Iberian Freight Solutions reduces quoting time by 45% with abemonTRANSPORT

The challenge

Iberian Freight Solutions is a multimodal logistics operator headquartered in Valencia, specializing in freight transport between the Iberian Peninsula, the Canary Islands, North Africa, and the European Mediterranean corridor. They manage shipments by road, sea, and air, handling an average of 800 shipments per month through a network of 15 regular carriers.

The quoting process was the company’s most critical bottleneck. When a client requested a quote for a multimodal shipment (for example, pickup at a factory in Barcelona, road transport to the port of Valencia, maritime freight to Las Palmas, and last-mile delivery in Gran Canaria), the sales representative had to manually check rates from each carrier for each leg. Rates were stored in spreadsheets, carrier PDFs, or in some cases required a phone call to request a quote. A single multimodal quotation could require between 2 and 4 hours of work.

But slowness wasn’t the only problem. Quote quality was inconsistent. The result depended on the sales rep’s experience, which carriers they remembered to check, and their ability to identify the optimal combination of routes and transport modes. A senior sales rep with 15 years of experience generated quotes that were 18% more competitive than a junior rep’s, simply because they knew more options and combinations.

Shipment visibility was virtually nonexistent once goods left the origin warehouse. Each carrier had their own tracking system — some with APIs, others with web portals, and some only provided information by phone. The client would call asking for shipment status, and the operations team had to contact the corresponding carrier, wait for a response, and relay the information. With 800 active shipments, the team spent 30% of their time answering status queries they had no way to answer without contacting third parties.

In-transit incidents (delays, damage, partial losses, route changes) were detected when the client complained, not when they occurred. The lack of visibility turned every incident into a crisis because it was managed reactively, with no room to take timely corrective action.

The solution

The 3-week Blueprint mapped the complete logistics ecosystem: 15 carriers with 6 different integration protocols (REST API, SOAP, EDI, email, web portal, phone), 3 transport modes with their own pricing logic, and a quoting process that depended almost entirely on the tacit knowledge of sales representatives.

We implemented abemonTRANSPORT across four Engine layers:

Integration was the most work-intensive layer. We connected all 15 carriers through their respective protocols: REST APIs for modern carriers, SOAP adapters for legacy systems, EDI parsers for maritime operators using EDIFACT standards, and controlled scrapers for those offering only web portals. Each integration includes real-time rate queries, shipment tracking, and event reception (pickup, departure, in-transit, delivery, incident). For carriers that don’t offer rate APIs, we implemented an intelligent cache system that periodically updates prices and estimates variations based on historical patterns. All information flows into a unified data model where a shipment is a shipment, regardless of how many carriers and transport modes are involved.

Orchestration automated the end-to-end quoting process. When a client requests a quote, the system decomposes the route into legs, queries available rates for each leg across each compatible transport mode, calculates transit times including intermodal connection times, and generates a ranked set of options optimized by cost, time, or whatever balance the client prefers. What previously required 2-4 hours of manual work from a sales rep is now resolved in minutes, with the added advantage that the system evaluates combinations a human wouldn’t explore due to lack of time or knowledge.

The operations workflow was automated as well. Once a quote is accepted, the system generates transport orders for each carrier involved, schedules pickups, issues required documentation (CMR, bill of lading, packing list), and monitors the execution of each leg. If a carrier doesn’t confirm a pickup within the expected timeframe, the system automatically alerts and suggests an alternative carrier.

Visibility provided the real-time multimodal tracking that was previously impossible. A single dashboard shows the position and status of all active shipments, regardless of carrier or transport mode. Clients have access to a tracking portal with automatic email updates at each significant milestone: pickup confirmed, in transit, at connection point, out for delivery, delivered. Incidents are detected automatically (a shipment that doesn’t arrive at the connection hub within expected time generates an alert before the delay propagates to subsequent legs).

Data built the logistics knowledge base. The historical record of rates, actual transit times, and reliability per carrier feeds a model that improves quote accuracy with every operation. The system learns that carrier X is 15% slower in winter for the Valencia-Las Palmas route, or that carrier Y has an 8% incident rate on shipments over 2 pallets. This information is automatically incorporated into quotes and carrier selection.

The results

Quoting time was reduced by 45%. Quotes that previously required 2-4 hours of manual work are now generated in under 15 minutes for complex multimodal shipments, and under 2 minutes for standard routes. The sales team went from generating 8-10 quotes per day to over 30, without working longer hours. The quote-to-order conversion rate improved by 12% because fast response reduces the likelihood of the client closing with a competitor.

Management capacity tripled without expanding the team. With the same 12 operations staff, Iberian Freight Solutions now manages over 2,400 shipments per month. The team dedicates their time to managing exceptions and maintaining relationships with strategic carriers, not copying data between systems or calling for shipment status updates.

Operational costs were reduced by 22%. The reduction comes from three sources: automatic route optimization that finds more economical carrier combinations, reduced incidents thanks to early detection, and elimination of the cost premium from suboptimal quotes generated by less experienced sales reps. The system levels the playing field for quote quality regardless of who generates them.

Real-time multimodal tracking completely eliminated status calls. Clients check the tracking portal directly and receive proactive notifications when there’s something relevant. The operations team recovered that 30% of time they previously spent answering status queries.

Engine layers used

• Integration: Connectivity with 15 carriers through 6 different protocols (REST, SOAP, EDI, scrapers, cache), unified logistics data model, real-time events
• Orchestration: Automated multimodal quoting with cost/time ranking, transport order generation, automatic documentation, exception management
• Visibility: Real-time multimodal tracking portal, automatic milestone notifications, proactive incident detection, operations dashboard
• Data: Historical rates and transit times, predictive reliability model per carrier/route, continuous quote improvement with real operational data