Descartes Systems, a Canadian logistics software service provider, has announced that it has acquired Cracking Logistics, which is trading under Kontainers, a provider of digital freight platforms.
Headquartered in the UK, Kontainers aims to transform the customer experience for carriers, freight forwarders and third-party logistics service providers around the world via its integrated digital solutions.
“We’ve worked very hard with some of the world’s top logistics companies to create an optimal digital customer experience,” said Graham Parker, co-founder of Kontainers and now VP sales digital freight solutions at Descartes.
“Our team of domain experts is thrilled to combine with Descartes, which will give us the opportunity to reach a broader audience much more quickly. When added to the Global Logistics Network, we’ll also have the ability to offer a pre-integrated solution that combines Kontainers digital freight execution with Descartes’ rate management and forwarder enterprise systems,” Parker added.
According to Edward Ryan, CEO of Descartes, the last few months have shown how quickly the world can change, and the shift to digitisation is accelerating as a result.
“Logistics services providers operate on tight margins. Those that don’t move quickly to digitize their customer experience will be faced with higher costs to serve. Without the proper real-time connections between client-facing platforms and the quoting, rating and booking systems that this digitization brings, LSPs will struggle to efficiently meet customer demand in today’s dynamic market,” Ryan warned.
Descartes acquired Kontainers for a total price of up to $12m, with an up-front consideration of $6m plus potential performance-based consideration.
