Freight, clearing and forwarding
Maritime CTMS
Consignment tracking for a clearing and forwarding firm
- Client
- Maritime Shipping Company Limited
- Sector
- Freight, clearing and forwarding
- Scope
- Discovery, system design, build, AI document reading, deployment, training, user guide
01 / The brief
One system of record for every consignment on the Northern and Central corridors, from the first document to the final invoice.
Challenge
Consignments move through Mombasa and Dar es Salaam on documents, phone calls and spreadsheets. Each file passes through operations, documentation, accounts, marketing and an external clearing agent. When a document is missing or a container sits too long, charges grow overnight and nobody sees it until the invoice.
Approach
We mapped every hand-off with the people who do the work, then built a role-based system where each role sees what it owns. Money and compliance got the strictest rules: issued invoices cannot change, sensitive actions need a second person, and every change is written to an audit log the database itself enforces. AI reads shipping documents, but only proposes values. A person approves before anything is saved.
02 / What we built
What we built
- 017 roles: Operations, Documentation, Accounts, Marketing, Clearing agent, Client portal, Administrator
- 02Northern (Mombasa) and Central (Dar es Salaam) corridors
- 03File numbers per corridor and year, for example MSA-2026-0001
- 04Document statuses: Outstanding, Submitted, Received, Verified, Waived
- 05AI-assisted reading of BOL, CI, PL and IM4 that only proposes values until a person approves
- 06Container number check-digit validation
- 07Overnight accrual of demurrage, storage and detention
- 08Invoices: Draft, Issued, Part paid, Paid. Immutable once issued
- 09Maker-checker approvals for waivers, voids and credit notes
- 10Two-factor sign-in for Accounts and Administrator roles
- 11Database-enforced audit log
- 12Client portal with bulk document download
- 1349-page user guide
03 / On a phone
The same system, on a phone.
Captured at 390 pixels wide, the width of a typical Android phone.
BlueprintFrom wireframe to working file
Drawn with the people who do the work.
Every screen started as a wireframe mapped against a real hand-off. The AI proposes values from the documents; the approve button belongs to a person.
InsideHow the system enforces the rules
Controls that hold, even on a busy day.
01
Outstanding
Required, not yet in
02
Submitted
Uploaded by client or agent
03
Received
Logged by Documentation
04
Verified
Checked against the file
WaivedA fifth status, only through maker-checker approval.
- 01UploadBOL, CI, PL or IM4
- 02AI readsProposes values
- 03Person approvesAccept, edit or reject
- 04SavedWritten to the audit log
- Draft
- Issued
- Part paid
- Paid
Immutable once issued. Corrections go through credit notes, approved by a second person.
CSQU3054383
Owner code, serial number, check digit. The system recomputes the last digit on entry, so a mistyped container is caught before it reaches a file.
Outcome
Every consignment now has one file, one status and one owner. Accrued charges are visible the morning after they start, not at invoicing.
A client reference is available on request after a discovery call.
Delivered under Custom Systems and Web Platforms, from Websites from UGX 3M. Systems from UGX 20M.
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