Freightos joins IATA Digitalization Leadership Charter

Freightos has joined the IATA Digitalization Leadership Charter to support broader adoption of interoperable digital connectivity standards across the global air cargo ecosystem. The vendor-neutral global freight pricing, booking and procurement platform said the Charter focuses on five core industry priorities. These include driving industry-wide interoperability and global data standards; strengthening digital resilience and cybersecurity readiness; accelerating sustainable and paperless cargo operations; advancing digital excellence through innovation and automation; and promoting ethical and responsible adoption of emerging technologies, including AI. "Real-time digital connectivity and interoperable data exchange are becoming increasingly important across global freight workflows," said Pablo Pinillos, chief executive and interim chief financial officer. "As the leading vendor-neutral digital freight network, we believe industry collaboration and common standards are important to reducing integration friction and enabling more efficient connectivity across carriers, forwarders, shippers and technology providers. "Over time, we believe this kind of connectivity will help shape a more agile, intelligent and resilient global freight ecosystem, and we look forward to working alongside other participants in the Charter to support that progress." "We are pleased to welcome Freightos to the IATA Cargo Digital Leadership Charter," said Jonathan Parkinson, head of cargo digitalization at IATA. "Digital transformation requires collaboration across the entire air cargo ecosystem, and the participation of leading digital platforms helps strengthen our collective efforts to advance data sharing, interoperability, and the adoption of industry standards such as ONE Record."

JNPA grants ground rent relief as truck shortages clog box flows

Indian shippers using container terminals at Nhava Port (JNPA) have won some respite from penalties on containers they had been unable to evacuate on time, due to recent truck capacity shortages and yard congestion. JNPA has agreed to grant a flat 50% waiver on ground rent charges for import containers that overstayed because of the logjam. Typically, port ground rent comes into play after eight free-storage days. The authority said import boxes that landed in the wharf on or after 1 May and gated out on or before 20 June would quality for the relief. "Due to a shortage of trailer drivers during April-May, CFSs [container freight stations] and DPD [direct port delivery] importers were unable to evacuate import containers in a timely manner, causing inventory build-up and extended container dwell inside port terminals," JNPA said. "ln recognition of the hardship caused to importers - though the responsibility for evacuation rests with CFSs and factory/business owners -JNPA has decided to offer the relief," it added. The move follows growing pressure from industry groups and stakeholder interventions with government-level shipping policymakers, mainly officials at the Ministry of Shipping. While welcoming the relief announcement, trade stakeholders are seeking long-term structural improvements at the port to handle any kind of volume surges from seasonal patterns or unexpected events. "Addressing the root cause is more critical than compensating for the consequence," one industry source told The Loadstar. JNPA in March implemented a raft of concessions in storage and other tariffs for containers stranded in the harbour as a result of Middle East shipping service suspensions. Adani Ports' Mundra Port similarly responded with tariff relief for affected Persian Gulf trades following government directives. Inland service pressure has also been a major concern at Mundra in recent weeks, resulting from truck driver shortages and rail cargo evacuation issues. But any kind of demurrage relief there for imports remains elusive, according to industry sources. Last week, container train operators (CTOs) escalated their frustration at managing cargo movement out of Mundra in an increasingly difficult environment. Concerns ranged from their inability to operate trains at targeted loading plans, due to congested marshalling yards and poor train placements by authorities, including for double-stack operations. "Despite having engaged with the port regularly, CTOs have been unable to find any sustained relief to our problems," the Association of Container Train Operators (ACTO) complained. "We remain willing to engage with the Adani team to resolve issues, but in the absence of any positive response will be forced to consider stronger action at our end including reserving our rights to withhold port dues that are resulting for no fault of our own," it warned. Meanwhile, container volumes at JNPA have gained stronger pace in the past two months, thanks to higher transhipment cargo handling linked to Middle East-linked diversions, data indicates. The port's combined April/May throughput was up 13% year on year, to 1.5m teu, according to the data.

Flexport-Freightmate case tests ownership of AI freight data and workflows

The legal battle between Flexport and freight-tech start-up Freightmate is increasingly becoming a test case for a question facing logistics tech companies: in the age of AI, is the most valuable intellectual property the code itself, or the data and workflows behind it? While the case began as a trade secrets dispute, involving former employees allegedly taking company information to launch a rival business, recent court filings show the fight has shifted towards freight datasets, AI prompts, cloud infrastructure, and the records generated during AI product development. The latest development came this month when Flexport filed a sanctions motion accusing Freightmate and its founders of failing to preserve key electronic evidence. Flexport alleges that former employees Yingwei (Jason) Zhao and Bryan Lacaillade downloaded large quantities of company information before leaving to establish Freightmate, which included thousands of shipment-linked documents associated with Flexport's internal freight forwarding platform. According to court filings, many of those documents were later deleted from Freightmate systems. Flexport now argues that potentially relevant records relating to Google Cloud Platform resources, ChatGPT activity, AI prompts, and development workflows were also not adequately preserved after litigation became reasonably foreseeable. The company contends that the missing records could have helped determine whether Flexport information was used in the development of Freightmate's Docmate platform, an AI-powered system designed to automate the processing and validation of shipping documents. Freightmate disputes the allegations, and has argued that Flexport materials were removed as part of a "clean room" process. It says Flexport has already been given access to its Git repository and source code history. According to Freightmate's filings, review of the codebase has not identified any copying of Flexport code. The dispute has increasingly centred on forensic evidence rather than software itself. Flexport is seeking access to cloud-based development records and other digital artefacts it believes could show how Docmate was built, while Freightmate argues many of the requests are unnecessary, given the discovery already provided. And the outcome could have implications beyond the parties involved. As logistics companies invest heavily in AI tools capable of classifying shipping documents, extracting data, and automating operational processes, courts are likely to see more disputes over whether proprietary datasets, prompts, and automation workflows qualify for the same legal protections traditionally afforded to source code. The next key milestone will be next month, when the court is due to hear Flexport's sanctions motion. A ruling could determine not only what evidence remains in play, but also provide an early indication of how courts may treat AI development records, datasets, and prompts in future logistics technology disputes.