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Cargo Volumes Surge Despite Global Disruption

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Despite ongoing geopolitical tensions and operational disruption, the air cargo sector continues to adapt to an increasingly complex trading environment. Airports and logistics hubs are balancing shifting freight flows, fluctuating belly capacity and evolving trade routes while investing in infrastructure to support long-term growth. Brussels Airport’s latest cargo figures reflect this trend, with freight volumes rising during the first half of 2026 despite the challenges facing the wider aviation and logistics industry.

Against this backdrop, Brussels Airport strengthened its cargo operations during the first half of 2026, supported by the continued expansion of its cargo network and wider international connectivity. The airport’s latest results reinforce its position as one of Europe’s leading logistics gateways.

The first half of the year was marked by several external events affecting the aviation and logistics industry, including industrial action and the conflict in the Middle East. The conflict disrupted air services to parts of the region and impacted belly cargo capacity, highlighting the wider challenges facing global supply chains.

Cargo volumes continue to grow, up 8.3%

During the first half of 2026, Brussels Airport handled nearly 420,000 tonnes of cargo, representing an increase of 8.3% compared to the same period in 2025. This performance confirms Brussels Airport’s position as one of Europe’s leading cargo gateways and highlights the resilience of its development model, built on diversifying both the goods transported and the markets served.

The increase was driven by growth across several cargo segments. Total flown cargo volumes rose by 7%, while the full freighter segment recorded growth of 16.7%. Trucked cargo volumes increased by 16.2%, reflecting continued demand for multimodal logistics solutions. Belly cargo posted a slight increase of 0.1%, although this segment remains the most affected by the conflict in the Middle East due to the suspension of certain routes and reduced frequencies to destinations across the region.

Growth in cargo volumes was supported by the continued expansion of the cargo network, alongside increased frequencies and higher volumes on existing routes. Brussels Airport also continues to invest in the modernisation and optimisation of its cargo zone to sustainably support growth and respond to the evolving needs of logistics operators and the wider supply chain industry.

June 2026: Cargo volumes continue their growth trajectory (+12.2%)

Total cargo volumes through Brussels Airport reached 70,895 tonnes in June, representing an increase of 12.2% compared to the same month last year. Flown cargo grew by 8%, driven in particular by continued growth in the full freighter segment (+16.5%), while trucked cargo volumes increased by 42.4%. After a slight decrease in May, belly cargo rose by 12.2%. Only the integrator segment recorded a slight decrease of 0.5%.

The main import regions remain Asia and North America, with North America recording the strongest growth. Africa saw a slight decline in imports. These three regions also remain the main export markets, with North America showing modest growth.

While overall commercial flight movements were broadly stable in June, cargo flight movements declined by 4.9%. Despite this, cargo throughput continued to increase, underlining the efficiency of existing operations and the ongoing demand for air freight services across the logistics industry.

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11 Questions Every Freight Forwarder Should Ask Their ERP Vendor About Security

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Security Isn’t a Feature. It’s the Foundation of Your Freight ERP.

Today’s freight forwarding ERP suite is far more than an operational system. It stores critical and confidential data, including customs declarations, commercial invoices, banking information, customer records, shipment documentation, and the credentials of employees, agents, and partners across your global network.

At the same time, these platforms are more integrated than traditional systems ever were. Customer portals, EDI integrations, APIs, mobile applications, and third-party services have significantly expanded the attack surface.

Despite this, security is still treated as an afterthought during ERP evaluations. Most buying decisions focus on features, automation, ease of use, and pricing, while security becomes a checklist item discussed only after the product demo.

That approach is becoming increasingly risky.

Every software platform will eventually encounter vulnerabilities and shortcomings. What separates a mature ERP vendor is not whether vulnerabilities exist, but how securely the platform is architected, how vulnerabilities are disclosed, how quickly they are resolved, and how transparently the vendor communicates throughout the process.

If you’re evaluating a freight forwarding ERP, these are the ten questions every vendor should be able to answer with confidence.

Here are ten questions every freight forwarder, customs broker, and logistics service provider should ask any freight forwarding ERP vendor, whether current or prospective, before trusting them with operational and customer data.

1. How is sensitive data encrypted, and are encryption keys unique per customer?

Encryption alone doesn’t guarantee security. The real question is how cryptographic keys are managed. Keys should be generated uniquely for each customer environment, never hardcoded into the application. A shared key creates a single point of failure where one breach has the potential to impact every deployment.

2. How are customer-facing portals (tracking, booking, document access) secured separately from the core system?

Many forwarders don’t realize that the portal their customers use to track a shipment, book cargo, or access documents often runs on a different codebase, with different authentication logic, than the core ERP. Ask how that portal is hardened, tested, and isolated, and whether a compromise of the portal could ever be used to reach anything beyond it.

Push further on three things. First, the codebase: Is the portal engineered as part of the same platform, or is it bolted on with its own separate security model that must be maintained? Second, role-based access control: Can you define exactly what each customer login is allowed to see and do, ensuring that one customer can never view another’s shipments, rates, or invoices? Third, the audit trail should include versioning. Does the system log every portal action, including who viewed a document, who uploaded or approved it, who created a booking, and when, so that any access can be reconstructed after the fact?

