Transforming Supply Chain Decision-Making with AI and Data
An interview of Graham Parker, Co-founder of ShipAngel, discussing with Paul Canessa, Searoutes VP Customer Success.
What is ShipAngel and what does it do?
Graham Parker: ShipAngel is an operating system for shippers that was born at the end of the COVID era. We work with some of the biggest shippers in the world, including Fortune 500 brands. Our mission from the beginning was to reimagine what an international Transportation Management System (TMS) is.
The current international TMSs serving global shippers were built in the 1980s—over 40 years ago. International trade then and now are completely different. These legacy systems are difficult to implement and don’t provide what modern shippers actually need.
We’re one of the few companies that builds software exclusively for Beneficial Cargo Owners (BCOs). While our competitors dilute themselves by working with freight forwarders and carriers, we focus solely on building software for shippers.
We started with rate management because we identified this as the least digitized area—94% of shippers were using spreadsheets in 2023 to manage their shipping rates, including the majority of Fortune 500 shippers. We built the world’s most advanced rate management system for shippers, featuring world-first AI technology that can read any rate sheet of any kind.
What challenges did ShipAngel have? What were your frustrations?
Graham Parker: Our biggest challenge was that everything starts with a rate—if you don’t know what your rate is and you pick the wrong vendor, you’ve already gone off on the wrong path before you even get to booking.
Traditional rate management vendors used Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) centers with humans, primarily in India or the Philippines, manually translating rate sheets into standardized formats. This was inefficient and error-prone.
We refused to use BPO centers and took the harder route of building AI when Large Language Models were much earlier in development. We discovered that while LLMs are excellent at reading text, they struggle with disparate numbers in ocean and air rates—they don’t always know where numbers start and end or how to associate them properly.
Additionally, shippers needed more than just rates. They needed overlay data to make the best decisions: competitive benchmarks, transit times, and increasingly, CO₂ emissions data. The challenge was finding reliable, accurate, and granular data providers for these critical decision factors.
Why did you choose Searoutes? Which products does ShipAngel use?
Graham Parker: We initially started working with Searoutes on CO₂ data about two years ago. At the time, we were working with two vendors, but it quickly became apparent that in 98% of cases, Searoutes data was significantly more accurate.
The integration with the Searoutes data stream was five times easier than our other vendor, and the data stream performance was 10 times better. Based on this experience, we decided to work exclusively with Searoutes for CO₂ data.
When we expanded into bookings and needed coordinates data stream functionality, we tested three vendors including Searoutes. Once again, Searoutes data was above and beyond the best, so we expanded our contract and relationship to include that product as well.
We’re now one of the early beta testers on Searoutes’ Ocean Schedules product, which aligns with our need for live sailing schedule data to help customers make informed decisions.
How does Searoutes help ShipAngel’s business?
Graham Parker: Searoutes enables us to provide comprehensive decision-making data to our customers. When a ShipAngel customer logs in, they can see all their rates, global benchmarks, live sailing schedules, and CO₂ emissions data in one place. We label the fastest carrier, the cheapest carrier, and the greenest carrier for each shipment option.
The granular nature of Searoutes data is crucial—we can provide vessel-specific, carrier-specific, and service-specific CO₂ numbers. This allows our customers to get route-specific data and understand how emissions differ across different loops or services.
This became especially important during the Red Sea crisis when carriers shifted routes to go around the Cape of Good Hope. Searoutes data evolved much faster than competitors, continuing to provide accurate emissions data based on the longer routes, while other CO₂ vendors failed to stay current.
We’ve also integrated Searoutes data into our AI agents, particularly our super agent called MADI (Make and Analyze Data Decisions for You). When customers ask about the greenest shipping option, our AI can provide accurate, real-time answers using Searoutes data.
What quantifiable results and benefits does ShipAngel get from using Searoutes solutions?
Graham Parker: We have concrete customer success stories that demonstrate significant impact:
Case Study 1: A large importer handling approximately 50,000 TEUs annually identified a trade lane where allocation and transit times were less critical factors. Using ShipAngel’s platform with Searoutes CO₂ data, they discovered that one carrier had dramatically lower emissions than their other two options. They allocated that entire lane to the greener carrier for a full quarter and achieved a 15% reduction in CO₂ emissions—far exceeding their expected low single-digit savings.
Case Study 2: A Fortune 100 global electronics company was operating with 70% air freight and 30% ocean freight during peak seasons. Their goal was to reach a 50-50 split. Using our platform with integrated Searoutes CO₂ data, we developed a feature showing air and ocean options side-by-side from cost, transit, and CO₂ perspectives. This enabled them to optimize shipment splits—for example, shipping 20 pallets by air and 80 by ocean instead of 100 pallets by air, significantly reducing their carbon footprint while meeting operational requirements.
These results demonstrate that having accurate, granular CO₂ data doesn’t just provide marginal improvements—it enables substantial emissions reductions when integrated into smart decision-making processes.
How likely are you to recommend Searoutes? Why should someone act right now?
Graham Parker: I would absolutely recommend Searoutes without hesitation. In my 25 years of career at the intersection of supply chain and software, I’ve learned to set very high standards for partners. There’s a small cohort of best-in-class companies, and Searoutes is absolutely in that category.
Here’s why companies should act now:
Technical Excellence: Searoutes offers best-in-class data quality, superior data stream performance, and significantly easier integration compared to alternatives. The data stream integration was five times easier and performed 10 times better than competitors.
Future-Ready Approach: Searoutes embraces AI and continues pushing boundaries, constantly thinking about how to add more value. They’re not just a data provider—they’re innovation partners.
Market Timing: We’re at a critical inflection point where major companies like Apple are making carbon neutrality a competitive advantage. Apple mentioned “ocean freight” six times in their Series 9 watch keynote—unprecedented focus that signals where the industry is heading.
Proven Impact: The quantifiable results speak for themselves—15% CO₂ reductions are achievable when you have accurate, granular data integrated into decision-making processes.
Comprehensive Team: Searoutes has an exceptional team spanning customer success, technical development with Pierre’s team, and strong sales and marketing leadership. They understand both the technical and business sides of the equation.
The companies that act now will have a significant competitive advantage as sustainability becomes increasingly central to supply chain strategy. Those who wait will be playing catch-up in a market where carbon efficiency is becoming as important as cost and transit time optimization.
This interview was conducted as part of Searoutes’ customer success program, showcasing real-world applications of their CO₂ emissions and routing data streams.