INTTRA and Catapult Partner to Bring Integrated Rate Management to Global Market

Agreement combines Catapult International’s rate and contract management offering with INTTRA’s global e-shipping solutions to deliver next generation shipping capability.

Parsippany, NJ, April 29th, 2014 — INTTRA, the world’s largest multi-carrier e-commerce network for ocean shipping, today announced a strategic agreement with Catapult International, a leading provider of multi-modal rate and contract management systems for the logistics industry, to sell integrated rate and contract management capabilities to freight forwarders, shippers and carriers that use INTTRA’s global e-shipping solutions.

The agreement brings together two market-leading solutions to automate the complete shipping process—from carrier rate, schedule, and booking selection through ocean freight invoicing. Integrating accurate rate information directly into the e-shipping lifecycle will create efficiencies for freight forwarders, shippers and carriers by enabling automation, eliminating duplicate manual entries and improving the accuracy of shipment information.

Additionally, the combination of Catapult’s global rate information and margin analysis capabilities with INTTRA’s database of carrier performance and operational metrics will provide 3PLs, freight forwarders and shippers with valuable insight to enhance supply chain execution and profitability. This includes the ability to evaluate the impact of historical carrier utilization to drive more informed carrier selections in the future and gain better visibility into logistics improvements.

Targeting Top Challenges

Carrier Rate Management and Carrier Contract Management rank as two of the industry’s top pain points , due to a lack of integration and a reliance on manual processes. By joining the rate management capabilities of Catapult—which has more than 1 billion rates and a 99.7 percent accuracy rate—with INTTRA’s global multi-carrier solution, the companies address these issues through a centralized, automated and collaborative platform linking freight forwarders, shippers and carriers.

INTTRA’s booking capability will now be integrated into Catapult’s rate and contract system, allowing freight forwarders and shippers to use Catapult’s solution to view their privately negotiated carrier rates, schedules and contract details, book using the INTTRA platform, and carry the rate information into INTTRA’s e-shipment solutions. Catapult also enables 3PL’s and freight forwarders to provide quick quotes to shippers and ensure margin preservation by eliminating quoting errors, even in decentralized, multi-location organizations.

INTTRA’s history of success was accomplished by automating and optimizing each part of the ocean shipping process, and we recognized the need to take on the rate and contract management challenge,” said Sandra Moran, Chief Marketing Officer, INTTRA. “Bringing Catapult’s comprehensive set of rate and contract management capabilities to the INTTRA network introduces new efficiencies and cost-savings, while providing the insight necessary to make the right logistics choices. This is a key step forward in our vision to provide the best online destination for companies to manage all of their e-shipping needs.”

Rate Integration Drives Customer Benefits

Carriers can use Catapult’s offerings to improve their tender management process and provide faster responses to ‘requests for quotes’, with a solution that maps unique shipper, freight forwarder and 3PL bid packets into a format carriers can easily respond to. Additionally, carriers can automatically distribute rate and surcharge changes to Catapult’s subscribed customers—without additional data entry and distribution by either party—reducing costs and increasing rate accuracy for all parties.

INTTRA also plans to integrate rate information into the e-shipping lifecycle to improve the Order to Cash process. With better visibility into this process, customers can be assured of accurate rates from the start, decreasing invoice disputes and enhancing customer experiences.

“As a customer of INTTRA and Catapult, we are excited that these two companies are partnering to improve the ocean shipping process,” said Graeme Robinson, Executive Vice President, JAS Worldwide. “We see immediate efficiency and cost-savings benefits by integrating rate management with our overall shipping e-commerce operations and procedures. JAS Worldwide looks forward toworking with both of these valuable partners to help bring our rates, contracts and operational performance metrics together to further streamline and improve our client service offerings.“

“Our company was founded on the idea of helping freight forwarders and shippers get their rate quotes in seconds instead of days,” said Matt Motsick, CEO of Catapult. “Working with INTTRA extends this idea by bringing together Catapult’s leading rate management technology with INTTRA’s multi-carrier e-shipping network, enabling thousands of companies around the world to make faster, more informed shipping decisions to drive greater internal efficiency, preserve margins through accurate quoting, and win more business with rapid customer response.”

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