3. What does your vulnerability disclosure and patching process actually look like?

Every serious freight forwarding vendor will have vulnerabilities found in their products over time, whether by internal QA, by customers, or by external security researchers. What separates a mature vendor isn’t a perfect record; it’s a fast, transparent, well-practiced response. Ask: what is your average time from disclosure to patch? Do you proactively notify affected forwarders? Is there a public security contact or a bug-bounty program?

Then ask which secure-coding standards they actually build and test against. The current industry baseline is the OWASP Top 10:2025, the latest edition of the most widely recognized list of critical web application risks, now led by broken access control, alongside the OWASP Application Security Verification Standard (ASVS) for verifiable testing. A vendor that can name the standards it codes to, and show how it tests against them, is treating security as engineering, not marketing.

4. Are you independently audited or certified (SOC 2, ISO 27001), and can we see evidence?

Self-reported security claims are easy for any software vendor to make. Third-party attestations are not. Ask for current SOC 2 Type II reports, ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification, or equivalent independent audit evidence, and check the dates. A certification from three years ago with no recent renewal tells its own story.

5. How is authentication handled for “passwordless” or email-link login features?

Many shipment tracking and notification emails sent by freight platforms include a one-click login link so customers don’t have to remember a password. Convenient, but only as secure as the token behind that link. Ask how those tokens are generated, how long they remain valid, whether they can be reused, and whether they grant access to anything beyond the specific shipment referenced.

Then ask what protects the login itself. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) for users handling sensitive operations, CAPTCHA or equivalent bot protection to blunt automated credential attacks, and an enforced password policy covering complexity, rotation, and lockout after repeated failed attempts are the difference between a convenient login and an exposed one.

6. Is the platform built as one integrated system, or assembled from multiple acquired or legacy codebases?

This is an architecture question with real security implications. Systems that grew through years of acquisitions or bolt-on modules often have inconsistent security models between components: what is secure in the core ERP isn’t necessarily secure in the bolted-on visibility tool or the older integration layer. Ask vendors directly whether the platform you are evaluating was engineered as one system or stitched together from several. One coherent platform, with the same encryption, authentication, and access rules across operations, finance, the customer portal, and integrations, is structurally easier to secure than a decade of assembled parts.

7. What is your incident response plan, and have you ever had to use it?

A vendor that says “we’ve never had an incident” isn’t necessarily reassuring; it may just mean they haven’t been tested, or haven’t disclosed. A more useful answer describes a real, rehearsed process: detection, customer-notification timelines, root-cause analysis, and remediation. Ask whether they run tabletop exercises or simulated attacks internally.

A mature vendor won’t be improvising this. Under ISO/IEC 27001:2022, incident management planning and preparation is a required, documented control. Controls A.5.24 through A.5.27 cover planning, assessment, response, and learning from incidents, written into the information security policy rather than left to goodwill. Ask to see that it exists on paper before an incident, not after.

8. How do you isolate customer data in a multi-tenant cloud environment?

If the platform is cloud-hosted and multi-tenant, your data technically shares infrastructure with other forwarders’ data. Ask how that isolation is enforced, logically, at the database level, and at the network level, and what would have to fail for one customer’s data to become visible to another.

9. Who can access our data internally, and how is that access logged and controlled?

External attackers aren’t the only risk. Ask how the vendor controls and audits its own employees’ access to customer data, whether that access is logged, and whether you would be notified if an internal access policy were ever violated. Ask specifically about time-based access: is internal access granted only for the window it is actually needed and then automatically expires, rather than left standing open indefinitely? Standing, permanent access is a far larger attack surface than access scoped to a task and a timeframe.

10. What security responsibilities are ours, what are yours, and is that written down?

Security is shared between vendor and forwarder: the vendor secures the platform, but you are responsible for things like user provisioning, password policy, and who in your organization gets access to what. Ask for that split in writing. A vendor that can’t clearly state where its responsibility ends and yours begins, probably hasn’t thought it through.

Two vendor-side practices are worth asking about by name. Background verification (BGV) of the employees who can touch customer data, so trust in your data is backed by vetted people rather than assumed. And a documented data-classification scheme, so that every category of information, from a public tracking milestone to a confidential commercial invoice, has a defined handling rule. When data is classified, “who can see what” stops being a judgment call.

11. What is your disaster recovery strategy, and has it been tested?

A disaster recovery plan is only valuable if it works when needed. Ask how the vendor ensures your operations stay online during outages or cyber incidents.

Is the disaster recovery plan regularly tested through failover drills?
What are the guaranteed RTO (Recovery Time Objective) and RPO (Recovery Point Objective)?
Does the platform support automatic failover across multiple regions or data centers?
Are backups encrypted, immutable, and tested for successful restoration?
Can critical freight operations continue during a disruption?
How and when will customers be notified during an incident?

Why This Belongs in Every Freight Forwarder’s RFP

None of these questions assumes bad faith on any vendor’s part, including ours. They are simply the questions that separate vendors who treat security as a marketing line from those who treat it as an engineering discipline. A platform built as one coherent system, with consistent authentication, encryption, and access practices across every module, from the core ERP to the customer portal, mobile access, and integrations, is structurally easier to secure than one assembled from a decade of bolted-on parts.

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Joint Venture for GLS in Türkiye

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Parcel company GLS has announced the establishment of GLS Türkiye, a new joint venture that marks the company’s entry into one of Europe’s fastest-growing parcel markets.

