Software for Freight Forwarders and Logistics Companies: Run a Digital Transport Company From Day One

Definition: Freight forwarder software is a transport management system built for companies that organise road freight for customers — pricing and booking loads, assigning them to own trucks or subcontracted carriers, producing the documents (transport order, CMR, eCMR, invoice), tracking the shipment and controlling the margin and the carrier's invoice. Digitalisation means every one of those steps happens in one system instead of in e-mail, Excel and WhatsApp.

What "digital transport company" actually means

It is not a website and a WhatsApp group. It is: the customer's order becomes a record without retyping; the price you sell and the price you buy sit on the same screen; the carrier gets a transport order in their language; the truck is on a map; the POD arrives as a photo; the invoice goes out the same day; the carrier's invoice is checked against the order before payment; and the owner sees margin per shipment, per customer and per lane without building a pivot table.

The forwarder workflow in CargoMind

1. Order intake — forward the customer's e-mail or connect your order mailbox; AI reads PDF and e-mail (incl. container delivery orders and multi-stop requests) and creates a draft order with route, cargo, dates, references and price. Optionally copy the customer's terms into the carrier order so waiting-time and demurrage rules match.
2. Credit check — before you load, check the customer (and the carrier) by VAT number: VIES, company registers, insolvency registers, freight blacklists — 10 sources, risk score 0–10, payment advice. One free check per day even without an account.
3. Carrier assignment — pick a subcontractor from your network (ratings, documents, capacity) or let AI match by route and price; the transport order PDF is produced in the carrier's language with price and payment terms. Need a truck? Load Scout publishes the load's requirements on TIMOCOM.
4. Margin per shipment — customer price versus carrier cost on every order; connected trips split a shared carrier cost at equal margins across part loads.
5. Tracking — subcontractor drivers share their position through the driver app, Telegram or WhatsApp; your customer gets a white-label tracking link with ETA. Delayed? Set a manual ETA and the portal shows it.
6. Documents — CMR and eCMR from the order, POD photos filed by AI, customs and container documents in the order's vault, weekly subcontractor exports.
7. Invoicing and audit — your invoice drafts on POD, in the customer's language and currency, with overdue reminders; the carrier's invoice is read by OCR, matched to the order and checked for rate, sconto and duplicates before approval.
8. Reporting — revenue, margin and profitability per customer, lane, dispatcher and carrier; lane balance (outbound vs return per country pair) shows where you drive empty.

Carriers with own fleet: the same system

Mixed operations are the norm in Central and South-East Europe. CargoMind runs own trucks and subcontractors side by side: drivers, trucks and trailers with documents, insurance, vignettes, maintenance by km, fuel cards (DKV, Shell, E100 connected; AS24, Eurowag, UTA statements), tachograph driving times from telematics, driver salary and settlements — in the same orders list as the subcontracted loads.

An AI colleague for the routine

The AI dispatcher executes instructions across more than 50 tools: create or update orders from plain language, assign the right driver, send transport orders and reminders, list uninvoiced orders, draft e-mails in the customer's language, scout loads for an empty truck, report the month. The autonomous AI Employee chases PODs and overdue payments and sends a morning briefing. Every action is logged; outbound actions can require a one-tap approval.

Pricing that fits a 2-person office or a 20-person one

Per office user, drivers free: one plan, Pro, at €48 per user per month (€40 yearly) with the full TMS, the AI engine, live map, driver app and bots, CRM, white-label portal and 10 GB storage; 10–40% less per user from 4 users. AI document reading and checks are metered after a monthly free allowance. 30-day trial, no credit card. Interface in English, Bulgarian, Romanian, Greek, Slovak, German, Macedonian, Serbian and Russian.

Frequently asked questions

Does CargoMind work for a forwarder with no trucks?

Yes. Many customers subcontract every load. The subcontractor network, carrier credit checks, transport orders in the carrier's language, margin per shipment, carrier invoice audit and the customer tracking portal do not require a single own vehicle.

How does a freight forwarder digitalise without an IT project?

Sign up, import customers, carriers and open orders from Excel, forward order e-mails to the intake mailbox and send drivers a link. There is nothing to install and most companies are operational within a day; Enterprise plans include onboarding and migration.

Which languages and countries does it cover?

Nine interface languages (EN, BG, RO, EL, SK, DE, MK, SR, RU), documents in the customer's or carrier's language, EU VAT checks across member states, toll and cost calculation for 20+ countries, and the main CEE/SEE and German corridors.

What is the difference between freight forwarder software and a TMS?

A TMS for carriers centres on trucks and drivers; freight forwarder software centres on the customer order, the carrier and the margin between them. CargoMind is one system that does both, so a company that grows from brokerage into its own fleet — or the reverse — does not change software.