CargoWise drives cross-border e-commerce transformation at FIATA World Congress 2025

From October 6th to 10th, Hanoi city hosted the FIATA World Congress 2025. This meeting gathered customs authorities, technology experts and industry leaders to discuss the key industry challenges, such as supply chain resilience, the impact of e-commerce on international logistics and the future of the sector.  

During Panel 2: Cross-border e-commerce logistics, attendees discussed global e-commerce trends, exploring the operational, regulatory, and digital challenges shaping the sector. The session also highlighted technological innovations, optimization models, international case studies, and collaborative approaches among key stakeholders driving the redefinition of global electronic commerce.  

193 Countries, One Connected Future: Overcoming the Complexities of Cross-Border E-Commerce 

When asked, “If you had to share one key number that captures the challenge or opportunity in cross-border e-commerce logistics, what would it be?” 

My answer was simple: 193. 

That’s the number of member countries recognized by the United Nations and, in many ways, the number that defines the scale of our challenge. 

Each of those 193 countries represents a unique customs system, legislative framework, and set of documentary, tax, and regulatory requirements. For those of us working in global logistics, that means 193 different borders to navigate, rules to interpret, and systems to integrate. Yet, it also represents 193 opportunities, to streamline, to digitize, and ultimately, to connect the world’s trade more seamlessly than ever before. 

Regulatory and Customs: Turning Risk Gates into Trade Enablers 

At WiseTech Global, through our flagship platform CargoWise, we’re striving toward a future where customs processes are not barriers but bridges towards a borderless, digitally enabled customs corridor. 

Such a corridor would use automation and advanced data triangulation to simplify compliance, verify information across multiple data sources, from manufacturer invoices to carrier manifests, and release goods efficiently while identifying potential risks early. 

In this future, customs systems become both risk control gates and trade facilitation enablers, helping compliant traders move quickly while identifying those who don’t play by the rules. Achieving this balance requires deeper collaboration between governments and the private sector, supported by technology. 

We’ve already seen promising progress. For example, the Australian and New Zealand governments have worked closely with WiseTech to digitize customs processes, including Certificates of Origin, allowing exporters to validate and issue documentation automatically. This innovation saves time, prevents costly delays, and improves accuracy, especially for time-sensitive or perishable goods. 

Integration Across Modes: The Three Supply Chains 

When discussing multi-modal integration, it’s important to recognize that there isn’t just one supply chain, there are three: 

1. The physical supply chain, where goods move. 
2. The digital supply chain, where data flows. 
3. The financial supply chain, where payments and settlements happen. 

True integration across air, land, ocean, and postal networks must therefore synchronize all three. 

Physical integration ensures goods are consolidated, tracked, and moved efficiently across transport modes. 

Digital integration connects the systems behind the scenes, replacing manual updates with system-to-system automation to increase speed, visibility, and accuracy. 

And financial integration ensures that documents and payments flow in step, linking electronic bills of lading, certificates of origin, and tax settlements to guarantee the free movement of both goods and funds. 

When these three supply chains operate in harmony, efficiency follows. 

Reverse Logistics: Shared Responsibility, Shared Value 

Returns remain one of the most costly aspects of e-commerce logistics, often representing 20–30% of shipments globally. So, who should bear responsibility for making reverse logistics viable: platforms, logistics providers, or regulators? 

The answer lies in collaboration. 

Platforms must empower consumers to initiate returns easily and provide retailers with real-time updates. 
 Logistics providers must manage the physical return and ensure goods are processed efficiently. 
 And regulators must simplify cross-border return procedures and refund mechanisms. 

When all three collaborate effectively, returns transform from a cost burden into a value opportunity, reducing waste, improving customer satisfaction, and driving profitability across the chain. 

Technology and Process Optimization: From SaaS to AI 

Technology is reshaping logistics but success depends on applying it with purpose, not for its own sake. 

Right now, SaaS solutions are delivering the most tangible ROI for logistics players. They give small and medium-sized businesses access to world-class tools without the need to build them in-house, enabling them to compete globally and focus on their core strengths. 

Looking ahead, AI will be the next major driver of measurable returns. At WiseTech, we’re investing deeply in agentic AI-enabled workflow automation, leveraging our CargoWise workflow engine to automate entire operational processes. 

Imagine AI agents capable of processing import customs entries from document ingestion to invoicing, performing tasks rapidly, accurately, and at near-zero cost, while engaging human operators only when regulatory verification is required. This isn’t theoretical; it’s already in development and will fundamentally reshape logistics productivity and scalability. 

Collaboration and Visibility: Connecting a Fragmented Industry 

One of the biggest barriers to efficiency remains the lack of unified data. A single shipment may pass through 8–12 different systems, each introducing potential errors, delays, and costs. 

The solution lies in integration and collaboration.

Within organizations, moving from multiple disconnected systems to a unified platform improves visibility and accuracy. Across organizations, open databases and standard integrations make it possible to connect globally. 

WiseTech’s recent acquisition of e2open is a major step in this direction. By integrating e2open’s capabilities, we’re building a multi-sided marketplace that connects all supply chain participants, from exporters and importers to carriers, customs authorities, and financial institutions, on one secure, intelligent platform. This is how we drive true end-to-end visibility and efficiency. 

Looking Ahead to 2030: Building an Inclusive Future for Global Trade 

The road to a more inclusive, efficient, and transparent cross-border e-commerce ecosystem runs through shared standards, for processes, documentation, data, and compliance. 

Industry bodies like FIATA have played an essential role in unifying freight forwarding, and continued collaboration between such organizations, governments, and technology providers will be crucial. 

Because while 193 countries may define our challenge, one connected global platform defines our opportunity.