The new company will be led by Özgür F. Kut as CEO. Joining GLS in the venture is a group of Turkish logistics investors led by Aslan Kut, who played a defining role in the establishment of multiple leading parcel delivery companies in Türkiye and later co-founded and scaled one of the country’s most prominent parcel operators. The investor group also includes Turgut Erkeskin, former president of FIATA, the global federation of freight forwarders, and Şerafettin Aras, current chairman of the board of UND, a leading transport association in Türkiye. The partnership combines GLS‘ Pan-European and North American network, brand and expertise with deep Turkish market knowledge from several senior executives within the logistics and distribution market.

“Türkiye is a strategically important extension of our European network and represents a key cross-continental gateway into Asia. We’ve seen strong cross-border parcel flows between Türkiye and Europe for years, and establishing a local presence allows us to serve those connections more effectively. This joint venture gives us the local market expertise we need while providing access to GLS’ global network as well as operational excellence, premium services and a strong brand to Turkish customers and businesses,” said Dr. Karl Pfaff, CEO of GLS Group. “We are happy and honoured to have such an excellent team of Turkish entrepreneurs at our side.”

Turkish businesses and consumers deserve a parcel provider that combines international operational excellence with genuine local knowledge. Our team brings deep experience in the Turkish logistics market, and we’re focused on building operations tailored to local needs while delivering the reliability and service quality that GLS is known for across Europe

said Özgür F. Kut, CEO of GLS Türkiye

“In recent months, we have worked very closely with Aslan, Özgür and Turgut to develop a business concept. Today, we founded GLS Türkiye and now very much look forward to bringing our ideas and vision to life,” said Saadi Al-Soudani, Group Chief International Officer of IDS.

GLS Türkiye will operate under the GLS brand, combining the company’s European parcel delivery expertise with local market knowledge. The venture establishes GLS in one of Europe’s fastest-growing parcel logistics markets and extends the company’s network to serve businesses and consumers across Türkiye. The company expects to begin operations by the end of 2026.

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CMA CGM to Acquire FedEx Supply Chain

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The CMA CGM Group today announced an agreement to acquire FedEx Supply Chain, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp, at an enterprise value of $1.4 billion. The acquisition, expected to close in 2026, would nearly triple the size of the North American contract logistics operations of CEVA Logistics, a subsidiary of the CMA CGM Group.

The acquisition reinforces CMA CGM’s 25-year commitment and investment in the United States supply chain and accelerates its strategy to provide comprehensive end-to-end logistics solutions. By integrating FedEx Supply Chain’s assets and nearly 10,000 team members, CEVA Logistics will become a leading contract logistics provider in North America. The combined entity would operate approximately 150 warehouses, expanding CEVA’s overall presence in North America to a combined workforce of 20,000 people located at more than 240 locations.

Following the execution of this transaction, CMA CGM and FedEx also expect to enter into multi-year commercial agreements related to air and ocean freight. CMA CGM will become a preferred ocean carrier for FedEx, offering ocean transport and carrier services under a non-exclusive agreement. The companies will also work together on select air cargo capacity solutions to enhance their respective global networks in the interest of higher aircraft utilization and flexible long-haul capacity.

Rodolphe Saadé, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the CMA CGM Group, stated:

“The acquisition and partnership with FedEx represent a major step in the development of CEVA Logistics and our logistics activities in North America. We are strengthening our ability to provide customers with integrated supply chain solutions. These deals also reinforce our long-term commitment to investing in the United States and supporting the resilience and efficiency of its supply chain.”

Raj Subramaniam, President and CEO of FedEx, added:

“Today’s announcement enables FedEx to further increase our focus on providing our unique expertise for high-value verticals, including healthcare, automotive, aerospace and data centers. By streamlining our portfolio, FedEx is better positioned to execute our long-term vision and continue to serve as the heartbeat of the industrial economy, delivering unmatched connectivity, reliability, and value to our customers globally. We look forward to leveraging our complementary relationship with global logistics solutions provider CMA CGM to support the next chapter for FedEx Supply Chain and its team members.”

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Why Freight Forwarders Lose Customers Without Knowing It

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Discover the hidden reasons freight forwarders lose customers, from slow quotations and poor communication to invoice disputes and limited shipment visibility.

The Silent Customer Exit No One Notices

Most freight forwarders believe they lose customers because of price.

But in many cases, the real reason is far less obvious.

Customers rarely wake up one morning and decide to switch freight partners. Instead, they gradually lose confidence after repeatedly experiencing minor operational issues.

A quotation that takes too long. An email that goes unanswered.
An invoice that doesn’t match expectations.
A shipment update they have to chase.
A customer service experience that feels reactive instead of proactive.

None of these incidents may seem serious on their own. All combined, they create doubts, and often these doubts send customers to your competitor.

Most freight forwarders don’t even realize it’s happening.

1. Slow Quotations Signal Slow Operations

Today’s customers expect speed.

When a shipper requests a quote, they are often comparing multiple freight forwarders simultaneously. The company that responds first with an accurate, competitive quotation immediately gains an advantage.

But many forwarding companies still rely on disconnected emails, spreadsheets, and manual approvals.

