New Alpega CEO Daniel Cohen has plans that will excite shippers, forwarders and carriers across the transportation space in Europe. He spoke to Paul Hamblin.
It is rare indeed to find a CEO willing to talk to an industry journalist while less than one month into a new and demanding role – that Cohen (pictured, below) was prepared to do so speaks volumes both for his willingness to engage and his confidence in the company’s ethos and people.
First, a recap. Alpega is the transportation software specialist founded in Belgium – and now with offices across Europe and the world – offering digital solutions across the spectrum to carriers, forwarders and shippers. Capabilities include Transport Execution, Transport Planning, Dock Scheduling, Freight Sourcing and a comprehensive Freight Exchange and Payments network. Particularly strong in Iberia, France and Central Europe, brands under the Alpega umbrella include the Teleroute, wtransnet and 123cargo freight exchanges. Over 80,000 carriers are signed to the powerful Alpega platform.
From point to platform
Now, the future, and Daniel Cohen’s mission for the business: he wants to exploit Alpega’s unique capabilities to develop as a unifying platform. He points out that the company has been highly successful in building best-in-class point solutions, but believes the next phase of value creation lies in bringing execution together on a single system.
What does ‘platform’ mean, though? “The freight industry doesn’t have a planning problem or a tendering problem or a liquidity problem – it has an end-to-end execution problem,” he says. “Too many systems optimise individual steps, but nobody owns what actually happens end-to-end. Our ambition is for Alpega to become the system where transport decisions are executed, verified, and trusted, rather than split across disconnected tools.”
A key motivation is ‘network effect’ created when both sides of the market interact at scale. “We already operate at scale on both the shipper and carrier sides,” Cohen explains. “What changes everything is when those two sides stop operating in parallel and start operating together. That interaction – at scale – is where efficiency, liquidity and reliability are created. Very few platforms in Europe are structurally able to do that. Alpega is.”
Of course, there is another word for the magic he describes: data.
“In every industry I’ve worked in, trust at scale is built the same way – through consistent behaviour, measured over time,” he says. “Freight is no different. The difference is that Alpega already sits on execution data across planning, spot, visibility, booking and settlement. That allows us to move trust away from opinion and toward signal, which is where real scale becomes possible.”
Competitive strengths
Of course, there are other very strong platforms out there in the transport space. What does he view as Alpega’s strengths to enable it to both compete with and outshine other platforms?
“Most platforms optimise either shippers or carriers,” he replies. “We optimise the relationship between them. That’s a structurally different position in the market, and it fundamentally changes how value is created.”
He continues: “Think about the strength of Alpega today. We have a substantial, pan-European, solid carrier network, with solid liquidity and very deep domain expertise – every single person I meet in the company has spent their life in the industry and has incredibly deep knowledge.”
What can Alpega do that its rivals envy and admire, I ask?
“For shippers, it’s about predictable access to capacity across Europe, even when markets are volatile,” he explains. “For carriers, it’s about consistent opportunity and better asset utilisation. When both happen on the same platform, friction drops out of the system for everyone involved.
“We’re providing solid value to each of the sides, but where Alpega can really shine is in connecting this bridge between the two sides of the transport coin. The constituent parts are spot-on – they just need to be arranged in the right way and brought to play in a market that is poised to come alive.”
Will there be more unified Alpega branding, perhaps in the form of consolidating the freight exchanges under one name?
“Every decision we take will be guided by the platform strategy,” he says. “Brand follows value. If consolidation improves execution for customers, we’ll do it. If it doesn’t, we won’t.”
As a leader, Daniel Cohen arrives in the transport industry with plaudits. “Energetic, passionate, direct, driven, transparent, inclusive. Tough, but challenging” are all words described to me by members of his team.
He deflects the praise quickly when I report this. “The real advantage we have is the people,” he counters. “This is a deeply experienced industry team with a strong sense of ownership. Strategy matters, platforms matter, but execution always comes down to people. That’s what will make the biggest difference here.”
Exciting times, then, for Alpega and for its customers. “Digitalisation in transport is no longer optional,” he concludes. “What is still optional is fragmentation. The next phase of the market is consolidation around platforms that actually execute. That’s the phase we’re entering now.”
