, you could go online, book a flight, know the price, know the route and product with certainty. However, forwarders sourced all of their capacity through phone and email channels. This meant sending a complex mass of blind copied emails to ten airlines each time, asking for routes, capacity, and rate information.
There was huge potential for a marketplace to transform the daily experience of freight forwarders and bring transparency, speed and convenience within reach. Having witnessed in many forwarder branch offices the daily struggles of trying to secure the best capacity offers manually, we knew there had to be a better way. Our founding mission was to put customers in control and do everything possible with technology to connect and empower the industry, together.
The early years working to prove the case for digital booking were a challenge. There was indeed initial skepticism from both airlines and the forwarding community. However, once the benefits were experienced first-hand by users, we discovered that forwarders were evangelical about how digital booking liberates them from low value tasks and elevates them to achieve the most powerful impacts for end customers.
cargo.one has continually improved by being built with freight forwarders for freight forwarders. Through the years, our teams worked hard to grow and diversify airline supply and to deliver the usability and features that facilitate the best booking experience in the industry. As a result, cargo.one commonly helps customers to save 50% of the time needed to plan and book air cargo shipments. It is perhaps no surprise that a very large chunk of all new users come from referrals.
Today, the speed of digital adoption in the industry has become vital for all stakeholders. For example, the recent Digital Sales Trajectory Report conducted with BCG found that on average the share of bookings with airlines via digital channels is expected to rise from 20% in 2021 to 40% in 2023 and will hit almost 60% in 2025.
In recent weeks, our launches of JAL Cargo, Air France KLM Martinair Cargo, Qatar Airways Cargo and American Airlines Cargo are all a pleasing example of how important and valuable digital booking has become. For example, the launch of Qatar Airways Cargo facilitates 2,000 completely new O&D pairs, and 3,000 additional flights per month for our customers. Put simply, cargo.one now offers every forwarder the most user-friendly booking experience for the world’s largest air cargo airline.
With more than 30 partner carriers, we offer capacity across all three of the most relevant air cargo markets in the world: Europe, North America and Asia. We are on track to have about 50% of global air cargo capacity on our managed marketplace. By ensuring great depth and diversity of supply, combined with the best seamless booking experience, means we can empower forwarders to do their best work.
Thus, this peak season is genuinely the most compelling and promising season for forwarders to expand their migration to digital bookings. The reach of cargo giants such as Qatar Airways Cargo combined with cargo.one is a magic proposition for forwarders, allowing them to be more efficient and competitive than ever before.
The strength of service that we provide will always be our unique strength - focusing on the best customer experience, accessibility, offer quality and support, enables us to offer unlimited digital success to forwarders and makes them more connected and powerful every day
Finally, a word of particular thanks and gratitude to the many freight forwarders, (too many to name), who have helped us from day one to build and develop cargo.one and drive ever-greater value for our global community. True to our mission, in the coming weeks, we will launch further exciting partnerships and expansions to benefit all users.
For the majority of forwarders, this peak season will see their busiest and most successful leveraging digital bookings. cargo.one will bring you the best offers, and give you the best position to thrive whatever the market brings.
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