Sales teams wait for rates.
Operations searches for information.
Managers approve pricing manually.
Customers wait.

By the time the quotation reaches the customer, someone else may have already won the shipment.

A slow quotation doesn’t just lose one booking.

It creates the impression that every future shipment will be handled the same way.

2. Delayed Responses Break Customer Confidence

Customers understand that logistics is unpredictable.

What they don’t accept is silence.

When an importer or exporter asks a simple question like:

Has the container departed?
Has customs cleared the shipment?
When will delivery happen?

They expect timely communication.

Unfortunately, many forwarding teams spend more time finding information than sharing it.

Operations checks multiple systems.
Customer service sends internal emails.
Sales follows up with operations.
Finance confirms billing.
Hours pass.
Sometimes days.

The customer begins wondering whether anyone is actually managing their shipment.

Even if everything is moving correctly, poor communication creates the feeling that nothing is under control.

3. Invoice Disputes Damage Trust Faster Than Delays

Nothing frustrates customers more than unexpected charges.

An invoice that differs from the original quotation immediately raises questions.

Why has the freight cost changed?

Where did these additional charges come from?

Why wasn’t this communicated earlier?

Whether the mistake comes from manual data entry, disconnected billing systems, or missing operational updates, the customer sees only one thing:

Resolving disputes consumes valuable time across finance, operations, and customer service.

More importantly, it weakens confidence.

Customers don’t simply want accurate invoices.

They want predictable billing.

4. Lack of Shipment Updates Creates Unnecessary Anxiety

Imagine ordering something valuable online and hearing nothing for two weeks.

You’d probably start asking questions.

Your customers feel exactly the same.

Many freight forwarders still depend on customers calling or emailing for shipment updates.

That approach no longer meets customer expectations.

Modern shippers expect visibility.

If they constantly need to follow up, they begin feeling that managing the shipment has become their responsibility instead of yours.

Visibility isn’t just a convenience anymore.

It’s part of the customer experience.

5. Poor Communication Makes Customers Feel Unimportant

Communication isn’t limited to replying to emails.

It’s about keeping customers informed before they ask.

Small communication gaps accumulate over time.

A missed callback.
An unanswered WhatsApp message.
A delayed shipping advice.
No proactive notification about a delay.
No explanation for revised costs.

Eventually, customers stop believing they’ll receive timely information.

That’s when they quietly start requesting quotations from other freight forwarders.

Many businesses mistake customer silence for satisfaction.

In reality, silence often means they’re already evaluating alternatives.

The Invisible Cost of Customer Churn

Replacing a lost customer is far more expensive than retaining one.

It takes months of prospecting, meetings, proposals, and negotiations to acquire a new account.

Losing one because of avoidable operational inefficiencies is a cost most businesses never calculate.

Beyond lost revenue, customer churn also affects:

Referral opportunities
Long-term profitability
Brand reputation
Employee morale
Sales productivity

The most dangerous part is that these losses happen gradually, making them difficult to identify until revenue begins to decline.

Why Operational Visibility Matters

Customer experience doesn’t begin with customer service.

It begins with operations.

When sales, operations, finance, documentation, and customer communication work from different systems, delays become inevitable.

The customer experiences the symptoms, even if they never see the internal chaos causing them.

Forwarders that operate with a unified workflow can respond faster, provide accurate information, automate routine updates, and deliver consistent customer experiences.

Instead of reacting to problems, they prevent them.

Turning Customer Experience Into a Competitive Advantage

Price may win a shipment.

Experience wins long-term business.

Freight forwarders that consistently deliver fast quotations, proactive communication, accurate billing, and real-time visibility build something far more valuable than transactions.

They build trust. And trust is what keeps customers returning shipment after shipment.

In an industry where competitors often offer similar services and pricing, customer experience becomes one of the strongest differentiators.

The companies that invest in operational efficiency today won’t just reduce delays and disputes.

They’ll create customers who stay longer, recommend their services, and become long-term partners.

Because customers rarely leave after one mistake.

They leave after dozens of small frustrations that could have been prevented.

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One Platform for Operations, Finance & Compliance

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The Best Software for Freight Forwarders in 2026

Ask ten freight forwarders what software they run, and you will hear ten different stacks. An operations tool here. A separate accounting package. A spreadsheet for tracking. A CRM that is really just a contact list. A customs module that doesn’t talk to anything. Each was bought to solve a problem. Together, they created a bigger one.

In 2026, the question is no longer which tool a forwarder should buy. It is whether the business runs on a collection of tools at all, or on a single platform. This guide breaks down what the best software for freight forwarders actually looks like this year, the capabilities that separate a real freight ERP from a glorified booking screen, and how to evaluate a system before you commit.

Why Fragmented Software Quietly Costs Forwarders Money

Most forwarders don’t lose control in one dramatic failure. They lose it in the gaps between systems.

When operations, finance, and compliance live in separate applications, data gets re-keyed at every handoff. A booking entered in one place is typed again into accounting, again into the tracking sheet, again into the customs filing. Every re-entry is a chance for a wrong rate, a wrong invoice, a wrong filing. One small data error early in a shipment can cascade into a compliance risk or a margin leak that nobody notices until the file is already closed.

