Logistics technology: Descartes acquires Dexx, increases European presence

Jeff Berman, Group News Editor -- Logistics Management, 10/10/2008

WATERLOO, Ontario—Global on-demand software-as-a-service logistics technology provider Descartes Systems Group recently announced it has acquired Belgium-based Dexx, an European customs filing and logistics messaging provider.

Descartes said the purchase price for Dexx was roughly $1.87 million ($1.4 million Euro).

Descartes said that Dexx will provide the company with European customs filing capabilities and a network of connected European logistics organizations to Descartes Global Logistics Network which is a multimodal network of transportation providers and their customers that facilitates the interchange of logistics information and provides services that leverage information to help enterprises conduct logistics business more effectively. It is comprised of more than 4,000 connected members. Some GLN services offered include local haulage, fleet management, shipping management, track and trace, and rate management, among others. It added that Dexx will aid shippers, cargo carriers, and freight forwarders to better manage the movement and submission of customs filings and messages to various customs authorities.

Descartes Vice President Marketing and Communications Nicole German told LM acquiring Dexx made sense on multiple levels.

“[Our] focus is to bring together manufacturers, distributors, retailers, transportation carriers and logistics third parties in a shared services environment using standardized business processes,” said German. “The acquisition of Dexx is an added channel to do this.” 

She added that as a major player in customs compliance and filing in North America, many of the customers Descartes serves are global companies. And with pending regulations in the EU relating to providing advance notification of the arrival and contents of shipments to customs authorities, she said Descartes’ customers are looking for a global provider of customs compliance and filing solutions.

In terms of shipper benefits, German noted that the combination of the two organizations extends the services that Dexx and Descartes can offer its customers.  On the customs side, Descartes is the leading customs filer of advanced manifest information in Canada and the U.S., and a large portion of its customers have global operations and requirements, she said. 

“With the upcoming initiatives in Europe, Dexx will now be very well positioned to combine its local knowledge with Descartes’ global customer base,” said German.

Dexx manages the Brucargo Community System (BCS), a cargo community system at Brussels Airport that provides an electronic information exchange between airlines, integrators, general sales agents, forwarding agents, ground handlers, truckers and shippers, as well as customs and other governmental bodies, according to a Descartes statement. And now that it is part of Descartes, German said that Dexx will be able to leverage Descartes’ wider solution footprint to offer its customers additional value added services such as Cargo2000 (an industry initiative aiming at implementing a new quality management system for the worldwide air cargo industry, with an objective: to implement processes, backed by quality standards, that are measurable to improve the efficiency of air cargo).