Global Logistics Network

The Descartes Global Logistics Network (GLN) is one of the world’s largest multimodal networks of transportation providers and their customers. The Descartes GLN facilitates the interchange of logistics information and provides value-added application services that leverage this information to help enterprises standardize business processes and streamline their logistics operations. The Descartes GLN has over 5,000 connected companies managing their shipments over the network.

Descartes GLN automates, manages and streamlines the end-to-end shipment process from source to consumer with ongoing real-time visibility including:

• Booking and Reservations: Descartes’ centralized booking portal provides visibility into rates, contracts, and shipment details from global locations to enable more informed decision-making and contract development.  Carriers can distribute product, routing, capacity and rate information to forwarders 24/7 in real time, while forwarders can access carrier information and make electronic bookings via a simple web browser (no software installation required). Integration of cost tables with contracts also allows for deeper analysis to improve asset utilization and overall margins.  Additionally, our host-to-host service enables forwarders to execute bookings from within their own in-house system.
• Activations & Messaging: offers a large network of connected transportation and logistics services providers: 100+ Air, 30+ ocean, 1400+ truck and regulatory agencies (Federal Maritime Commission and Customs Agencies).
• Local Haulage/Interline: helps third-party logistics providers (3PLs), freight forwarders, ocean carriers and intermodal marketing corporations (IMCs) manage their dray haulers and cartage agents more efficiently.
• Contract & Rate Management: helps companies more easily manage their global rate-making processes and provides companies with the ability to use their own data in their own format to effectively create and manage quoting and contracting procedures.
• Customs Filing & Compliance — Cross-Border: helps companies meet regulatory requirements for international shipments for both international customs agencies and security initiatives.
• Multimodal Track & Trace: provides a lower cost, easy-to-deploy shipment/order status service that leverages Descartes' extensive network of transportation and logistics services providers.
• Shipment Management: allows transportation and logistics services providers to offer house-branded, value-added supply chain event management services to their manufacturing and retail customers.
• On-Demand Fleet Management: offers a wide array of on-demand and licensed transportation management services for private or for-hire fleets.

The Descartes GLN runs on the Logistics Network Operating System (LNOS).