The symptoms are familiar:

Sales promises something operations never sees.
A shipment looks profitable at booking, then quietly bleeds margin as late carrier invoices, local charges, and forex adjustments trickle in.
A customer emails at 1 a.m. for a status update, and no one can answer until the next working day.
Month-end becomes a reconciliation exercise instead of a control exercise.

None of these are people problems. They are system problems. And they get worse, not better, as volume grows. Ten shipments a month are manageable on disconnected tools. Fifty create pressure. A hundred create confusion. Volume is what exposes a weak system.

The Shift in 2026: From Tools to Platform

The strongest freight businesses have stopped thinking in terms of individual software purchases. They think in terms of one operating platform.

The logic is simple. A freight forwarder does not need one ERP, one visibility tool, one analytics tool, one AI tool, and one integration tool stitched together. They need one platform that does all of this on a single database, so that a booking, its costs, its documents, its customer updates, and its final profit all describe the same shipment, not five disconnected versions of it.

This is the real meaning of “one platform, total control.” It is not a marketing line about convenience. It is about removing the silos where errors, delays, and lost margin hide.

What the Best Freight Forwarding Software Must Control in 2026

When you evaluate software for freight forwarders this year, judge it against five areas. If a system cannot control all five, it is a point tool, not an ERP.

1. Shipment Execution (Operations)

The core has to handle the full operational reality of forwarding: ocean FCL and LCL, air, road, and rail; imports, exports, and domestic; consolidation; and multimodal jobs across branches. Crucially, execution should follow a defined workflow rather than relying on people to remember the process. A strong system enforces sequence: if a required document is missing or an approval is pending, the next step stays locked. That is how you keep execution consistent across new hires, busy seasons, and multiple branches.

Operations and finance cannot live in different worlds. The best software treats every shipment as a live P&L, comparing estimates against actuals while the job is still open, not at month-end, when it is too late to question a charge or correct a rate. It should book purchase bills and customer invoices against the same job, enforce credit limits at the points that matter (job creation, booking, invoicing, document release), and lock files at the right stage so late edits can’t quietly reshape profit. Profit you only estimate is not profit. It is an assumption.

Customs filing, HS classification, document accuracy, and Bill of Lading and Delivery Order release controls belong inside the system, not bolted on. Clean master data, with one customer, one supplier, one port, one charge, and one HS code shared across every branch, is what keeps quotes, invoices, and filings correct at the source.

4. Visibility and Customer Experience

Customer frustration rarely comes from delays. It comes from silence. The best platforms extend controlled visibility to customers through a branded portal where they can track shipments in real time, see milestones, view invoices, and approve documents, all without being able to disrupt your internal process. Behind that, automatic milestone updates pulled from carrier integrations mean your team isn’t tracking containers by hand or building status reports manually.

5. Management Visibility and Scale

Owners and CXOs need to see the whole business at a glance, covering operational, sales, financial, and agent performance, ideally through analytics that update daily rather than spreadsheets rebuilt every week. And the system has to scale: from a handful of users to thousands, from a single branch to a global, multi-country, multi-currency network where each branch works in its local context while the group sees everything rolled up in one base currency. No Excel consolidation. No month-end currency surprises.

AI Belongs Inside the Platform, Not Strapped Onto It

The loudest story in logistics software right now is AI. The important distinction in 2026 is where the AI sits.

A wave of startups offer “strap-on” AI: tools that promise to automate data entry or answer queries but live outside your core system. They look impressive in a demo, but because they sit apart from the platform, they reintroduce the exact problems you bought an ERP to remove: data leaving the system, hidden costs, and copy-paste work that never fully goes away.

Embedded AI is different. It works inside the workflow, on the same secured data, with no latency between insight and action. The practical applications already changing forwarders’ daily work include:

Document-to-data automation that reads freight documents, such as commercial invoices, packing lists, BL/AWB drafts, and arrival notices, and maps the fields directly into job screens. An import invoice with well over a hundred line items, or a freight job with ten containers, can be posted in under a minute instead of an afternoon, at high accuracy.

In-system, multilingual guidance so a branch in Latin America, an agent in Europe, and operations in the Middle East can all ask how a process works in their own language, turning global readiness into something that actually shows up in daily work.

The next frontier, already in testing across the industry, is agentic AI: a “digital employee” that can read a customer’s status request at 1 a.m., look up the shipment, and reply, or turn an RFQ into a preliminary quote from your tariff master. Logistics will stay a relationship-driven, human business. But the repetitive, rules-based work around it is exactly what this kind of automation is built to absorb.

How to Choose: A Short Buyer’s Checklist

Before signing with any vendor, pressure-test it against this list:

One database, or many? Confirm operations, finance, and compliance share a single source of truth.
Does it enforce workflow, or just record what users do?
Can it show estimate-vs-actual margin while the job is live?
Is AI embedded and secure, or a separate tool handling your data elsewhere?
Does it scale across users, branches, currencies, and countries without breaking?
Is there a real, built-in accounts module, the engine behind credit control and true profitability?
Will it migrate cleanly from whatever you run today, including enterprise systems like CargoWise?

If a product can’t answer these convincingly, it will solve a task while leaving the business problem in place.

The best software for freight forwarders in 2026 is not the tool with the most features. It is the platform that brings operations, finance, and compliance under one system, with intelligence, visibility, and connectivity built in rather than bolted on.

