Descartes announces acquisition of Dublin, Ireland-based Aerospace Software Developments

Earlier this week, Waterloo, Ontario-based Descartes, a provider of logistics based on-demand, software-as-a-service offerings, continued to flex its M&A muscle, acquiring Dublin, Ireland-based Aerospace Software Developments, a provider of customs and regulatory compliance service.

This deal represents the 31^st acquisition Descartes has made going back to 2015. The purchase price was $61 million (USD).

ASD’s services portfolio is comprised of customs declaration software services for logistics services providers and shippers, and RFID services aiding air cargo logistics professionals in tracking assets, noted Descartes. The company added that ASD’s customs filing services, which function under the brand name Thyme-IT, help importers, exporters, and logistics services providers comply with Irish regulatory requirements for imports and exports safely and securely.

What’s more, Descartes said that ASD’s RFID offerings assist global airlines and ground handlers eliminate manual tasks and also comply with various airline regulations more efficiently through what it called the unique identification, tagging, and tracking of assets.

“As customers increasingly look to cover more business processes with one provider, we continue to add solutions to the GLN for them to do so,” Edward J. Ryan, Descartes’ CEO, in a statement. “ASD shares a common vision to serve the wider global logistics community of shippers, carriers and LSPs. We’re excited to welcome the ASD employees, customers and partners into the Descartes family.”

In an interview with LM, Chris Jones, EVP of Industry, for Descartes, said there were various drivers for acquiring ASD.

“Descartes recognizes the value of streamlining cross-border trade with preparation, filing and visibility solutions for customs declarations, cargo security and other regulatory mandates,” said Jones. “The ASD acquisition brings additional capabilities in customs and regulatory compliance for Ireland. For the air logistics community, it also adds new RFID-based asset tracking capabilities to help global airlines and ground handlers eliminate manual tasks and comply with various airline regulations more efficiently through the unique identification, tagging, and tracking of assets.” 

By adding ASD’s customs declaration software solutions to the Descartes Global Logistics Network (Descartes GLN™), Jones explained that Descartes sees an opportunity to help its logistics services provider (LSP) and shipper customers comply with Irish regulatory requirements for imports and exports in a secure and efficient manner.

“Additionally, we see synergies for our air industry customers by combining ASD’s RFID-based solutions with Descartes’ CORE BLE real-time tracking platform to expand the scope of our asset tracking capabilities,” said Jones.

The relationship between Descartes and ASD goes back to when Descartes has been working with Thyme-IT since the acquisition of e-Customs in 2014, said Jones. He added that e-Customs and Thyme-IT had previously developed a relationship supporting each other with Irish and U.K. customs filings capabilities, initially for movements of Excise goods using the European EMCS system in 2010, and then later with e-Customs providing U.K. customs filings and Thyme-IT the Irish Customs filings for customers.

Descartes acquired Rockville, Md.-based OCR Services Inc, a provider of global trade compliance solutions and content, for roughly $90 million, earlier this month.