Descartes acquires Portrix Logistics software

Descartes Systems Group, the global leader in uniting logistics-intensive businesses in commerce, announced that it has acquired Portrix Logistics Software (Portrix), a leading provider of multimodal rate management solutions for logistics services providers (LSPs).

Headquartered in Germany, Portrix has been helping its customers, which include some of the world’s largest LSPs, streamline and automate complex global shipping rate management processes for more than 10 years. The company’s core product, Global Price Management (GPM), is used by customers to enable global shipment routing, pricing, rating and capacity allocation management. Portrix’s solutions integrate with key systems that need fast, accurate, and complete shipping and pricing options, including CRM, transportation management, and customer-facing online booking platforms, such as Descartes Kontainers.

“Automated rate management tools are critical for LSPs looking to digitize the customer experience,” said Henning Voss, co-founder of Portrix and now VP Product Management, Rate Management Solutions at Descartes. “As the momentum for digitization accelerates, the demand for our solutions continues to grow. In particular, we’ve seen an increase in demand for an integrated Descartes Kontainers-Portrix solution, making the decision to combine with Descartes a logical next step for the business and our customers. We’re looking forward to taking our existing partnership with Descartes to the next level.”

“The logistics industry is really seeing the benefits that digitization and automation can deliver,” said Edward J. Ryan, Descartes’ CEO. “LSPs that don’t increase their investments in this part of their business risk struggling with higher costs to serve and an inferior customer experience. Our investment in Portrix, combined with our recent investments in Kontainers and QuestaWeb, allows us to offer a truly differentiated end-to-end product for LSPs looking to digitize their operations with a pre-integrated solution. Our best-of-breed rate management and online booking tools can also help customers looking to enhance their operations while preserving investments in their existing back-office systems.”

Portrix is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany. Descartes acquired Portrix for approximately EUR 22 million ($US 26.7 million), satisfied from cash on hand.