That is the standard Logi-Sys is built to. As the digital backbone of freight forwarding, an intelligent cloud ERP platform trusted by thousands of logistics providers across the world, it runs operations, controls finance, and keeps compliance tight on a single database, with embedded AI, a customer visibility portal, and carrier connectivity in the same platform. It scales from a startup forwarder to a global network, which is why a growing number of forwarders evaluate it as a serious alternative to legacy enterprise systems.

In freight, control is not visibility. Control is action. The right platform is the one that lets you act: before the margin is gone, before the customer calls, and before the file is closed.

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The Brexit Move Rivals Mocked

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The UK’s departure from the European Union brought significant challenges for businesses involved in cross-border trade, with new customs requirements, additional paperwork and increased complexity reshaping the logistics landscape. While many companies struggled to adapt to the changing regulatory environment, some saw an opportunity to innovate and gain a competitive edge.

Andrew Baxter, Chief Executive of Europa Worldwide Group, today revealed how his company transformed a major Brexit challenge into a significant competitive advantage, despite fierce criticism and accusations of fraud from rivals.

In the years following the EU referendum, while many competitors complained about the complexities of leaving the customs union, Europa took a different approach. The business developed a groundbreaking solution to streamline the movement of goods between the UK and Europe, enabling thousands of UK exporters to maintain seamless trade.

Life outside the customs union meant every shipment required export and import declarations, along with the need to onboard importers and charge them for duties, VAT and clearance fees… This had the potential to create major disruption. We tackled the problem head on and launched a solution that operated successfully for over a year before any competitor could replicate it.

said Baxter.

The result speaks for itself. Europa is now the clear market leader, moving more than double the volume of its nearest competitor and facilitating over £12 billion in UK exports via its innovative route.

The innovation that changed the game

Traditional shipping terms were typically Delivered Duty Uncleared (DDU), leaving the importer responsible for all clearance costs, duties and VAT. Europa instead created a Delivered Duty Paid (DDP) product – placing full customs responsibility on the UK exporter.

Many competitors dismissed the DDP model because UK exporters could not reclaim EU VAT, viewing it as commercially unviable. Europa saw a different path. By leveraging an existing EU customs regulation, the company clears all continental European goods through France (with French-destined goods cleared in Belgium). This allows zero-rating of VAT and enables a seamless DDP offering that protects customers from friction and delays.

We developed something that many said was impossible… At first, competitors didn’t just doubt us – they accused us of non-compliance and even fraud. Some actively told our customers we would be shut down. The more they attacked us, the more determined we became – and the more market share we won.

Baxter added.

Baxter noted that it took competitors around three years to develop their own versions, which he says still lag behind Europa’s solution. Today, the majority of UK exports to Europe move on a DDP basis, either through Europa or its competitors. Without this mechanism, Baxter believes UK–Europe trade would have suffered far greater damage.

A committed Brexiteer driven by principle

A vocal supporter of Brexit, Baxter hosted the launch event for the Leave campaign alongside Boris Johnson. He is clear that his support was based on principle, not prior knowledge of any commercial workaround.

I supported Brexit because I believed the UK should be an independent, self-governing nation… I knew it would complicate my own business – and I had no special customs insight at the time. But that personal commitment to making Brexit work for our customers drove us to find a genuine solution rather than just complain about the problem.

Baxter said.

Powered by Better

As Europa enters its seventh decade in business, the company continues to invest in smarter solutions, customs expertise and international capability to support customers trading across more than 160 countries worldwide.

From its origins as a specialist European operator to its position today as a global logistics provider, Europa remains focused on helping businesses navigate complexity and release opportunity wherever it exists.

Ten years after the Brexit referendum, the company’s conclusion is clear: businesses that embrace change, invest in innovation and maintain a global outlook will be best placed to succeed in the years ahead.

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Blend of Solutions in Contract Logistics

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Within the UK’s so-called ‘Golden Logistics Triangle’ a high-specification facility in Corby has quietly redefined what modern third-party logistics looks like. David Priestman made a site visit.

Europa Warehouse’s flagship site, opened in June 2020 and fully-operational for five years, stands not only as a testament to resilience under pressure, but also as a blueprint for scalable, technology-driven warehousing. Built on a former British Steel quarry that had lain dormant for years, the £60 million development transformed a 25-acre site into a 750,000 sq. ft logistics powerhouse with 49 loading bay docks and three 30,000 sq. ft mezzanines, demarcated into different zones.

Despite the challenges of the pandemic’s disruption, the facility was completed and commissioned ahead of schedule — an early indicator of the operational discipline that would come to define its performance. Sectors now served mainly include food and drink, nutrition, apparel, consumer goods and packaging, with clients in the drinks industry such as Beer52, Naked Wines, Beerwulf and Laylo. There are 19 brands/customers whose stock is managed here and Europa are tendering for more wins.

Scaling Smart

£11 million of the overall investment went into automation, with PSB Intralogistics as the system integrator. PSB installed the automated storage system, which holds 36000 totes and has 60 lifts, as well as the conveying, ten picking stations including the Rotapick machine (which alone costs £750,000 – see image below). Designed to support a sole occupant and now a flexible 3PL model, the automation system enables clients to scale operations up or down in response to fluctuating demand, a critical capability in today’s volatile supply chains. The Europa team are certain that they fully understand the system and can maximise its performance.

