Freight forwarding runs on documents, milestones, and free-time clocks. When those live in spreadsheets and email, containers go dark, demurrage stacks up, and margin leaks a few dollars per shipment. We build the systems that hold it together.
Freight forwarding, container visibility, and port operations software built for how ocean freight actually moves
Carrier, EDI, and port integrations scoped as the highest-risk dependency, not an afterthought
Customs, documentation, and demurrage workflows that cut manual effort and avoidable fees
A multi-carrier shipping platform connecting 70+ countries
The problem
Forwarding operations spread across spreadsheets, email, and a carrier portal, so every booking gets re-keyed and no two people see the same shipment status?
Demurrage and detention fees showing up on the invoice because nobody was tracking free time on the container while it sat at the terminal?
Short answer
RaftLabs builds freight forwarding software for forwarders, NVOCCs, and cargo owners: quotes, bookings, shipment files, container visibility, customs documentation, and demurrage control. We build on multi-carrier platform experience, including one connecting 70+ countries and four global carriers in one workflow. Most builds ship in 12 to 20 weeks at a fixed cost; a focused build runs $45K to $95K.
Who this is for
Freight forwarders
Quotes, bookings, and shipment files in one system instead of workarounds.
NVOCCs
Visibility and demurrage tracked across the containers you actually move.
Cargo owners
A container visibility portal your team and your customers read.
Multi-mode operators
A platform that survives carrier, EDI, and ERP integration instead of being defined by it.
01 Diagnosis
Your forwarding operation runs on spreadsheets and email
Freight forwarding software should hold one shipment file that every role can see. Instead, that file lives in one spreadsheet, the booking confirmation in an inbox, the documents in a shared drive, and the status in a carrier portal nobody keeps open. Every handoff re-keys data that already exists somewhere, and two people looking at the same shipment often see two different answers. The cost is not just wasted hours. It is the missed cut-off, the wrong container number on a bill of lading, and the customer who calls because they cannot get a straight status. A forwarding operations system that holds the quote, booking, documents, and milestones in one file, with one version of the truth, removes the re-keying and the drift.
Containers go dark between the terminal and the door
Ocean visibility breaks at the seams between parties. The carrier knows when the box is discharged, the terminal knows when it leaves the gate, the trucker knows when it is delivered, and none of that reaches one screen without work. When your team cannot answer "where is my container" without three phone calls, the customer stops trusting the status and starts calling for everything. Milestone tracking that pulls carrier, terminal, and inland events into one timeline, with exception alerts when a box misses a planned date, turns status from a phone tree into a page you can look at.
Demurrage and detention fees arrive as a surprise
Free time is a clock that starts the moment a container is discharged or leaves the gate, and the fee for blowing past it is discovered, too often, on the invoice weeks later. By then the money is gone and the dispute is hard to win because nobody kept the timeline. A system that tracks each container's free-time clock, warns your team before it expires, and holds the gate and discharge timestamps as dispute evidence moves the fight from after the fee to before it. That is the only place it can actually be won.
Off-the-shelf platforms don't fit how you move freight
Generic forwarding and TMS platforms assume a standard shape: standard modes, standard documents, standard billing. Real operations are not standard. You carry a mode or a lane the platform handles badly, a customer who needs a document format the vendor does not support, or a billing rule that does not fit the template. So your team works around the software, and the per-shipment and integration fees keep climbing anyway. Custom software fits the operation instead of the other way around, and the build pays back once the subscription and surcharge line crosses what an owned system costs to run.
02 What we ship
The operational core for a forwarder or NVOCC: quotes, bookings, shipment files, and the documents that move with them, bill of lading, commercial invoice, packing list, and certificate of origin. Versioned documents, one shipment file, and a status every role can see. Built to fit your modes and lanes, not a generic template.
Milestone tracking that pulls carrier, terminal, and inland events into a single timeline, planned versus actual dates, and exception alerts when a shipment misses a date. A customer-facing portal so shippers can self-serve status instead of calling your desk.
Operational software for ports and terminals: berth, yard, and gate scheduling, container and equipment moves, and the reporting that keeps the operation and its customers aligned. Built to sit alongside the terminal and port community systems you already run.
