WiseTech joins DCSA+ to bolster container shipping standards

WiseTech Global has joined the Digital Container Shipping Association's DCSA+ partner programme, adding one of the industry's largest software suppliers to the group's standards work.

The company joined to bring operational experience from live carrier integrations into the development of digital standards used across container shipping. It has used carrier application programming interfaces based on DCSA standards since 2019 and says it is now one of the sector's heaviest users of those interfaces.

The partnership places WiseTech alongside carriers and other industry participants shaping common data models and open interfaces for core shipping processes. Those standards cover bookings, shipment instructions, bills of lading, track and trace, vessel schedules, customs documentation and freight invoicing.

Container shipping still relies on a patchwork of proprietary systems, customised links and manual data entry across shippers, freight forwarders, inland carriers, ports, ocean carriers, customs authorities and consignees. That fragmentation can cause delays, raise costs and increase errors when data must be re-entered or reformatted at multiple stages of a shipment.

By bringing in a company that sits between carriers and freight forwarders in day-to-day operations, DCSA gains a participant with visibility into how standards work in live systems rather than in theory. WiseTech says its experience spans hundreds of carrier-forwarder combinations globally, giving it a detailed view of where standardisation works and where practical gaps remain.

WiseTech has a significant footprint in freight software. It says its systems, including CargoWise and e2open, are used by 46 of the top 50 global third-party logistics providers and 23 of the 25 largest global freight forwarders. Across its broader customer base, the company says it serves more than 22,000 logistics companies and other industry participants in 193 countries, while e2open connects more than 500,000 enterprises across manufacturing, logistics, distribution and channel networks.

Operational focus

DCSA+ is designed to widen participation in standards development beyond the world's largest container carriers. Founded by 10 major ocean carriers, the association has sought to build industry-wide standards that can be adopted across the shipping chain. Through the partner programme, technology providers, cargo owners, forwarders, feeder operators and terminals can contribute to development, testing and adoption.

That structure reflects a longstanding problem in shipping digitisation: a standard may be technically sound, but adoption can stall if it does not fit operational workflows or if integration remains too complex for widespread use. A software platform embedded across freight forwarders and logistics providers can therefore influence how quickly a standard becomes routine in commercial systems.

WiseTech argues that standardised integrations can reduce friction at handover points where data moves from one party to another. In practical terms, a booking, shipment instruction or invoice can move between systems in a more consistent format, reducing the need for duplicate entries and manual checks.

Ashley Skaanild, Principal Advisor Carrier Integration and Transformation at WiseTech Global, said: "Managing and monitoring logistics flows across the globe relies on clean and complete data. Standardised integrations help our customers and their carrier partners achieve their goals faster and more effectively by removing friction at critical data handover points. As one of the earliest adopters of the DCSA standards in 2019, WiseTech extensively uses carrier application programming interfaces based on those standards. We are delighted to formalise our relationship by joining DCSA+ and to continue working together to create open, interoperable standards that power seamless, end-to-end digitalisation across container shipping."

Adoption challenge

For DCSA, the partnership is as much about adoption as standard-setting. Shipping groups have spent years defining common formats for data and documentation, but uptake has often been uneven because systems across the supply chain differ widely in age, design and technical maturity.

One argument for involving software companies more closely is that they can embed standards in products already used across large parts of the market. If that happens, smaller shippers and forwarders can access the same data structures and connectivity used by larger operators without building every integration from scratch.

Mariana Bock-Losada, Chief Growth Officer at the Digital Container Shipping Association, said adding WiseTech should improve the association's understanding of how its standards perform in live ecosystems.

She said: "Standards create value through widespread adoption, and welcoming WiseTech into DCSA+ is an exciting step forward on this front. A company of this scale, and so committed to our standards, sitting closer to how they are shaped sharpens our insight into what works in the ecosystem and extends the reach of every standard we publish. We are delighted to have them with us."

The significance of the tie-up lies in where WiseTech sits in the shipping workflow. Its software handles documents, compliance checks, operational milestones and financial processes linked to container movements from origin through ports and vessels to final destination, placing it close to the data exchanges that standards are meant to simplify.

DCSA says the partner programme offers access to implementation support, early visibility of emerging standards and opportunities to contribute to digital solutions intended to work across the industry. WiseTech's participation adds a technology supplier with a large installed base and years of direct use of DCSA-based carrier interfaces.

Together, that gives the association another way to test whether standards can move beyond formal specifications into repeatable, large-scale use across carrier-forwarder connections.