Modal Trade, a division of the AGUNSA Group, has been providing global logistics solutions for over 60 years.
With expertise in air, maritime, and land freight, the company is known for its efficient shipping, transportation, and customs brokerage services.
Modal Trade operates business units in Barcelona, Valencia, Vigo, and is planning expansion into Madrid. In 2024, the company successfully moved over 5,000 TEUs and 60 million kilos of freight, achieving year-over-year growth.
Despite its long history, the company faced a significant challenge in optimizing its freight rate management.
As Adrian Sanchez, National Ocean Freight Director, explains, the outdated systems and manual processes were creating significant inefficiencies.
Slow and Inefficient Rate Management
The commercial team struggled with the complexity of managing multiple rate sources, making it difficult to quickly identify the best options from various providers.
The reliance on outdated spreadsheets and manual processes not only consumed valuable time but also increased the risk of errors.
As Adrian explained:
These inefficiencies were challenging on their own—but they became even more critical as the freight industry grew increasingly competitive.
“Our customers are now more involved in the shipping process and demand greater transparency and responsiveness,” Adrian added.
With clients expecting faster, more tailored solutions, Modal Trade needed to not only fix its internal processes but also adapt quickly to stand out in a rapidly evolving market.
Finding the Right Solution
Before adopting Cargofive, Modal Trade Europa used a visual freight procurement tool that wasn’t efficient enough for their fast-paced sales environment.
“Our sales team needed to combine all rates into a common procurement file,” Adrian explained.
However, the tool lacked the speed and flexibility required to manage multiple rate sources effectively.
As Adrian recalled,
This pushed Modal Trade to seek a more efficient solution, and they found it in Cargofive.
The team was drawn to its ability to centralize procurement and automate rate management, addressing both their operational bottlenecks and the need for faster quoting.
“The possibility of having a common work tool that allowed us to centralize procurement and obtain instant price comparisons was crucial. This was key to improving our commercial performance,” Adrian noted.
Cargofive’s user-friendly interface made the transition to digital quoting seamless, and the quick onboarding process enabled the team to boost productivity almost immediately.
Real Impact
Since implementing Cargofive, Modal Trade Europa has seen a boost in operational efficiency.
With all rates centralized, the team gained full visibility, helping them secure better deals and streamline workflows.
The digitization of the quoting process has accelerated response times, increased productivity, and opened new growth opportunities.
One of the most striking improvements is the time saved on customer quotes.
“Before Cargofive, it could take up to two hours to respond to a quote. Now, it takes just 15 minutes. It’s a considerable difference,” Adrian noted.
Another key milestone was the integration of Cargofive with their ERP system at the end of 2024.
Now, quotes flow directly from Cargofive to the ERP, reducing billing errors and saving valuable time.
“This has helped reduce incorrect billing and significantly boosted our operational efficiency,” Adrian added.
With fewer errors and faster processes, Modal Trade is now more agile, accurate, and ready to scale.
Looking Forward: Scaling with Cargofive
Modal Trade is just getting started with its digital transformation.
In 2025, the company plans to fully digitize its quoting process by generating all quotes through Cargofive.
“Digitalization is now a must for any company that wants to stay competitive,” Adrian said.
They also aim to create a comprehensive database of quotation templates to streamline quoting even further.
“This will allow our sales team to respond even more quickly and efficiently to customer requests,”
Next, Modal Trade’s goal is to fully integrate Cargofive with their ERP system, enabling the sales team to quote directly within the platform and automatically transfer data to operations.
“What we want from our sales team is using Cargofive as a full quotation tool,” .
This tighter integration will create a smoother process between sales and operations, boosting efficiency and helping the company hit its growth targets.
Advice for Others: Embrace Digital Solutions
For Adrian, the future of freight forwarders is clear: adapting to digital solutions is essential for growth and competitiveness.
Digitization is the key to boosting team performance, and staying ahead of competitors
“From our perspective, the use of a digital procurement tool like Cargofive is essential to face the current challenges of our sector.
It’s about maximum agility and improving the performance of both operational and commercial teams to achieve the company’s goals.”
Thanks to the capabilities of Cargofive, Modal Trade Europa has unlocked scalability, enabling them to enhance their service and meet the growing demands of clients with greater speed and precision.
Innovation Driving Success
By embracing digital tools like Cargofive, Modal Trade Europa has significantly improved its rate management, reduced errors, and boosted operational efficiency.
“We are really happy with the implementation of the tool. We’ve seen improvements not just in our internal processes, but also in how we serve our customers,” Adrian shared.
While there’s always room for further enhancements, the overall impact has been overwhelmingly positive.
With Cargofive, they’re not just keeping up with industry changes—they’re leading the way in logistics innovation.
