New digital import/export platform launched

Seattle-based Globatom is aiming to transition sourcing, transportation and trade compliance processes typically handled by forwarders to shippers in an electronic format.    A new digital marketplace, founded by a former global sourcing and logistics executive and intended to simplify the import and export processes for shippers, is launching today.
   The platform, called Globatom, is aimed at bringing the sometimes murky details inherent in the global forwarding process into a more transparent digital environment, said founder Daniel Acosta.
   The platform takes certain shipment details from a shipper – origin, destination, transit time required, packaging details – and specifies which mode and route are best suited to that shipment. The system also generates the transportation and compliance documents relevant to the shipment based on the Incoterms under which is it moving.
   The idea, Acosta said, is to reduce a shipper’s reliance on forwarder relationships that aren’t strategic, and to give shippers more control over their end-to-end import/export processes, starting with sourcing at origin. This stemmed from personal experiences Acosta had with shipments being poorly consolidated in Asia, which led to downstream impacts that multiplied in cost.
   “You need to do things the right way from the beginning,” he said. “It’s like packing a car on a trip. When you pack things strategically, you know where things are. When you pack things without that, you don’t know where the kids’ cookies are. The more people that touch your product, the more costly your supply chain is.”
   Acosta is partnering with freight brokerage firms in Asia to link domestic transportation providers at origin, and is also in discussions with ocean carriers to secure capacity. Globatom will also work with product quality assurance labs, companies that perform audits of vendors at origin to assure that goods meet standards before they even get into the pipeline.
   “Globatom provides a unique comprehensive approach that will revolutionize, simplify and illuminate the import/export process over the next decade much as the internet has transformed other industries such as newspapers, television and advertising,” he said in a statement.
   Seattle-based Globatom said it will complete beta testing in the fall and is eyeing further seed investment for potential future development.