Close followers of Synfioo will know that the project44 acquisition deal was actually done some time ago; its LinkedIn page even changed its name to reflect this last month. However, the deal is now official and project44 published its press release today – less than 24 hours after competitor FourKites announced the European launch of its Slot Manager solution.
In its own press release, project44 said that Synfioo’s visibility and ETA capabilities are a “natural addition” to its multi-modal visibility platform.
project44’s statement adds that the deal will “provide customers with unrivalled end-to-end data to facilitate faster on-time deliveries and more accurate ETAs, as well as low-carbon rail and barge shipping in Europe.”
Commenting on the deal, Marian Pufahl, former CEO & co-Founder of Synfioo, said:
“Europe’s rail infrastructure was developed nearly 200 years ago and was not built for the cross-border trade that exists today. Our platform brings together a proprietary infrastructure network and freight forwarder information to offer the most comprehensive rail freight data for Europe. Now as project44, we will continue to drive data harmonisation between the various rail networks and provide unrivalled visibility to our customers.”
Renaud-Houri, EVP International at project44, added:
“By acquiring Synfioo, we’ve not only expanded the breadth and depth of our visibility platform, but also added European tech talent and expertise to our rapidly growing international team, which is now well over 400 exceptional team members.”
As a result of the acquisition, project44 says its European rail network now provides the following capabilities:
- Comprehensive visibility of all cargo rail movements across European countries
- IoT-enabled rail tracking combined with proprietary data, and direct integration to all of Europe’s rail infrastructure networks for granular visibility
- Visibility of over 99% of European rail volume, including wagon-level tracking for 90% of rail cars, to ensure visibility for every customer shipment
- Intermodal end-to-end rail data combined with machine learning algorithms offering the most precise rail journey ETAs and customer delivery times
In addition, project44 states it has enhanced its barge visibility capabilities as part of this acquisition to “provide granular, accurate visibility of vital inland waterway segments across Europe”. On top of this, project44 writes that customers can now “harness specialised data science techniques, combined with real-time satellite tracking, to ensure the most accurate visibility of inland waterways.”
The key features of this, according to project44, include:
- Intelligent asset-matching technology which extends visibility coverage, using data science-based techniques to track individual barges in real-time, without requiring traditional identifying information
- Dynamic routing models that offer accurate ETAs, as well as intermodal end-to-end movements that include barge segments
- Sophisticated water depth modelling and inland waterway data sources which enable carriers to assess load capacity, maximise on-time deliveries and avoid delays for shippers and LSPs