The Most Important Integrations You Will Find When Using Logistaas’s Freight Forwarding Software

Originally published October 2023.

A freight forwarding TMS integrates with six categories of external system: carrier platforms (air and ocean), customs authorities, e-invoicing authorities, accounting software, exchange rate sources, and shipment visibility providers. Each integration exists to remove one specific act of re-typing, and if it doesn’t remove re-typing, it isn’t worth having.

Why integrations decide whether a TMS actually saves time

A forwarder’s day is spent in more systems than the TMS. The carrier’s portal. The customs portal. The tax authority’s e-invoicing gateway. The accounting package. A rate platform. A tracking site.

A TMS with no integrations does not reduce that, it adds a seventh window. The shipment gets entered in the TMS and in the carrier portal. Charges get entered in the TMS and in the accounting system. That’s worse than before.

An integrated TMS inverts the relationship. The shipment record becomes the source, and the other systems receive from it. The forwarder works in one place; the connections do the rest.

So the useful question when evaluating a platform is not “how many integrations do you have?” It is: which of the windows I currently have open would this close?

The six categories, and what each one removes

1. Air carrier platforms, electronic air waybills (eAWB)

What it removes: typing AWB details into a carrier or forwarder portal after already entering them on the job.

The paper air waybill is largely gone. eAWB platforms transmit air waybill data electronically to carriers, and the exchange is validated on the way through, so format errors surface before the shipment does.

Logistaas connects to Champ’s Traxon CargoHub, Descartes, Cargonaut, CCNhub and Chain.io for air. AWB details entered once on the shipment are submitted electronically rather than re-keyed.

2. Ocean carrier platforms, bookings, shipping instructions, container tracking

What it removes: re-entering booking requests and shipping instructions in carrier portals, and manually checking container status.

Ocean connectivity covers three distinct flows that are often bundled together but shouldn’t be: sending the booking request, sending shipping instructions, and receiving container status back. A platform that does only the first is doing a third of the job.

Logistaas connects via Chain.io for booking requests, shipping instructions and container tracking, and via CargoFive for instant ocean rate access, covered separately in Logistaas & CargoFive: Your Shortcut to Instant Ocean Freight Quotes.

3. Customs integrations

What it removes: re-keying declaration data into a national customs portal, and the delay of finding out about a rejection by email.

Customs integrations are the most market-specific category on this list. There is no universal standard, connectivity is built country by country, which is why this is the category to check hardest against your own operating markets before signing anything.

Logistaas currently connects to Dubai Customs, Mexico (AMANAC), the US Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), Uruguay Customs, and Trade Tech.

4. E-invoicing and tax authority connectivity

What it removes: the entire parallel process of producing a compliant invoice in a government portal after producing an invoice in your own system.

This has moved from convenience to obligation. A growing list of countries mandates real-time or near-real-time invoice reporting to the tax authority, each with its own format and clearance model. A forwarder operating in five countries can face five different mandates.

Logistaas supports e-invoicing across 30+ countries, including country-specific implementations for Mexico (CFDI), Hungary (NAV Online), Italy, Portugal, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Serbia and Turkey, plus Peppol connectivity used across much of Europe. More detail in Simplify Global Compliance with Logistaas E-Invoicing in 30+ Countries.

If you operate in a country with an active mandate, this is not a “nice to have” integration, it is the difference between an invoice being legally valid and not.

5. Accounting software

What it removes: the double entry of charges, and the month-end reconciliation that double entry creates.

This is the integration with the largest and most under-appreciated payoff, because charge re-entry is where operational data and financial data go out of sync.

There are two valid answers here, and they suit different companies:

• Native accounting inside the TMS. Charges posted on the job are already in the ledger. No sync, no lag, no reconciliation. Logistaas offers this through its accounting module.
• Integration with the accounting system you already run. For companies with an established finance stack or group reporting requirements, replacing the ledger is not on the table.

Logistaas integrates with QuickBooks, SAP, SAP B1, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Sage, Zoho, Odoo, TallyPrime, Fortnox, e-conomic, AutoCount, PayTraq, Dolphin and Siigo.

We compared the two approaches in Freight Forwarding Software with Built-In Accounting (and Accounting Software Integrations).

6. Exchange rates and visibility

Exchange rates. what it removes: manually looking up and applying a daily rate, then arguing about which rate was used.

Forwarders bill in one currency, pay in another, and report in a third. Automated rate feeds mean the rate applied to a job is the official published rate for that date, which ends the reconciliation debate. Logistaas pulls from XE, the Bank of Canada, the National Bank of Romania and the National Bank of Georgia.

Visibility. what it removes: opening carrier tracking sites to answer “where is my shipment?”

Multi-carrier visibility providers aggregate tracking so status arrives in the shipment record rather than being fetched on request. Logistaas integrates with Wakeo for this, see Smarter Freight Tracking: Elevating Real-Time Visibility With Wakeo.

Summary table

The live list is maintained on the Logistaas integrations page.

Two questions to ask any TMS vendor about integrations

Vendors rarely lie about integrations. They are frequently vague. These two questions remove the vagueness:

1. Is it two-way, or one-way?

A one-way push saves you a data entry. A two-way connection also brings the response back — booking confirmation, customs rejection, container milestone. One-way is half an integration.

2. Is it live for my country, or on the roadmap?

This matters most for customs and e-invoicing, where “we support e-invoicing” can mean nine countries that don’t include yours. Ask for the specific country.

Frequently Asked Questions

What integrations does freight forwarding software need?

At minimum: carrier connectivity for the modes you handle (eAWB for air, booking and container tracking for ocean), customs connectivity for your operating countries, e-invoicing where a mandate applies, and accounting, either native or integrated. Exchange rates and multi-carrier visibility follow closely behind.

What is an eAWB integration?

An eAWB integration transmits air waybill data electronically from your TMS to airlines and their platforms, replacing paper air waybills and manual entry into carrier portals. Logistaas connects to Champ’s Traxon CargoHub, Descartes, Cargonaut, CCNhub and Chain.io.

Does Logistaas integrate with QuickBooks and SAP?

Yes. Logistaas integrates with QuickBooks, SAP, SAP B1, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Sage, Zoho, Odoo, TallyPrime and several others. It also includes a native accounting module for forwarders who would rather not run a separate ledger at all.

How many countries does Logistaas support for e-invoicing?

Over 30, including country-specific implementations for Mexico (CFDI), Hungary (NAV Online), Italy, Portugal, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Serbia and Turkey, plus Peppol connectivity across much of Europe.

Do integrations cost extra?

It varies by integration and by vendor. Ask specifically whether an integration is included in the licence, billed separately, or requires your own contract with the third-party provider — and confirm it before implementation rather than after.

What is the difference between an integration and an API?

An API is the technical interface a system exposes. An integration is a working, maintained connection built on top of one. A vendor saying “we have an API” is saying the connection is possible; a vendor saying “we have a live integration with X” is saying it already exists.

Want to know whether your specific carriers, customs authority and accounting system are covered? Schedule a free demo and ask directly.