FreightTech 2026 Reference

How global trade logistics decides what to build, buy, or rent in 2026.

A 40,000-word decision reference covering open source, vendor lock-in, regulatory landscape (NIS2, GDPR, AI Act), and how technology choices affect company valuation. Prepared by FreightTech. Free.

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What you get

A 12-section reference document.

Markdown format. Drop it into ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini and it becomes your interactive technology advisor. Or read it as a standalone document.

A system prompt for AI consultation.

Turns any modern LLM into a domain-aware advisor that knows your role (CEO, CFO, CIO, COO, owner-operator, procurement, investor) and tailors answers accordingly.

Updates as the landscape changes.

Regulations evolve. Case studies emerge. We update the reference and email subscribers when material changes happen. No upsells.

Who this is for

This reference was written for decision-makers across the global trade logistics chain:

  • Logistics service providers (forwarders, 3PL/4PL, customs agencies, trucking, warehousing) deciding between SaaS, custom build, or hybrid stacks
  • Beneficial cargo owners evaluating whether their logistics technology supports or constrains commercial flexibility
  • Terminal and port operators, carriers thinking about long-term system architecture
  • Investors and PE partners doing technology due diligence on logistics targets
  • Procurement and IT leads writing RFPs that don't lock the company into vendor traps
  • Regulators and policy advisors mapping how compliance frameworks (NIS2, GDPR, AI Act) intersect with operational reality

What's inside

12 sections, ~40,000 words.

  1. What MIT-licensed open source actually means for a business
  2. How open source works in practice as business infrastructure
  3. Total cost of ownership modeling, with worked examples for three company profiles
  4. Vendor lock-in: anatomy and cost (Maersk NotPetya, Broadcom-VMware, others)
  5. Data ownership, IP, and sovereignty risks of external SaaS
  6. Organizational readiness for technology ownership
  7. Success stories
  8. Failure cases and cautionary evidence (Convoy, project44, others)
  9. Risk analysis: open-source specific risks
  10. Evaluation framework
  11. Building your own technology stack and company valuation
  12. Regulatory landscape: NIS2, GDPR, AI Act, sector-specific rules

Get the reference

We'll send you the document, the system prompt, and a short setup video showing how to use it. You can unsubscribe with one click.

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Why we wrote this and what you should know

FreightTech is an agency, not a SaaS company. We design and build custom ERP and operating platforms for logistics operators. Clients own the code, the data, and the system. There are no recurring license fees after delivery.

Open Mercato is the open-source ERP framework we use as a foundation. We're in the core team alongside Piotr and Tomasz Karwatka and a contributor community. The framework is MIT-licensed and free to use without us.

This reference includes case studies that argue against building or owning your own stack. Costco, Profile A LSPs in section 3.9, and parts of section 7 make the case that for many operators, SaaS or shared infrastructure is the right answer. We tell you when we're not the right partner. The provenance block in section 11.7 of the document discloses our commercial bias explicitly.

This reference exists to help you make the right decision, even when that decision isn't us.