Vessel schedules and voyage data, maintenance and inspection records, and crew or bunker tracking for operators who run their own tonnage. AIS vessel-position data brought in where it helps the operation, not just the dashboard.
The document and data workflow behind a customs entry, generation, versioning, and routing, connected to your licensed broker or filing system. Duty and landed-cost calculations where the operation needs them. We build the software; your broker owns the filing.
Free-time tracking from gate-out or discharge, alerts before the clock expires, and the timestamp evidence to dispute an incorrect charge. Built to prevent fees, not just reconcile them after they land.
Integrations
Carriers, EDI partners, and accounting connect into one workflow, because integrations drive most of the scope.
03 Buy, build, or wait
The maritime software question is really about whether your freight operation fits the platform or has outgrown it.
Buy or rent
A TMS or forwarding platform, while your operation fits its data model
Faster to start and fine when standard modes, documents, and billing match how you move freight.
Wait, while per-shipment and integration fees stay small
Keep renting while the subscription line is smaller than what an owned system costs to run.
Build custom
When the platform forces workarounds for your lanes or modes
Your team works around the software instead of the software fitting the operation.
When per-shipment and integration surcharges eat margin
Once the recurring surcharges become a standing line item, the custom build usually pays back.
When you need workflows the vendor does not support
Custom documents, billing rules, or visibility views that no configuration produces.
Bottom line
Stay on the platform while your operation fits its data model and the fees stay reasonable. Build when the workarounds or the surcharges cost more than owning the system.
04 How we work
Two to three weeks mapping how your operation actually runs: the modes and lanes you carry, the documents that move with a shipment, and every system the software has to talk to. That means carriers, EDI trading partners, port systems, and your ERP or accounting. This step surfaces the integration requirements that cause rework when they are discovered mid-build.
We design the data model around shipments, containers, and documents, the objects your operation actually works in, and the integration layer for carrier and EDI feeds. The highest-risk integration, usually a carrier or port connection, is prototyped in the first sprint because it is the most common cause of a timeline slip.
You review working software every two weeks, not wireframes. Each sprint ships a usable slice: the shipment file, then documents, then visibility, then the demurrage clock. Scope is fixed and priced before the build, so the number does not move unless you change what you are building.
We test every integration against real trading-partner and carrier data, not just a sandbox, because EDI and carrier feeds fail in ways a sandbox never shows. You get a documented, tested system, your data in your control, and a handover so your team or ours can run it.
Trusted by
05 Track record
08 Why us
09 Questions
It is the software that runs ocean freight and the businesses around it: freight forwarding and NVOCC operations, container and vessel visibility, port and terminal operations, customs and documentation workflows, and demurrage and detention control. It overlaps with general logistics software (warehouse, fleet, last-mile), but the maritime work is scoped to ocean freight specifically, and we cross-link to our logistics practice when a project spans both.
Yes. Carrier bookings and milestone events, EDI feeds in X12 and EDIFACT, port and terminal systems, and AIS vessel data are standard integration targets. Each is scoped during discovery, and the highest-risk one is prototyped in the first sprint. Integration work is usually the largest single variable in a maritime build, so we treat it as the primary risk from day one.
A focused single-system build typically runs $45K to $95K over 10 to 16 weeks. A multi-mode forwarding platform with carrier, EDI, and ERP integration typically runs $130K to $300K over 4 to 6 months. We scope every project before pricing. Fixed cost, agreed before work starts. A discovery phase scopes the integrations, because integrations drive most of the variance.
No. We often build alongside a platform you keep, adding the workflow it handles badly, connecting the systems it does not, or replacing only the part that is costing you. If a full replacement is the right call, we scope it honestly, but the default is to fit what you already run rather than force a rip-and-replace.
By putting the integration risk first. Carrier, EDI, and port integrations are where maritime projects slip, so we prototype the riskiest one in the first sprint, test against real trading-partner data rather than a sandbox, and fix the scope and price before the build starts. You review working software every two weeks, so surprises surface early while they are still cheap to fix.
Tell us how you move freight, which systems you run, and where the operation is leaking time or margin. We'll tell you how we'd approach it.
