The Freight Forward - May 2026

Zencargo platform newsletter. Explore our latest AI innovations and updates.

The Manifest

A message from Zencargo VP of Product, James Fry

Welcome to the May edition of The Freight Forward, our newsletter sharing the latest updates on our AI innovations and platform capabilities.

As we move further into 2026, our mission remains centred on transforming the complex detective work of supply chain into a streamlined, high-speed experience for your business. At the heart of this transformation is Luca, your AI-powered team mate, growing smarter with every update and designed to connect your data and automate the heavy lifting. 

In this issue, we explore:

• The launch of Luca Dock: Learn how Luca handles inbox admin by automatically identifying, matching, and filing email attachments.
• Enhanced delay visibility: See how we’re keeping you up to date on the status and cause of delayed shipments.
• A new era of Luca Scout: Find out how much time you could save with automated CRD chasing.

…and more. We’re excited to show you how these latest enhancements are simplifying your workday.

An important date for your calendar: on Thursday 4 June, we’re bringing our latest Luca innovations to you in a webinar – Freight Forward Live. In the 45 minute session, I’ll be speaking with a Zencargo customer about how they’re using our AI-powered platform to navigate disruption. We’ll also be demoing Luca’s capabilities, sharing top tips on how to make the most of the platform, and answering your questions live.

Freight Forward Live will be the perfect way to see first-hand how the Zencargo platform can improve your days. If you can’t make the live webinar, sign up and we’ll send you the recording to watch on demand and share with your colleagues. Learn more and sign up here.

For now, happy reading!

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Update 1:

Luca Dock: Teaching Luca to read your inbox

Every operations team knows the routine: emails land, attachments get downloaded, files are renamed, and someone spends their afternoon making sure the right document ends up on the right shipment. It’s slow, repetitive admin, and pulls teams away from the work that actually moves freight.

We’re changing that. With the launch of Luca Dock, Luca is learning to understand your inbound emails, starting with the documents attached to them.

How Luca Dock works

When a commercial invoice or packing list arrives in an inbox:

• Luca reads the email, saves the attachment to your platform, and identifies exactly what it is.
• Luca finds the matching shipment and presents it to you.
• You review the suggestion and click to accept it.
• The moment you click accept, Luca pulls out the data (including CBM, descriptions, and line items) and files it automatically.

No more file renaming, data entry, or switching between the inbox and your platform; the manual work is done for you.

AI & Automation Product Manager, Josh Clement-Sutcliffe, explains more and shows Luca Dock in action:

Simple and, most importantly, secure

Security is built into every action Luca makes. Inbound emails are verified and senders authenticated before Luca processes anything; documents are matched to shipments through secure, auditable logic, and nothing reaches your platform without passing those checks first. Your data stays locked down while the heavy lifting gets automated.

What we’re doing next

Luca Dock is the first step in a much larger plan. Today, Luca reads inbound documents and helps teams file them faster. Very soon, Luca will process them end to end. Beyond that, the same intelligence that powers Luca Dock will start powering something more valuable: Luca’s ability to spot potential issues in your supply chain before they become problems, and to communicate with you proactively rather than reactively.

This is Luca learning the language of your operations. Luca Dock is just where the conversation starts.

Learn more about Luca Dock at Freight Forward Live or speak with your Customer Success Manager to learn more.

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Update 2:

Automating air freight customs paperwork

We’re speeding up your UK air shipment customs paperwork. Luca has been automating ocean customs paperwork for a while – we’ve now expanded his customs capabilities to include air shipments, too:

• Luca Scan reads your air documents and extracts key details automatically, so you don’t need to manually input data or search through PDFs.
• The extracted data then flows instantly into a format ready for UK customs declarations.

By removing the reliance on manual prep, we’re building a faster, more scalable way for your business to fly through customs with total consistency across ocean and air.

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Update 3:

Clearer visibility of your cargo’s timeline

We’ve overhauled our delay visibility updates to give you a weather report for your shipments. 

You’ll now see clear status pills next to your shipments, including ahead of schedule or behind schedule, as well as context and detail, explaining why a delay is happening (for example, if a container was rolled over at the port).

To help you focus on what matters, we’ve colour-coded the severity. A minor shift stays yellow, but a significant disruption (over 14 days) is displayed in red, alerting you immediately. This means you can spend less time digging through tracking events and more time having confident conversations with your team.

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Update 4:

No more “Did you get my booking?”

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Update 5:

Luca Scout: Earlier visibility. Less manual chasing. Cleaner PO data.

Luca Scout is your 24/7 CRD chasing agent, engaging suppliers and keeping your PO admin clean and up to date. 

By fully automating supplier check-ins, Luca Scout delivers 2–3 weeks of advanced visibility into cargo ready dates, and updates data instantly in the Zencargo platform, eliminating fragmented data hidden in inboxes, and ensuring your PO data is clean, centralised, and actionable. 

Calling all early adopters: Help us shape Luca’s capabilities and get your hands on our latest AI innovations

Soon we will be launching a Beta group for Luca Scout. If you’d like Luca to take over your supplier engagement, speak with your Customer Success Manager or get in touch to learn more.

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For expert takes, industry news, and deep-dive webinars, visit our resource hub to stay ahead of the curve:

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Bon voyage

That’s all for this update. We’d love your feedback on The Freight Forward or any of the features included in this edition. Email us at zencargo.comms@zencargo.com to share your thoughts.

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