Software for Freight Forwarding and Cargo Terminals

Software for freight forwarding and cargo terminals has three core jobs: give every consigned parcel an identity the moment the shipper hands it over, show at any time which driver and carrier currently hold it, and close the job with the receiver’s signature. Avadar Cargo, the logistics edition of P-Soft’s Avadar, does all three on every plan. Pro adds a public tracking page for receivers, and Elite removes the branch limit while keeping each branch’s data fully separate.

Anyone who has spent an afternoon at a road freight office in a cargo terminal knows the scene. Shippers queue at the counter with vans full of cartons, the clerk answers the phone with one hand and writes in a ledger with the other, and in a corner of the shed a few boxes from last week are still waiting for someone to collect them. The next morning a truck arrives from another city and somebody has to work out which of the thirty-odd parcels on the manifest actually made it. This guide starts from those daily headaches, then shows which parts of Avadar Cargo address them, and finally spells out what the software does not do.

What goes wrong every day at a freight company or terminal office?

On paper, freight looks simple: take the goods, move them, hand them over. In practice the same knots slow the team down every single day:

• The late-afternoon rush: most consignments arrive in the last few hours of the working day, and hand-writing details and numbering cartons under that pressure invites mistakes.
• A consignment store nobody can audit: parcels that have arrived but have not been picked up pile up in the shed, and after a few days no one is sure which carton belongs to whom.
• Endless “has it left yet?” calls: every call means flipping through the ledger or shouting across the office to a colleague.
• Shift handovers: the morning clerk knows things that never made it onto paper, so the evening clerk is left guessing.
• Count disputes at the destination: the shipper insists on six cartons, the receiving branch counted five, and nobody can say where the sixth went missing.
• Branches looking at each other’s freight: when every depot works from one shared list, screens get cluttered and everyone can see consignments that are none of their business.

None of this is solved by hiring more people. The real gap is the lack of a recorded trail for each individual parcel.

Design your cargo management system around the route your freight takes

Before comparing any product, sketch how a consignment actually moves through your own company. In most road freight operations there are six stations, and each one has to answer one clear question:

If a product you are evaluating cannot give a straight answer at one of these stations, that station stays a blind spot for your business.

Cargo terminal software for the consignment store: fast intake

In Avadar Cargo the clerk opens one consignment per shipper and registers all of its parcels in a single step. A barcode or QR label is printed for every carton, and from then on identifying a parcel takes one scan. Take a hypothetical auto-parts wholesaler dropping off twelve boxes of filters for a garage two cities away. Instead of twelve handwritten lines you get one consignment with twelve labelled parcels, and if only eleven are scanned at the far end, the shortfall shows up immediately rather than a week later.

Scanning works with a barcode scanner or with a mobile phone, and if a label gets torn the code can still be typed in. For choosing printers and label templates, see our barcode label printing guide. Parcels sitting in the consignment store can be found in seconds by barcode, item name, shipper or receiver, so nobody has to dig through the whole shed for one box.

A practical point for terminals with patchy connectivity: Avadar lets you view recorded data even while the internet is down, and if you prefer, the software can run on your company’s own server instead of P-Soft’s hosting.

The scan desk and the “in transit” board: who has the load right now?

The scan desk is where three repetitive jobs get done quickly: accepting incoming freight, dispatching outgoing freight and handing parcels to receivers. Each time a parcel changes hands, one scan is logged. Our article on the receiving and dispatch scan desk covers how to lay out such a counter.

When the load goes onto the truck, the driver and carrier names are attached to it and the consignment joins the “in transit” board. One glance tells the operations manager what left the depot today and has not been delivered yet. The board reflects status recorded by scans; it does not show the truck’s position on a map. At the end, the receiver signs the delivery note, so if a dispute comes up later there is clear evidence to point to.

Freight forwarding software with several branches: each depot sees only its own cargo

An intercity freight company usually runs a head office plus agents in other cities. In Avadar Cargo, the agent in one city cannot browse the consignments held by the agent in another, and an operator works only with parcels in their own warehouse. The separation is enforced in the data itself, not by hiding a few columns on screen. Four roles are available to divide the work: manager, supervisor, operator and a read-only auditor; auditors and detailed permissions for each individual user become available from Pro upward.

How many branches or warehouses you can run: 1 with Start, a maximum of 5 with Pro, no cap with Elite. User limits follow the same pattern: up to five, up to twenty and unlimited. If you run several depots in one city, our guide to multi-warehouse management is worth a read as well.

Shipment tracking for receivers: fewer calls to the office

From the Pro plan up, a receiver uses a dedicated code to check the status of their own shipment without creating an account. The tracking page shows that one consignment only; nothing about other customers or your internal operations is exposed. For an office that fields dozens of “has my parcel arrived?” calls a day, that hands time back to the people working the counter.

Which Avadar Cargo plan fits which freight business?

What Avadar Cargo does not do

Avadar Cargo is deliberately lean so the counter screen stays uncluttered. It is worth knowing the boundaries before you buy:

• No finance module: freight rates, shipper accounts and settling up with drivers stay in your existing accounting software.
• No satellite tracking or route planning: it neither shows a truck’s live position nor suggests the best route.
• No production, warranty or customer club: those belong to the Industry and Trade editions of Avadar.
• No replacement for official transport paperwork: it is an operational system for recording and following parcels.

Setup checklist for freight company software

1. Write down the stations your freight passes through, like the table above.
2. Decide who scans at each station, and whether with a scanner or a phone.
3. Put the label printer right at the intake counter, not in a back room.
4. Give parcels waiting in the consignment store fixed, signposted spots.
5. Set up branches and users, and make each person’s role clear from day one.
6. Bring over existing records from spreadsheets or your old system; the P-Soft team handles the migration, with scope set by your plan and contract.
7. Before buying, run the trial demo with a few of your own real consignments.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Avadar Cargo suitable for a small single-office freight company?

Yes. The Start plan covers one warehouse and up to 5 users, with consignments, the scan desk and the “in transit” board included.

Can receivers check their shipment without phoning us?

Yes, on Pro and Elite. The receiver enters a dedicated code and, without logging in, sees only that shipment’s status.

Does Avadar Cargo calculate freight charges or driver settlements?

No. This edition has no finance module; keep those tasks in your accounting software.

What happens if the terminal’s internet connection drops?

Recorded data remains viewable. Installing on your own company server is also an option.

Can our regional agents see each other’s consignments?

No. Every branch and operator sees only the freight in their own warehouse, and Elite offers unlimited, fully separated branches.

Want to see your own freight route mapped in Avadar Cargo? Request a demo of Avadar Cargo.

Further reading

• What Is Warehouse Management Software & Why Every Business Needs It
• The Best Warehouse Management Software for Your Business: A Guide to Choosing and Comparing (2026)
• What Is Stocktaking? A Complete Practical Guide

Complete guide: warehouse management software