Toll Group opts for Kontainers as forwarder plans online booking service

Toll Group will soon be offering its customers an online booking platform, following the forwarder’s three-year contract with Kontainers, worth some $1.15m at list prices. 

The software company’s flagship product, Enterprise, will be available to Toll Global Forwarding customers from Q4 and will allow them to get quotes, book and manage shipments and receive real-time analytics. 

And another major deal with Kontainers is expected as soon as this quarter, linked to the new portal of Zim Integrated Shipping.

A source told The Loadstar two more forwarders were in the process of signing up to the platform, which is of particular benefit to SME shippers, an area forwarders have found hard to satisfy via manual channels.  

“The addition of Enterprise to our digital capabilities will allow our clients to instantly obtain quotes for, and book shipments with Toll, at the click of the mouse,” said Toll Global Forwarding president, Thomas Knudsen.  

Kontainers already supports four of the top 20 shipping brands, including Maersk. Its platform can either be used with existing software or via 12 complete modules. 

There are two Kontainers products,  the cheaper EDGE platform and Enterprise, which costs $250,000 to implement and $25,000 a month to maintain.  But based on 100 bookings a month over six months, Kontainers claims it can save customers $28,000 a month.  

CEO Graham Parker said: “Kontainers is delighted to earn the trust of a Top-20 global freight forwarder and provide what has now become a critical software layer. We … look forward to being a part of [Toll’s] impressive digital acceleration plans in the years ahead and help serve their customers even better than they are today.” 

Toll’s customers may need a filip. The group confirmed last week it would be closing its Seattle, Philadelphia, Miami and Houston offices as part of a restructuring that will include redundancies. While the initial focus will be on the US, the review of its network will be global, and will include “consolidating sites” in other countries. More information on the restructuring can be read on Loadstar Premium.