The partnership brings to market a unique software-plus-managed-services model that offers international traders end-to-end customs management with full visibility into their data and operations.
In today’s ever-changing world trade landscape, customs compliance is increasingly recognized as a necessary component for companies to operate an efficient supply chain. However, disparate systems, manual processes, and traditional service providers have made customs management a challenging task for companies of all sizes. Historically, navigating customs complexities has resulted in significant overhead. Yet, the data associated with international trade holds the potential to inform critical operations related to savings, strategy, and growth, providing a competitive advantage to savvy organizations.
Portorium and AEB have partnered to take a holistic approach. Portorium first onboards companies and integrates their systems with AEB customs and trade compliance management software, which provides a technology-first approach backed by AI to automate customs processes from end to end. Portorium then supplements AEB software with managed services to monitor day-to-day operations, handle time-sensitive exceptions, and analyze data for trends and opportunities for optimizations.
AEB and Portorium’s combined offerings cover declaration management, product classification, origin management, trade compliance management, and audit & analytics. Markets that require specialized documentation and processes, as well as organizations that use customs special procedures to offset costs, realize significant time and cost savings from this software-plus-services approach. These include Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), Fashion, Retail, Manufacturing, and Automotive.
“Customs formalities are complex and ever-changing, and any company that does business internationally must comply with the laws and regulations of various countries, which can be hard to keep track of,” shared Pieter Haesaert, Portorium Solutions Founder and CEO. “Customs is rarely a key competency for traders, and the software and services available do not provide a comprehensive solution. Our vision is to transform disconnected processes into a customs management epicenter, turning data into information that supports compliance, efficiency, and strategy.”
Portorium’s solution + services model results in a customs control tower, which provides a holistic view of customs-related processes, data, and documentation across all countries where economic operators conduct trade, enabling better visibility, control, and coordination. Similar to the aviation industry, which uses digital dashboards with real-time data to inform air traffic control experts on the ground, Portorium uses AEB’s customs management software to inform their customs experts with real-time, actionable data to keep customers’ goods flowing 24/7.
“Portorium’s customs expertise, deep understanding of AEB’s customs management software, and industry relationships provide customers with a well-rounded solution that covers all of their customs needs,” explained Steffen Frey, Member of AEB’s Board of Directors. “Their understanding of all the moving parts across the customs management lifecycle—from customer and partner ERPs to country-specific systems and regulatory bodies—is unmatched, delivering a winning scenario for all stakeholders.”
This customs control tower concept creates an outsourced Center of Excellence, allowing organizations to take control of their multi-country customs operations without the need to hire additional staff or in-house customs experts.
Portorium blends customs expertise and best-of-breed software to simplify the complexities of customs management. Portorium’s comprehensive offering consolidates customs operations under a single umbrella, providing a full-spectrum solution that covers all of a company’s customs needs while giving them control of and visibility into all aspects of international trade.
This differentiates Portorium from software houses, customs brokers, customs advisors, and traditional consultancies, which only solve one piece of the complex customs puzzle.
AEB and Portorium forged a partnership based on our complementary offerings and shared values. As experts in the market, Portorium believes that AEB’s cloud-native solution for customs offers the best global coverage, feature-rich functionality, ERP integration, and user experience available.
By partnering with Portorium, AEB is able to focus on our core competency — developing best-of-breed software — while the Portorium team enhances its value with informed market strategy, expert implementation, and day-to-day managed services.
