Quotation software for freight forwarders
Quote in minutes, not half a day.
Your customers already send enquiries by email and WhatsApp. FlowDeck reads them and fills in the ports, cargo and Incoterm for you. It puts the carrier replies side by side so you can compare them. And it keeps every rate you quote on record — including the enquiries you did not win.
Six founding members · six months free · your feedback shapes the product
| Lane · POL → POD | Mode | Rate source |
|---|---|---|
| INNSA → AEJEA Bharat Agro · 2 × 40HC · CIF |
FCL | RATE ON FILE |
| INBOM → DEFRA Kapoor Pharma · 1,150 kg ch · CIP |
AIR | RFQ REQUIRED |
| INMUN → NLRTM Horizon Steel · 4 × 20GP · FOB |
FCL | SHEET DUE 3d |
| INNSA → DEHAM Arora Exports · 8.4 cbm · FCA |
LCL | RFQ REQUIRED |
These came in by email. The details were filled in automatically.
Before and after
One enquiry, before and after
Nothing about the way you work has to change. The same enquiry, the same carriers, the same quotation — with the typing and the waiting taken out of it.
How it works
You forward an email. That is the setup.
You get a FlowDeck email address. There is nothing to install and no training needed.
The product
What FlowDeck does
It reads the enquiry and fills in the details
The email is shown on the left and the filled-in enquiry on the right, so you can see where each detail came from.
- Ports matched to UN/LOCODE, not guessed
- Packing lists and proforma invoices read for pieces, volume and weight
- Details it is unsure about are marked, not filled in
- Corrections are remembered for that sender's next email
WHAT ARRIVED
Please quote on CIF basis. Load port Nhava Sheva, discharge Jebel Ali. 2 x 40 HC — dehydrated onion flakes, HS 07122000. Gross approx 24.5 MT, ready by 28th.
STRUCTURED ENQUIRY
It knows where each rate should come from
Air import on an agent rate, except below one tonne. FCL export on a fifteen-day rate sheet. LCL always by RFQ. You set these rules once, and after that every enquiry shows whether you can quote straight away or need to ask carriers first.
- Carrier replies read from PDF, Excel or plain email
- Compared on nine points, on all-in cost and not freight alone
- Air weight breaks handled, including quoting at the next break when that works out cheaper
- Rate sheet due dates tracked, so you know before a rate expires
| Vendor | All-in | Transit | ETD | Space |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CMA CGM | 1,417 | 24 d | 04 Oct | ON REQUEST |
| Hapag-Lloyd | 1,497 | 22 d | 02 Oct | CONFIRMED |
| Maersk | 1,535 | 21 d | 06 Oct | WAITLIST |
Hapag-Lloyd selected: USD 80 more, but space confirmed and sailing two days earlier. The reason is saved, so later you can see whether paying more for better service wins more business.
It prepares the quotation on your letterhead
Charge heads follow the Incoterm. Change CIF to FOB and the charges change accordingly. You can also send two or three options on one quotation so the client compares them in your document.
- Margin shown as you work, visible only to the staff you choose
- Tells you if a colleague quoted the same client on this lane recently
- Follow-up emails go out automatically and stop when the client replies
- Each revision recorded, with the reduction given
| Charge | Most economical | Fastest transit |
|---|---|---|
| Origin THC | 230.00 | 230.00 |
| Ocean freight | 2,320.00 | 2,653.00 |
| Marine insurance | 145.00 | 145.00 |
| Destination THC | 350.00 | 350.00 |
| Total USD | 3,165.00 | 3,498.00 |
Free time at destination: 14 days combined. Duty and destination clearance not included.
It keeps a record of every rate you quote
Most quotations do not convert, and that pricing is usually lost. FlowDeck keeps it — what you offered, what was accepted, and what it would have taken. After a few months it can show you the rate you need on a lane.
- Buy rates saved automatically, not entered later
- Conversion rate, price range and average margin, by lane and by client
- Quote the same lane again in one click, at a rate you know works
- Which clients ask for a reduction every time and still book
Four of these seven quotations are not recorded anywhere else in your business.
It hands over the complete file when you win
FlowDeck's work ends at the accepted quotation. What it passes on is the full file — all the details, both rates and the email trail — so the person making the booking does not start from a blank form.
- Excel, CSV or PDF, whichever your operations team uses
- Or a webhook, so nothing has to be exported by hand
- Buy and sell rate per line, with the carrier chosen and the reason
- Nothing you use today has to be replaced
Artificial intelligence
Where we use AI, and where we do not
AI is good at one job in this product: reading a message a person wrote in their own words. It is the wrong tool for deciding your price, and we do not use it that way.
What the AI does
- Reads your enquiry emails and WhatsApp messages however they are written — four lines or four paragraphs, English or part-English, forwarded three times.
- Pulls out the details: ports, cargo, equipment, weights, volume, Incoterm, HS code, cargo ready date and what the client actually asked for.
- Reads attachments — packing lists, proforma invoices and carrier rate sheets, including scanned PDFs.
- Reads carrier replies and lines the offers up against each other on price, transit, free time, validity and space.
- Drafts the reply asking the client for whatever they left out, with the right questions for the service they asked about.
- Says when it is unsure and leaves the field blank for you, rather than guessing.
What it is not allowed to do
- It does not set your price. Margin, charge heads and rounding come from your settings. The model never sees a selling price and never suggests one.
- It does not invent a port code. Place names are matched against the UN/LOCODE list by ordinary software. If “PKG” could be Port Klang or packages, it asks.
