Windsor's BoxTop Technologies sold to Canadian group

Published by

Nicky Godding

BoxTop acquired by Descartes

Windsor-based freight forwarding company BoxTop Technologies Limited has been acquired by Descartes Systems Group, which has its headquarters in Ontario Canada, in a deal worth around £10.25 million.

Descartes is a global leader in uniting logistics-intensive businesses in commerce. BoxTop Technologies Limited is a leading provider of shipment management solutions for small- to mid-sized logistics services providers.

BoxTop helps logistics services providers (LSPs) digitise their operations and connect to the wider logistics community to manage the lifecycle of shipments. LSPs use the BoxTop platform to manage the secure and efficient movement of goods from quoting through to routing, booking and final delivery. BoxTop is an existing Descartes partner, leveraging the Descartes Global Logistics Network (GLN) to help their clients gain visibility into shipments across multiple modes of transportation and to complete electronic customs filings.

“We’ve been working successfully with BoxTop for a number of years, and this was the next logical step in our partnership,” said Scott Sangster, General Manager Logistics Services Providers at Descartes. “BoxTop has an excellent solution for small- to mid-sized LSPs and we see an opportunity to integrate it with more solutions on the GLN. This will help us deliver more value to BoxTop customers and expand the geographic footprint into more countries in Europe.”

“LSPs will continue to play a vital role in trade in the global economy,” said Edward J. Ryan, Descartes’ CEO. “As LSPs continue to digitize their operations, we want to make sure that small- to mid-size LSPs have access to the same breadth of solutions to manage the lifecycle of shipments in a secure and efficient manner. The acquisition of BoxTop puts us in a better position to deliver even more value to this community. We’re excited to welcome the BoxTop employees, customers and partners into the Descartes family.”

BoxTop was founded in 1995 by Christopher Hewlett, who has a wide-ranging knowledge of national and international freight forwarding business processes and Bill White, a leading programmer from the fast-changing and mission-critical world of industrial workflow and software development.

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.