Cargonautic

For independent freight forwarders

The operating system for freight forwarding.

Quotes, bookings, shipment tracking, documents, and invoices in one branded portal your customers actually want to use. NVOCC tools, warehouse management, dispatch, driver app, and QuickBooks sync — all included.

The problem

Freight forwarding runs on email, Excel, and institutional knowledge that walks out the door.

A customer asks for a quote. It goes to a shared inbox. Someone replies with a PDF. The customer books it over email. A spreadsheet tracks the shipment. The bill of lading lives in someone's Downloads folder. The invoice goes out two weeks late.

Every forwarder knows this workflow. Most have tried to fix it with a CRM, a project management tool, or a custom build that never quite finished. The result is the same: the system doesn't match how freight actually moves.

How it works

From quote request to delivered shipment, one connected workflow.

  1. 01

    Customer requests a quote

    Through your branded portal, the customer fills out a quote request form. It lands in your operations dashboard as a draft with origin, destination, cargo details, all structured. No email parsing, no re-keying.

  2. 02

    You send the quote, customer accepts

    Price it, send it. The customer sees the quote in their portal and accepts with one click. The quote status updates automatically, no chasing, no "did you get my email?"

  3. 03

    Convert to shipment, track in real time

    One click converts the accepted quote into a shipment. Add tracking events as cargo moves. Terminal49 integration pulls container milestones, last free day, and holds automatically. The customer sees the timeline in their portal.

  4. 04

    Invoice, document, and close out

    Generate the invoice from the shipment. Upload the bill of lading, commercial invoice, packing list, all linked to the shipment record. The customer pays through the portal. QuickBooks sync keeps your books in lockstep. Generate branded PDFs with your logo and colors.

NVOCC operations

The tools NVOCCs pay extra for, included from day one.

Most platforms charge separately for NVOCC tooling. Cargonautic ships it all in one package — the same workflow your team already uses for quotes and shipments.

AES filing

Prepare and validate AES export filings with ITN tracking. No separate AESDirect portal.

EDI manifesting

Generate UN/EDIFACT messages — BAPLIE, COPRAR, COARRI, CUSCAR, IFTMIN — and transmit to your VAN.

Air compliance

e-AWB, ACAS, AFR JP24, and ICS2 ENS filing data generation with status tracking.

B/L release

Telex release, seaway bill, and original bill workflows with a full audit trail.

Consolidation planner

Group house bills into containers by destination, weight, and volume. LCL cost allocation.

Vessel allocation

Track committed vs. booked vs. available vessel slots in real time.

HBL/MBL reconciliation

Reconcile house bills against master bills with automatic variance flagging.

Container aging & demurrage

Track containers aging beyond 20 days. Terminal49 pulls last free day and generates alerts.

Pre-alert & ASN

Package HBL, invoice, and packing list into shipper notification emails in one click.

FMC compliance

Track OTI bond status, tariff filing deadlines, and quarterly report due dates.

Multi-currency settlement

Settle charges in native currencies with live ECB reference rates.

AI email intake

AI parses inbound shipping emails into structured shipment data. No manual entry.

Who it's for

Independent NVOCCs and freight forwarders who want their own branded portal without building it from scratch.

If you're running 50 to 5,000 shipments a month, still managing quotes in email, and your customers are asking for a way to track their cargo online, Cargonautic gives you that portal in days, not months. Your brand, your domain, your workflows. We handle the infrastructure, security, and hosting.

Warehouse management (WMS)

Receiving, inventory, pick orders, and 3PL billing rates. Track pallets, cartons, SKUs, lot numbers, LPNs, expiration dates, and serial numbers. Full CFS devanning and location assignment.

Dispatch & trucking (TMS)

Create loads, assign drivers, track trucks. Manage your fleet with unit numbers, VINs, and plates. Dispatch dashboard shows active loads, daily deliveries, and weekly revenue.

Driver app with biometric auth

Native iOS and Android app for drivers. Face ID / Touch ID login, load assignments, status updates, and BOL/POD photo capture. Works offline. Haptic feedback and native share.

Purchase orders & payables

Create POs for carriers, agents, truckers, warehouses, and customs brokers. Track carrier payables with due dates and payment status. Full shipment costing with margin analysis.

Reports & profitability

Lane analysis, customer rankings, AR aging buckets, and per-shipment profitability. See revenue, costs, and margin percentage on every shipment.

Agent management

Overseas agent roster with commission rates, booking tracking, settlements, and performance scores.

Integrations

QuickBooks OnlineTerminal49 container trackingStripe billingAI document extractionPush notificationsResend email

Stop forwarding spreadsheets. Start forwarding freight.

Book a 20-minute demo. We'll show you the portal with your branding on it.