Freight & Trade Alliance (FTA) received the following update from Zubin Appoo (Chief Executive Officer – WiseTech Global)
Hi Paul,
Thank you again for the work you do for the industry and for the constructive discussions you've had with me over the past week. As you know, the shift to the CargoWise Value Packs represents a significant change for the industry. With change of this scale, questions and concerns are natural. Our role at WiseTech is to lead the industry forward, especially as AI rapidly reshapes global logistics. Your associations also play a vital leadership role in helping members understand not just what is changing, but why the industry must evolve and how these changes ultimately strengthen their competitiveness.
To support you in those conversations, here are clear talking points you can share directly with your members.
1. Why WiseTech is changing the commercial model
- AI is fundamentally reshaping logistics operations and the economics of labor.
- CargoWise now automates high-value tasks such as classification, compliance, data extraction and workflows with precision and speed previously unattainable.
- Seat-based licensing (STL) becomes obsolete in an AI-driven world where labor inputs drop more than 50%+ and many tasks no longer require significant human intervention.
- We can see the impact of AI coming very quickly and we need a commercial model that aligns to transactions alone and the value delivered by automation, not headcount.
2. What customers receive under the Value Packs
- Hundreds of included features, including 100+ capabilities many customers previously did not have, and many that directly benefit the importer or exporter.
- All AI capabilities included, including AI Classification Assistant, ComplianceWise, AI Chatbot, plus upcoming Agentic AI Workflow and AI Management Engines.
- No more seat fees. No more standard CargoWise cloud fees.
- A single, simple, predictable commercial structure tied to logistics transactions and value created by the capabilities and automations CargoWise provides to the logistics customer.
- In the default configuration this CargoWise Automation Fee is automatically passed on to the LSP's customer.
3. What this means for productivity
- Our CargoWise customers (and their customers) will see major labor savings, reduced offshore dependence, and improved quality, reliability and speed.
- Skilled local staff become more valuable, focusing on exception management and higher-value tasks instead of repetitive admin.
- These changes position freight forwarders, customs brokers, and logistics service providers to operate with significantly higher margins and throughput.
4. Industry-standard cost recovery
- The CargoWise Automation Fee can be passed through to exporters, importers and supply chain customers just like existing disbursements (terminal fees, customs entry fees, duties, taxes, biosecurity charges, detention/storage, etc.).
- Therefore, no more seat fee overheads or standard cloud hosting overheads to the forwarding or customs agent and a very transparent "community priced" transaction fee.
- Many forwarders already recover the CargoWise transaction fee; however, this new approach bundles all the cost, simplifies and formalizes with a clear and transparent mechanism.
- In a competitive market, this means customers can recover the entire cost of CargoWise, effectively making the platform cost-neutral while still gaining massive productivity benefits.
5. Supporting documentation for customers
Since 31 October 2025, we've provided our customers with documentation to support the transition, detailing:
1. CargoWise Value Packs
2. CargoWise Value Pack features
3. CargoWise Value Pack Community Pricing | CargoWise
4. CargoWise Value Pack FAQ | CargoWise
5. CargoWise Value Pack for Shippers, Importers and Exporters | CargoWise
We will continue to support education, clarity and transitional guidance.
6. WiseTech's investment and commitment
- WiseTech have invested close to US$1bn in product development over the last 5 years and continue to invest heavily into innovation across AI, and CargoWise Next. This year alone we are investing $350m in R&D to further automate the industry.
- This is a fundamental industry shift required to deliver far greater capability at scale.
- The purpose is to align economics with the deep automation we are delivering to industry.
7. The benefits for members
- A simpler, more predictable commercial model.
- Significant automation and productivity uplift.
- Ability to recover costs from the end-customer (if they choose to).
- Access to all new features and innovations in a high value bundle without incremental licensing pain and complexity.
- A future-proof model aligned to the next decade of AI-driven logistics which will able WiseTech to redouble efforts to use AI and deeper automation without which the labor reductions would be dramatically damaging under the old STL model.
We fully recognize that this is a major industry transition, and major transitions require leadership, clarity and partnership. WiseTech's responsibility is to drive innovation and set the industry up for long-term success and we're committed to working together with you to support your members in understanding the broader context and encouraging them to think beyond the immediate concerns. Together, we can help the sector move confidently into a more efficient, more automated and more globally competitive future.
I'm available to discuss further or join a session or webinar with your team.
Regards,
Zubin