Flexport has ambitions to become a top-10 forwarder

20/04/2018

Shipping Watch has published an interview with the company every forwarder loves to hate: Flexport. To make a profit, it has big expectations from both shareholders and management and aims to be among the top 10 forwarders via a plan to grow “the top lines as fast as we can without breaking customer service”. While its volume growth rates are significant, it is still something of a minnow – DSV, for example, handles about 20 times more volumes. But Flexport is backed by big names, including Google Ventures and Bloomberg Beta, as well as Wells Fargo, and has a high valuation. “In the end, our investors did not invest in a company that is going to become a niche freight forwarder.”

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Joshua Smith
April 20, 2018 at 4:11 pm
“….We no longer need to employ 1000’s of people to actually move the freight and taxation papers around. The software will then take care of most of these tasks. That is quite a promise for the future because it will allow you to bring additional tonnage on board without bringing more people because you have the software to handle it,” says van Casteren……”

Does anyone think this is true? That software will move the freight??? I’ve got a nice bridge to sell you. If this were true, wouldn’t Flexport have turned a profit already since they don’t need a ton of people? Thing is, I know for a fact that operationally, they employ the same amount of people per volume than any other freight forwarder. They aren’t doing ANYTHING with “less people”.

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- Luiz
  April 24, 2018 at 6:55 pm
  For now, wait and see …
  
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