Xeneta and Catapult to unlock new depth of freight rate decision making with unique collaboration

Xeneta, the world’s leading provider of up to the minute ocean freight rate intelligence, and Catapult, a pioneer in rate and contract management software, have announced a collaboration that will provide “game changing benefits” for users of their platforms. The new agreement allows Catapult customers – freight forwarders and NVOCCs (non-vessel-operating common carrier community members) – to access Xeneta data in their existing software workflow, comparing the very latest market information to their own rates to win business and maximize profit margins.

Xeneta crowd sources information from some of the world’s leading shippers to provide unique insights into the very latest ocean freight rates. In all, over 160,000 port-to-port pairings are covered by the data, with 110 million data points. The collaboration allows the Oslo-based business to greatly extend its footprint within the market, while Catapult can offer its users a new depth of real-time market insight to enable better, more profitable decision-making.

Paul Mullins, Xeneta CRO, explains: “In short, access to Xeneta’s data will give the Catapult community the ability to quote more quickly, accurately and profitably to customers looking to ship their products.”

“For our company, it gives us greater access to the established Catapult community and pushes the Xeneta brand and market standing on to the next level. It’s an exciting collaboration that we’ve been discussing for the past 18 months, so it’s hugely gratifying to finally be able to roll it out and deliver compelling benefits for customers worldwide.”

Catapult CEO, Virgil Ferreira says “Speaking to the Xeneta team and to our clients we realized that they were using benchmarking data at a global procurement level, or for periodic market analysis, but were finding it difficult to deliver that powerful information in a meaningful and actionable way to their broader team.  We concluded we needed to put the data where the day to day rating decisions are being made, in the rate management system.”

“This is how it works. As a forwarder, for example, you need to provide a quote for a customer that wins your company business, while optimising profit margins. In the new QMS user interface you can compare your organisation’s buy and sell rates to the current Xeneta market benchmark – assessing today’s trends – and tailor your quote accordingly. The result is a far richer level of decision-making, a game-changer in fact, that allows Catapult users to really hit that margin ‘sweet spot’.”

To access the new, integrated QMS user interface, customers must be subscribers to both Catapult, which is owned by Accelya Group, and Xeneta. Existing Xeneta subscribers that now choose to access Catapult will enjoy a lower, combined subscription rate.

Mullins says the two companies “make a great fit”. He notes:

“Our teams have worked closely in the past and we realise the value of Catapult – a platform that leading freight forwarder sales teams utilise day in, day out – while they see the unique industry insight our wealth of data delivers. By displaying data points from both firms in the one interface we can unlock further value from our crowd-sourced intelligence, making it actionable for front line sales teams in a new, organic, easy to use and powerfully beneficial way. This will give users a real competitive advantage in the marketplace, full stop. As such, it’s an important development for the sector.”

Xeneta’s unique reporting and analytics platform is used by customers across the world to provide intelligence, transparency and a degree of predictability to the constantly fluctuating world of ocean freight rates. The companies feeding data into the platform include globally leading shippers such as Electrolux, Continental, Unilever, Lenovo, Nestle, L’Oreal, and Thyssenkrupp, amongst others.

Xeneta is the leading ocean freight rate benchmarking and market intelligence platform transforming the shipping and logistics industry. Xeneta’s powerful reporting and analytics platform provides liner-shipping stakeholders the data they need to understand current and historical market behaviour – reporting live on market average and low/high movements for both short and long-term contracts. Xeneta’s data is comprised of over 110 million contracted container rates and covers over 160,000 global trade routes. Xeneta is a privately held company with headquarters in Oslo, Norway and regional offices in New York and Hamburg. To learn more, please visit www.xeneta.com.

Catapult – An Accelya Group Company, provides technology-enabled solutions for freight forwarders, shippers, and carriers worldwide. Managing over 1 billion cargo rates at over a 99% accuracy rate, Catapult combines air, ocean and ground rate contracts into one simple cloud-based system, enabling operations and sales departments to get their best carrier rate from point A to point B and realize dramatic efficiency improvements. The recently launched QMS 5.0 software focuses on a flexible, fast and accurate quoting experience in the most feature-rich rate management platform in the market. For more information, please visit www.gocatapult.com

For further information please contact:
Katherine Barrios
CMO
Xeneta AS
M: [email protected]