- It does not choose your carrier or mark one offer better than another. You see all nine factors and decide.
- It does not email your client on its own. Nothing leaves your desk until you have read it.
- It does not learn from your rates. Your pricing is never used to train anything and never reaches another forwarder’s account.
- It does not make the decision. Everything it produces is a draft you approve. The forwarder signs the quotation, not the software.
What happens to your email. The text of an enquiry is sent to the model to be read and is not stored by the provider or used for training — we use zero-retention endpoints only. The structured result is saved in your own account.
You can always see the working. Every field FlowDeck fills in is shown next to the line of the email it came from, with how confident it was. If it read something wrong, you correct it once and it remembers the correction for that sender.
And you can check it before you commit. Send us fifty of your real enquiry emails. We measure how accurately it reads them, field by field, and show you the result — including where it did badly.
Built for freight work
The fields are the ones you already use
Every field on every screen was checked with working forwarders. If a screen shows “Origin” where you would write POL, that is a mistake on our side, and we would rather correct it before you start using it.
Response time and conversion
Response time is the one part of winning a quotation that is fully in your control. That is what FlowDeck is built to improve.
Scope
What it does not do, on purpose
Quote Desk covers the work before a booking exists — the enquiry, the rates, the quotation, the follow-up and the win or loss. When a quotation is accepted it hands the complete file across and stops there.
It does not make bookings, cut documents, raise invoices or keep your accounts. You carry on with whatever you use for those, and nothing has to be removed or replaced.
We would rather do one part of your day properly than a whole system badly.
Getting started
Your first two weeks
No installation, no data migration project and no training course. Here is exactly what happens, and what we need from you at each point.
The founding member programme
Six founding members
We are not selling the software yet. We want six working forwarders to use it on real enquiries and tell us what needs to change, while changes are still easy for us to make.
You get
- Six months free, with the full product
- Then 50% of list price for two years
- That rate stays fixed for as long as you continue
- Your way of working built into the product
- Direct contact with the team building it
We ask
- 50 real enquiry emails in the first two weeks
- One 45-minute call each month
- Twenty minutes to check our freight terms
- Permission to name you as a founding member
- Frank feedback, including when you disagree
Pricing
Priced by quotations, not by users
Add your whole desk without the cost changing. You pay for the volume you put through.
Desk
Up to 150 quotations a month. One branch, with one or two people quoting.
- Email and WhatsApp intake
- Rate requests and comparison
- Branded quotation PDF
- Rate history and conversion reports
- Unlimited users
Desk Plus
Up to 500 quotations a month. A full sales desk, or a few branches.
- Everything in Desk
- Rate sourcing rules and sheet tracking
- Multi-option quotations and revisions
- Account ownership and duplicate-price warnings
- Handover file including the email trail
Network
No limit on quotations. Several offices, or passing data to another system automatically.
- Everything in Desk Plus
- API and webhooks
- Mailbox connect with 90-day backfill
- Priority support
- Set-up done together with your team
All plans include unlimited users. One extra shipment won in a year covers the Desk plan.
Questions
Common questions
Do we have to change the system we use now?
No. FlowDeck covers the work before a booking exists — the enquiry, the rates, the quotation and the follow-up. Once a quotation is accepted, it passes the file across and stops there. Nothing you use now has to be removed or shifted.
What do we need to do to start?
Forward one enquiry email to the address we give you. That is the first step. After that, set a single auto-forward rule in Outlook or Gmail so it happens on its own. You can also send us your carrier rate sheets. We read those the same way, so there is no format for you to fill in.
Which AI do you use, and does it see our rates?
We use a large language model for one job only — reading what a person wrote. It reads enquiries, carrier replies and rate sheet attachments. It never sees a selling price, never sets margin and never chooses a carrier; those come from your own settings and from ordinary software. The text we send is processed on zero-retention endpoints, so it is not stored by the provider or used to train anything, and your pricing never reaches another forwarder’s account.
How accurate is it at reading enquiries?
We measure it on your own emails before giving you any figure. Send us fifty real enquiry emails from the last six months and we will show you the result field by field. If it cannot read your enquiries well enough to be useful, we will tell you in the first week.
What happens to details it cannot read?
They are marked and left blank, with a link to the line they should have come from. The system will not enter a port code or a weight it is unsure of. A wrong figure in a quotation costs more than a blank one.
Who can see our buy rates and margin?
You decide. By default only administrators see buy rates and margin, and you can extend this to managers. Sales staff see selling rates only. The handover file still carries both rates for the person making the booking.
Is our rate data separate from other forwarders?
Yes. Each company's records are kept separately and cannot be reached from another account. We will not pool your rates or compare them with anyone else's.
Does it handle air weight breaks?
Yes — minimum, −45, +45, +100, +300, +500 and +1000. The break is taken from chargeable weight. When quoting at the next break works out cheaper, the system shows you and records which break was used.
Who is behind FlowDeck?
TechSimba Private Limited, an IT company in Indore. We have built websites, hosting and membership software for freight forwarders and freight networks for several years. FlowDeck came out of that work.
When can we start?
We are taking on founding members now, in order of application. The first step is the fifty emails, and we share the accuracy result with you before either side commits further.
Send us fifty enquiry emails
That is all that is needed to check whether FlowDeck suits your desk. We measure how accurately it reads your enquiries and share the result with you either way.
Or tell us about your desk
We read every application ourselves and reply, usually the same day.
We will use this only to reply to you about FlowDeck. No mailing list, and we do not share it with anyone else.