The facility’s physical design also pushes the boundaries of traditional warehousing. While a typical warehouse might accommodate around 90,000 pallets across seven storage levels, Corby has been engineered for maximum utilisation. With nine aisles of pallet racking reaching the regulatory height limit of 18 metres, and very narrow aisle (VNA) equipment in operation, the site can accommodate a blended average of 100,000 pallets, handling both British and European pallet specifications. There is an opportunity to expand the automated storage system further.

Efficiency Collaboration

Dionne Redpath (pictured, below) is the Chief Operating Officer and Warehouse Divisional Director at Europa Worldwide Group. She tells me that the secret behind having flexibility for customers to vary pick volumes due to peaks and demand changes, growth and decline lie within good customer relationships and the core processes adopted together. “If you have a customer with rock-solid forecasting then you’re able to build out really solid plans that insure capacity when its needed. We’re refining and becoming more accurate together. We need to be able to pick the right product at the right time. Forecasting isn’t just the total numbers, but what products they are expecting to sell and on what day, to avoid in-day replenishments.” There are lots of seasonal products stored here and half are for ecommerce.

“Originally the automation system was for one customer occupant, but we then migrated to a multi-user environment for drinks and health supplements,” she says, stating that this is probably the only sharer user automation system around. “It gives us a dynamic edge in the marketplace. We attract customers who are looking for ecommerce, agility and those with similar business values, like entrepreneurship, or might not feel at home in a more corporate environment. They like the friendly, family spirit we embody. Businesses starting on their journey are looking for guidance from a partner that has experienced a lot of what the ecommerce landscape has got to offer. It’s challenging.”

Workforce for Modern Logistics

Today, the Corby site employs a 170-strong team spanning operatives, forklift drivers, flow managers and engineers. Some joined as agency workers and have since progressed to management roles, now playing an active role in mentoring and developing others. “We have a unique culture which is can-do, sleeves-up. We promote from within,” Redpath says. “Typically, in a 3PL staff are siloed into individual roles, whereas we’re team-based. There’s a core skills matrix but also core specialisms. People develop as it’s a dynamic environment and we’re very proud of them.” Reflecting both the local community and the international nature of the logistics sector, the workforce represents a wide range of nationalities.

Checking the Top Shelf

Traceability and transparency are central to the model. From the moment goods arrive, they are fully tracked through to dispatch, with automated systems handling picking, packing and delivery. Clients benefit from real-time access to Europa Warehouse’s order fulfilment platform, providing live visibility over stock levels, outbound shipments and returns. Infios’ HighJump WMS is central to the operation. “It’s a very configurable system, meaning you can design it to suit any business. We share all our data outputs daily via EDI and APIs with customers, garnering KPIs, for example for inbound receipt, picking and despatched notifications,” Redpath informs me. This integration of automation and data-driven oversight ensures not only speed and accuracy but also cost efficiency — key priorities for businesses navigating increasingly complex distribution networks.

A Dexory bot (pictured, below) was added last November and has been deployed since December to scan the entire DC off-peak, covering every single pallet position each week. “You can schedule it with the Dexory team, create and zone it with many configurations. We’re swapping it to the 18m mast version soon,” Redpath informs, so it can reach the highest pallet locations. A digital twin is made by DexoryView when the bot does the rudimentary stock checks. “It removes the manual front end associated with stock maintenance. The team (of 8 with 1 manager) are taking the outputs of data analysis and using it for investigations and troubleshooting, modifications and changing sku locations. It’s an ongoing voyage of discovery,” Redpath states.

Supporting Growth Across Sectors

The hub offers strong connectivity to pallet and parcel distribution networks, as well as seamless integration with Europa’s air and sea freight operations. This multimodal capability enables the facility to support a diverse client base across B2B and direct-to-consumer channels. Since its launch, the facility has achieved several key milestones, including processing more than five million orders annually and introducing a pioneering shared-user automation solution. It also holds HMRC Wet and Dry Bond accreditation, enabling efficient handling of customs bonded goods. This is particularly useful to alcohol suppliers as the duty is not paid until it leaves the DC, when a customs transaction is created.

The Shed Ahead

As the Corby warehouse reaches its sixth anniversary in June, it stands as the largest and most technologically advanced facility in Europa Warehouse’s UK portfolio. More importantly, it represents a shift in how logistics providers think about space, systems and scalability. Redpath and her team are currently assessing all the materials handling equipment used, as well as considering replacing or enhancing some manual picking lines with more automation. But she’s coy on what the outcome will be.

“Automation is fantastic, but you can spend a lot of money when what matters the most is how much value it will deliver. Will it avert us needing an unattainable number of staff? This site has a capacity of how many people it’s feasible to operate here. We’ve embraced a number of technologies and need to drive out costs and improve throughput,” she concludes. “That’s where we spend our time and research. We were contemplating the effectiveness of robotic arms for some operations, but we’re not quite there yet. PSB have plenty of different solutions that differ from what we do today.”

A solar PV project is possible for the roof as part of the modernisation ahead and the mezzanine structure can be extended across the front of the building, making it double its current size, as well as adding more racking. In an era where supply chains must be both resilient and responsive, this DC offers a compelling case study: a warehouse designed not just for storage, but for strategic advantage.

