Frequently Asked Questions About the Digital Freight Portal

Digital startups are making big waves in the freight forwarding industry. They’re disrupting a space that has been slow to innovate with shiny new user experiences that make it easier and more attractive to do business with them. Your customers are taking note.

Don’t get left behind in this digital revolution: Magaya can put you on the fast track to digitization with our Digital Freight Portal.

A branded, completely customizable online freight portal, the Digital Freight Portal gets you quickly established as a digital freight forwarder to deliver the transparency, control, and ease of use that modern customers expect.

From schedules to quotes, bookings, tracking, and reporting, we’ve got you covered with a branded and customized web portal that will set your business apart from the rest.

Here are some of the recent questions we’ve received about the Digital Freight Portal:

Q: Does the Digital Freight Portal display net contract rates with each shipping line?

A: You obviously don’t want to display your net rates to your customers, so the rate management engine takes your buying rates right from the various carriers and then applies a margin on them, which is configurable based on customer or group of customers. The rate your customer sees in the Digital Freight Portal is their rate with margin applied. It’s also worth adding that you don’t necessarily have to identify the shipping lines: if you prefer to keep them hidden from customers, that’s an option you can set.

Q: Is there a direct exchange of data between the Digital Freight Portal and various data sources (ie. carriers, terminals, etc.), or a third-party data warehouse required to use the Portal? A: A third-party data warehouse is not needed to operate the Digital Freight Portal, however, most users do use it in conjunction with a rate management system. Typically, data can be displayed in the portal directly from available APIs. Furthermore, we integrate with a number of companies that provide data such as tracking from carriers and terminals.

Q: Are terms and conditions displayed in the Digital Freight Portal?

A: Yes, there’s a section for general terms and conditions, plus you can add special remarks as needed (ie. dangerous cargo restrictions or size/weight limitations for certain trade lanes) directly in the quote. It’s also possible to tie conditions to spot quotes, for example, “must be booked this month,” and/or “cargo must be stackable.” There’s even a button the customer will have to click to agree to the terms and conditions.

Q: Does the Digital Freight Portal support all modes of transport?

A: Yes, the Digital Freight Portal supports FCL and LCL, ocean, air, and land as well as multimodal shipments.

Q: Can the Digital Freight Portal be branded for a unique look and feel?

A: Yes, the Digital Freight Portal can be branded to your look, and even supports an unlimited number of self-managed front ends for multi-brand companies. These can be entirely customized by the freight forwarder. Magaya typically sets up the first page as part of onboarding, but clients can then create pages and customize the look and feel, including website address, images, colors, fonts, landing page copy, and more.

Q: How does the freight forwarder get their rates into their system so they can be searched on the portal? Is that a provided/managed service?

A: The Digital Freight Portal sits on top of a rate management solution. It can also integrate with spot rate engines such as Okargo.

Q: When different currencies are in use, is the exchange rate updated automatically?

A: Yes, the current exchange rates are used, however, the freight forwarder can also adjust them as needed when sending out the bill. For the quote, the official currency exchange rate is always used. A full list of supported currencies can be found here.

Q: Can customers with existing contracts skip the quote and go directly to creating their booking on the Digital Freight Portal?

A: Yes, one of the unique benefits of the Digital Freight Portal is its support for all workflows, with or without a quote as a starting point. Customers who have known contracts do not need a quote for every booking they wish to place. You can also convert a purchase order directly into a booking, copy a previous booking to use it as a template, or even book against the sailing schedule of a carrier that you choose to publish.

Q: Is the Digital Freight Portal only available in English, or are multiple languages supported?

A: As of 22 December 2021, we support English, German, French, Spanish, and Dutch for the landing page, quotation, and sign-up processes. More multi-language support will be added according to demand.

Q: Can any visitor view my rates, as if they were public?

A: This is entirely configurable to suit your needs. By default, the Digital Freight Portal requires new users to be approved before they can view your rates. You can also configure the Digital Freight Portal to bypass this step, effectively making your rates public, if you so choose. In either of these configurations, a visitor will always need to register for an account before they can view your rates.

Q: What happens if I do not have rates for a quotation the customer requests?

A: Your customer can able request a spot rate directly within the Digital Freight Portal. Your operators will receive an email informing them of this request. They can then use the admin panel to post a rate or decline the request. This spot rate request is also available in the event the customer already reviewed rates but wants to ask for a better or different rate.

Still have questions? Want to see the Digital Freight Portal in action? Contact us today for a personalized demo!