LINE acquires leading UK-based transportation management specialist

New York-headquartered LINE (Logistics Information Network Enterprise Ltd.) has acquired Cambridge-based Cairo Technologies, a transport-management software specialist.

LINE plans to launch a new product using proprietary technology developed by Cairo that it claims will reduce inland freight transport costs by more than 10%. LINE is a Hutchison Port Holdings subsidiary, which aims to streamline the transport and logistics industry using technology.

Cairo was founded in 1993 by a group of Oxford and Cambridge University graduates and has developed a transport management system that optimizes freight capacity usage and transport costs. The new product, Transport Management System (TMS), will allow businesses to boost efficiency and cut costs by improving transport planning processes and asset utilization, it is claimed. The solution is multi-modal, covering rail, barge and road transport. It facilitates truckload matching, route plan optimization and online cargo tracking. Transport Management System enables fast responses to new circumstances and allows transport managers to change plans while goods are in transit deciding new routes and calculating costs at every step.

"Cairo employs a team of mathematicians and software development specialists at its base in Great Chesterford near Cambridge. They will form the European research and development center for LINE, working on a broad range of technologically enabled solutions for the logistics industry.