DSV has begun switching to DB Schenker’s Tango transport management system, according to multiple industry sources, in what could mark one of the most significant systems shifts in global freight forwarding in more than a decade.
Insiders say the Danish forwarder has already transitioned roughly 30% of operations away from CargoWise, with further roll-out under way.
CargoWise is still understood to run the majority of DSV’s global business – around 70% – but the change is ongoing.
One tech specialist described the strategy as deliberate rather than dramatic.
“What Jens [Lund, DSV CEO] is doing is looking for an exit strategy,” he said.
“It’s not rip-and-replace. It’s a baby-step approach. Today, they are maybe 70%–80% CargoWise and the rest Tango, and moving it slowly to avoid disruption. But it is happening.
“The technology today, with APIs, means they don’t need everything parallelised. The systems can talk to each other.”
A former employee turned independent consultant, Natalia Gerasina, said she understood the transition would be phased, initially deploying Tango in regions where DSV was not running CargoWise, before considering broader migration, if the system proved cost-efficient and operationally viable.
“By my observations, CargoWise is still running the majority of operations, but to my understanding they have already calculated the risks and made a preliminary decision,” she said.
In her view, the move reflects something more fundamental than feature comparison.
“With Tango, DSV owns the code, the datam and the processes. If it doesn’t work, it’s because of their own actions, not external and unpredictable factors.
“This is the right decision in this case.”
She added: “DSV is already paying for both, in-house team, structure, and maintenance, plus Cargowise. The goal isn’t to make it free, but to take control into its own hands, with an already existing solution.
“Everyone remembers Tango in 2018-2020, but few saw the enormous work done since late 2021, when the company was starting to prepare for the sale.
“In the long term, if DSV is planning on acquiring more freight forwarders, the onboarding will be more predictable, while change management and decision making are left to DSV itself, and not dependent on a vendor’s strategy.”
The tech specialist added: “Even the largest forwarder in the world needs leverage. Jens [Lund] is a smart guy, and in the end it’s about negotiation power. Eventually he needs to do something. He wants to reduce total cost of ownership. DSV is looking for alternatives, it doesn’t want to be a hostage.
“I would say that a lot of the forwarders are all looking for alternatives.”
One European tech provider added: “As we saw at Schenker, they had Tango in place, and it’s not a bad product. But it took them a couple of hundred million to get there.”
However, the industry is now divided on what DSV is really building.
One US freight tech executive. who has followed the group’s systems evolution closely, believes the most interesting aspect is not the migration itself but how Tango is being developed.
“How DSV is building is the most interesting part,” he said. “They’re not recreating CargoWise but focusing on a data-first application layer, and then layering-on AI. That will be the most critical part of this whole thing – the headless platform.”
In other words, rather than rebuilding a traditional monolithic ERP, DSV could be separating its core data architecture from front-end systems, creating a modular platform on which AI and operational applications sit independently.
That would represent a structural shift from the TMS interface to the underlying data spine.
But Ms Gerasina is sceptical of the idea that DSV is aiming for a loosely coupled, multi-layer ecosystem.
“I think DSV is very different from Schenker,” she said. “Schenker might have wanted to allow more TMSs and local solutions, but I think DSV would want to keep it simple, in terms of number of solutions.
“My bet is full TMS, not just an operational data layer.”
Forwarders, triggered by pricing changes at CargoWise, plus the onslaught of start-ups and use of AI, are currently debating whether monolithic systems deliver stability, or create an expensive lock-in. If the world’s largest forwarder is progressively reducing its reliance on CargoWise, whether for architectural or strategic reasons, it sends a powerful signal to the market.
As the US tech provider said: “Every forwarder has been waiting to see what DSV does. Now people will get serious about leaving CargoWise.”
The news will likely put more pressure on WiseTech Global.
DSV did not respond to requests for comment, but in its recent earnings call, Mr Lund said DSV would “keep Tango running in certain areas; we’ll have to make a choice which platform to go to”.
He added: “And, you know, it’s very likely that we will, over time, gravitate towards our own solution.”
Asked to clarify that statement, DSV declined.
