Exclusive Interview with Punit Java, Co-Founder and CTO of Freightwalla

Freightwalla is a well-known digital freight forwarder for providing digital services

Digital freight forwarders have started leveraging cutting-edge technologies and tools for smooth communication flow in-between shipments. The global digital freight market size is expected to hit US$22.92 billion in 2030 with a CAGR of 23.1%. It helps in reducing paperwork by sharing documents on web platforms for easy access to shareholders.

Here is an exclusive interview with Punit Java, Co-Founder, and CTO of Freightwalla, who is focused on providing digital services as a digital freight forwarder to offer an online platform for businesses.

1. Kindly brief us about the company, its specialization, and the services that your company offers. 

Freightwalla is India's leading digital freight forwarder, empowering businesses to manage their end-to-end global logistics operations efficiently with transparency.

Freightwalla offers a unified and intuitive online platform for businesses to plan, budget, book, and manage their shipments with ease. The services include an instant planning and costing tool, real-time tracking capabilities with predictive analytics, online documentation, intelligent analytics, and simplified reporting with a plethora of customized value-added services such as transportation, customs clearance, and financial services like trade finance cargo insurance to name a few.

2. With what mission and objectives, the company was set up? In short, tell us about your journey since the inception of the company?

Freightwalla was started in 2017 by Sanjay Bhatia (CEO), Bharat Thanvi (CMO), and Punit Java (CTO). It began its journey with a vision to revolutionize global maritime logistics using leading-edge technology. All three founders had first-hand experience with inefficiencies in the industry. The company's mission is to build a service that addresses modern business needs of simplicity and transparency for shippers worldwide. Freightwalla, in order to realize its vision of disrupting the conventional shipping industry through its digital services, has successfully raised over USD 5 million in funding from global investors.

Since its inception, Freightwalla has partnered with 30+ shipping lines and served 1000+ port pairs, enabling 300+ businesses to take the hassle out of global shipping. With a robust network spanning across 120+ countries, Freightwalla has successfully created a niche with many awards and recognitions by reputed publications and firms like Inc42, CEOInsights, CIO Advisor, and IMC Chamber of Commerce and Industry, among others.

3. Tell us how your company is contributing to the IoT/AI/big data analytics/robotics/self-driving vehicles/cloud computing industry of the nation and how the company is benefiting the clients.

Freightwalla has been a key player in disrupting the USD 160 billion industry through its digital platform powering the digitalization of the shipping industry.

Its freight forwarding platform has enabled shippers to review and choose shipment plans from the best service providers by easily comparing rates, transit times, schedules, and other criteria as per their business needs. Detailed insights into pricing and trends, real-time tracking of their cargo, online document management, workflow management, and a plethora of value-added services have helped them optimize their logistics operations. All the above features are backed by the use of state-of-the-art data analytics and ML algorithms offering intelligent and actionable insights, delay prediction, and customized reports for data-driven decision making.

The latest offering, Cargo Tracker, is an intelligent tracker that enables end-to-end real-time visibility of containers booked on multiple shipping lines, regardless of the forwarder used on a single platform. It employs predictive analytics and ML algorithms to predict Estimated Time of Arrival (ETAs) and delays at ports based on a number of signals. Automated alerts on each milestone empower businesses to make informed decisions and combat shipment delays proactively.

Freightwalla's tech-enabled platform provides actionable insights that help the shippers quickly re-plan and re-route their cargo, giving them an upper hand in mitigating risks proactively. The use of disruptive technologies has equipped shippers with greater control over their supply chains, improving their efficiency and optimizing their costs.

4. What is your biggest USP that differentiates the company from competitors?

Freightwalla's competitive edge lies in its intuitive, easy-to-use, and feature-rich platform backed by leading-edge technologies like big data analytics and ML algorithms. This has resulted in man-hour savings and cost-efficiency. For example, customers have witnessed a 70% reduction in shipment planning time due to an online planning and costing tool, a 30% reduction in document processing time, and a reduction in cost leakages due to lower errors and delays in the process.

Centralized dashboards, configurable daily shipment reports, and shipment analytics facilitate better business decision-making. End-to-end visibility coupled with predictive ETAs, carrier performance evaluation, and live tracker sharing capabilities result in high customer stickiness and assured business continuity.

5. Please brief us about the products/services/solutions you provide to your customers and how do they get value out of it.

Freightwalla is a digital freight forwarder that provides freight, transportation, and customs clearance services to businesses that deal with imports and exports. As part of the service, the company also provides a digital offering that entails :

• A simplified planning and costing tool for enterprises to budget and plan their shipments
• Detailed insights into routes and schedules with comprehensive pricing breakdown
• Real-time tracking capabilities with predictive analytics
• Digital workflow and online document management
• Intelligent analytics and simplified daily status and monthly spending reports
• Customized add ons like on-ground transportation, customs clearance, financial services like trade finance and cargo insurance, pre-shipment cargo testing, pre-trip inspection, container survey, live temperature monitoring, and container fumigation through a robust partner network.

Digitalization of freight forwarding helps businesses save up to 70% of man-hours spent on traditional freight forwarding. Besides, customers clock a 30% reduction in their documentation processing time coupled with enhanced accuracy and compliance, witness improved schedule reliability for their shipments, and exhibited greater control over their supply chain. All these factors have resulted in higher operational efficiency and satisfaction.

In addition to forwarding services, it also offers customers an online cargo tracker for their shipments. Cargo tracker is an intelligent shipment tracker that allows businesses to track, trace and share vessels' real-time locations with their team and customers. It facilitates real-time tracking of containers on multiple carriers booked through multiple service providers on a single platform. Additionally, it employs predictive analytics to help businesses combat shipment delays proactively.

6. What are your growth plans for the next year?   

Growth plans for the next year include:

• Investing heavily in key technologies like AI/ML, IoT, electronic Bill of Lading, and improving integration with key partners to bring even more efficiencies to services
• Expanding pan-India footprint while currently servicing customers in the West and North India with a plan to expand to South India
• Offering additional services to help businesses streamline their end-to-end freight management. Stay tuned on this for future announcements!

7. What are some of the challenges faced by the industry today?

The logistics industry in India is valued at over USD 200 billion as of now. However, it is primarily unorganized, driven by error-prone, time-consuming, and expensive manual processes. SMEs and small-time forwarders move over 70% of the volumes in the market. While the economy has exhibited a sinusoidal wave amidst multiple waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, the industry is plagued with multiple challenges:

• Manual processes and absence of digitalization: The industry has not been historically open to adopting technology to streamline the activities involved in managing freight. With a lack of information on equipment availability, absence of transparency in pricing, and lack of visibility into the cargo's progress, inefficiencies have crept in the supply chains resulting in cost escalations and project delays.
• Changing consumer behaviours has resulted in a surge in demand for consumer goods, contributing considerably to new demands on freight capacity. However, limited freight capacity has hampered schedule reliability and customer satisfaction.
• Capacity fluctuations and lack of space in containers have caused freight rates to skyrocket and severe delivery delays
• Leaving shippers with idle products due to a shortage of containers has increased detention and storage charges and complicated the relationship between shippers and carriers.
• Labour shortages, owing to the COVID- 19 affected port workers, have played an important role in port congestions. Hence, it has disrupted the global supply chains and prolonged the delays to a great extent. The same trend has also been experienced in transportation, where there is a growing demand for truck drivers and a dwindling supply.