PayCargo rolls out services in Europe and beyond

CFG: You met and spoke with many exhibitors and attendees, halted at many stands. What is your impression of the ACE?
JW: An excellent event where the transportation world gathers to exchange information and present new products or concepts. For us, the ACE is the place to be to meet industry representatives, get to know them better, and establish working relationships. We are here with our European crew including Mike White, who came over from the U.S., and is famous to many in this industry. Some even speak of Mike as being a legend [laughs!].

CGF: What is your main goal for being here?
JW: Unlike Mike, it is my first time attending the show. PayCargo opened offices in London and Madrid, and it is our goal to extend our business in Europe and beyond. Dubai opened recently with a strong focus on the Middle East. Currently, more than 70,000 companies across the entire logistics industry utilize PayCargo to facilitate their entire financial obligations and manage their transport-related expenses.

CGF: What exactly does PayCargo offer the logistics world? What makes your business model attractive?
JW: PayCargo is a U.S.-based B2B payment solutions provider for the global cargo and logistics industry, operating 24/7 since 2009. We provide unique electronic tools that automate the payment process for companies in the international supply chain, enabling them to reduce operating costs, increase their profitability and cash flows, and improve their product liquidity.

CFG: Who benefits most from this system? Is it you by getting commissions?
JW: [Laughs] In fact, it’s everybody: from vendor to debtor, and all the ones in between. In Europe, the Payer pays a minor sum of money to the Vendor for the service(s) rendered. This can be €5,00 or amount to €10,000.00 per transaction. The other highly important benefits are that both the Vendor and Payer have less administrative work and enjoy higher invoice accuracy, giving them more time to concentrate on their business activities instead of wasting resources in filling out documents or forms.

CFG: Is PayCargo supplementing IATA’s traditional Cargo Accounts Settlement Systems (CASS) that’s designed to simplify the billing and settling of accounts between forwarding agents and airlines? Or is your product even making CASS superfluous at the end?
JW: I wouldn’t go that far, but we are faster, less bureaucratic, and more agile. Besides these features, the biggest difference is that we are multi-modal, offering our services also to ocean carriers and other transport companies. By the way, one of our biggest customers based in Europe, is shipping line, Hapag-Lloyd. In contrast, CASS services are limited to air carriers and their freight agents. Also, they had to exit India because local banking rules had changed, as they never had a stronghold in Southeast Asia and the Far East. We are currently stepping into these markets which offer enormous future growth potential for the transport business and financial service providers like us.

CFG: What are your expectations for the near future?
JW: Since the start of PayCargo in the United States and Canada, we have expanded into Western and Central Europe. As emphasized, we collaborate with Maritime Vendors (Ocean Carriers and Ports), Payers (Shippers, Freight Forwarders, Custom Brokers), Aviation Vendors (Airlines, Ground Handlers), Rail Vendors and Road Vendors. Meanwhile, we have concluded deals with many European companies.

CFG: So, Europe is a big market for PayCargo?
JW: Indeed. We expect a lot from our customers here and looking forward to contracting more clients especially after this great ACE event.

CFG: We wish you lots of success and thank you for this conversation.

Interview: Gerton Hulsman


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