DDS Logistics and SOGET strike partnership deal to provide port communities with integrated solutions
The two actors are to make their respective freight management software and port single window offerings interoperable to help forwarders optimize their maritime transport chains and make them faster.
DDS Logistics (French number 1 for transport planning TMS software) and SOGET (the leading French Cargo Community System operator) have signed a partnership agreement aimed at ensuring the interoperability of their respective solutions, namely DDS Freight transport management and tracing software and AP+ Cargo Community System (CCS). The latter is a platform that automates administrative, logistic and customs procedures for port communities and optimizes operations and traceability of goods in ports (import, export, transshipments…). DDS Freight is also to be distributed by SOGET as part of the deal.
Interfaces will be developed jointly by the R&D teams of the two computer solutions leaders. The first interfaces between AP+ and DDS Freight have already been developed and are available on the market in SaaS mode and as licenses. The interface portfolio will be further expanded to meet forwarders’ specific needs.
The partnership arose as a response to a simple fact: “Many forwarders and agents operating in port areas are under equipped in terms of information systems to manage their operations, sometimes not equipped at all” SOGET CEO Jacques Ritt explains. “To strengthen our growth, we wanted to offer a high-performance additional service that is in sync with our system”.
For DDS Logistics, what is at stake is twofold. Partnering up with the French Cargo Community System leader will beef up the company’s software offering. With the new system, the users’ work will be easier and processes, whether for administrative procedures or at the operational level, will be faster, especially because the same information will no longer have to be entered twice. For instance, a tracing event such as the arrival of a ship can be integrated automatically in DDS Freight. This partnership opens many commercial prospects, DDS Logistics CEO Jérôme Bour explains: “AP+ CCS is an acknowledged and tested system. It is used by SOGET at the ports of Le Havre, Rouen, Honfleur, Caen, Nantes Saint-Nazaire, Pointe-à-Pitre, as well as Mauritius. We hope to benefit from the strong ties between SOGET and the forwarders of these ports to strengthen our foothold in the maritime sector.”
Another asset for DDS Logistics is the market’s upturn. “After a few difficult years, there are signs that the forwarders market is picking up. We want to have a competitive advantage when it recovers for good” Jérôme Bour concludes.
The two partners have decided to create a common taskforce (a sales force) in charge of distributing this integrated offering and bring their know-how to forwarders.