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Middle East Conflict Drives Surge in Spot Freight

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The European Road Transport Institute Foundation (EITD) has published key insights from the market, a new analytical report examining the major trends shaping European road freight in the first three months of the year.

Spot freight offers surge across European corridors

Load offers on key European routes grew substantially throughout Q1, with March delivering the strongest momentum. Western European corridors led the way: the France–Benelux route recorded a year-on-year increase of 102%, while France–Germany (+73%), Germany–Benelux (+71%), and Benelux–France (+72%) also posted exceptional growth. Central European routes followed a similar upward trajectory, with Germany–Poland reaching +43% and Poland–Germany +37% in March.

“What we’re seeing is not just a typical post-winter rebound, but a structurally stronger demand environment — and part of this increase reflects a rebalancing between contract and spot markets, particularly where contract rates no longer match current cost realities,” said Michał Pakulniewicz, Market Analyst at European Road Transport Institute Foundation.

Carrier search activity recovers

Carrier search activity remained subdued in January and February, with most corridors recording year-on-year declines consistent with the trend of the past two years. March brought a partial rebound, however, with several Western European routes turning positive. The Spain–France corridor saw the strongest recovery, accelerating to +29% in March after modest growth earlier in the quarter. The shift reflects carriers being drawn back to platforms by rising rates and increased spot market fragmentation.

Freight rates accelerate sharply

Freight rates followed a steady upward trend across Q1 2026, but March marked a clear shift in pace. After mostly single-digit increases in January and February, double-digit year-on-year gains became widespread. The Poland–Italy corridor recorded the steepest rise at +14.1%, followed by Benelux–France (+13.6%) and Poland–Germany (+13.5%). The acceleration reflects both direct cost pressure from higher fuel prices and the amplifying effect of the spot market, which transmits cost changes into rates more rapidly than long-term contracts.

Natalia Janiszewska, CEO of European Road Transport Institute Foundation, sees a structural shift in how the market is pricing transport:

“When fuel costs spike and contracts stop reflecting what transport actually costs today, freight moves to spot. That’s exactly what we saw this quarter — and the spot market is becoming the primary way to price transport in uncertain conditions. That’s a shift the whole industry needs to take seriously.”

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On Another Level – Logistics News

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Warehouses have fixed dimensions and there is pressure to maximise the usable cubic storage space. Adding mezzanine levels can help achieve that. David Priestman speak to a flooring expert.

“We follow the customers, who are mainly systems integrators,” Bart Pulles, Operations and Sales Manager for MiTek in Germany told me during LogiMAT Stuttgart. Celebrating ten years in the German market this year, MiTek supply steel mezzanines (both hybrid and cold-formed systems), steel platforms and support structures to optimise space, particularly important in the drive to automation in distribution centres.

Mezzanines are an intermediate level between the main floors of a building that are designed to create additional space. While often incorporated as part of the design of a new building, mezzanines can also be added to existing facilities as a cheaper, quicker and less disruptive means of creating more space than modifying the building itself or moving to larger premises.

Pulles tells me that the company is growing and possibly gaining market share, with recent projects in Czechia, Poland, France, Spain, Germany and in the UK, where the firm is headquartered. On average thirty site installations are completed each year, with a 3-4 month project time. Working with the materials handling integrators, such as Witron, Fortna and Viastore, the mezzanines installed always follow competitive tenders.

“Mezzanine floors are very useful for pallet conveyors, where we aim to reduce vibration, as well as for overhead hanging garment systems. Often, we install different mezzanines in different areas of the DC.” Pulles states. “We only do project installations now, with more engineering and added value.”

Cube Storage Base

MiTek work directly with ASRS experts AutoStore, supplying mezzanines under the grid for the picking tunnel. “We know the requirements for an AutoStore installation so we can tell the integrator what is needed,” Pulles says, referring to over twenty such installations which can either feature a triple stack or positioning the ASRS on top of a mezzanine level, with a minimum 2m clearance height on the top of the grid. “We build fire escape routes on top, plus access for maintenance – all the extras and necessities.”

Component Supply Chain

MiTek, being British, has been partly impacted by post-Brexit export red tape, but the company no longer sources all its material from the UK and uses local European suppliers for steel and timber, as well as local project managers.

What about new build DCs with mezzanines compared to retrofitting existing sites to add new floors? “They’re about 50-50 for us,” Pulles (pictured, below) informs me. “In order to re-fit and add space we have to empty that area of the warehouse first. The mezzanines have a 20 year lifespan, but the need for new materials handling equipment usually comes before that time is up.” The company takes care to align levels with existing signs and exit infrastructure when re-fitting. “The steel is all free-standing so it’s possible to take it all down as there’s no concrete.”

On to the Next Level

Probably the largest MiTek mezzanine installation so far was for British retailer NEXT, a complex project totalling 100,000sq.m. and reaching 24m in height with five storeys. Working with integrators Knapp, the MiTek team facilitated the installation of spiral chutes into voids between the floors, engineering special supporting steelwork to help lift in and position the chutes. A key component was the a pallet transfer platform to support conveyors that move pallet loads from the automated store down to operations on the ground floor. This 1800sq.m platform alone featured 400t of steelwork, comprising 3000 beams, 6000 cold-rolled joists and 350 columns.

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