Apex for logistics
Every shipment, pallet and mile, billed at the contracted rate.
Logistics revenue is usage: shipments moved, pallet-days stored, miles driven, accessorials added at the dock. Apex takes that usage from your TMS, WMS or ERP, rates it against each customer's contract, applies the fuel surcharge in force that week, and writes the invoice to your ERP.
What applies
The functions a logistics operator uses.
Usage metering
Shipments, pallet-days and miles counted from the TMS, WMS or ERP, per customer and location.
Freight quoting
Rates by lane and weight band, with minimums and accessorials.
Index-linked pricing
Fuel surcharges tied to a published diesel index, reset weekly or monthly as the contract says.
Invoicing
One invoice per customer per period, with usage detail they can check.
Rates
Rate structures as your contracts write them.
- Per shipment
- A base rate per load or parcel, by lane, with a minimum charge.
- Per pallet-day
- Storage charged on pallets held each day, with receiving and handling as separate lines.
- Per mile
- Linehaul by distance, with deadhead rules where the contract allows.
- Accessorials
- Liftgate, detention, residential delivery and the rest, each priced per customer.
- Fuel surcharge
- A percentage or per-mile charge from the index value on the date the contract names.
Usage to invoice
From a proof of delivery to a posted invoice.
- 01
Collect
Usage arrives from the TMS, WMS or ERP; nothing is re-keyed.
- 02
Check
Missing or unusual volumes are held before billing, not found by the customer.
- 03
Rate
Each event priced against the customer's contract and the surcharge in force.
- 04
Invoice
Written to the ERP with the detail the customer needs to reconcile it.
Yours
Your lanes and your rates stay yours.
Your rate cards, lane pricing and accessorial terms are the commercial edge you compete on. Apex is configured to them and keeps them in your tenant.
Your rate cards
Modeled as you sell them.
Your usage
Read from the systems you already run.
Your record
Invoices land in your ERP.
Agents propose, people approve
The agent drafts. A person decides.
A usage agent flags a customer whose volume dropped to zero or doubled before the invoice is written, and an order agent turns emailed tenders into draft loads. A person decides.
Every agent stops at an approval gate until it has earned its way out of one. Nothing releases cash, commits spend or touches a customer without a person saying so.
Your dataModels that read your data run inside your environment, behind your firewall. No client data reaches a frontier lab.
Start here, keep the foundation
Start with one function. Add the rest without starting over.
For a logistics company, a good first function is usage billing for one service line, such as warehousing. Customers, invoices and payments come down from the ERP into your Ferrata foundation, so adding freight quoting or revenue reporting later uses the same records.
FAQ
Questions, answered plainly.
What is logistics billing software?
Software that turns operational activity (shipments, storage, miles, accessorials) into accurate invoices at each customer's contracted rates. Apex does this on top of your ERP and takes usage from the systems that already record it.
Can Apex read usage from our TMS or WMS?
Yes, through an events API, a file or database feed, or from records already in the ERP. Each source is mapped when your instance is set up.
How is the fuel surcharge applied?
From an index you choose, using the value on the date the contract names, as a percentage or a per-mile amount. The invoice shows which index value was used.
What happens when usage arrives late?
If the period is still open, it is rated before the invoice is written. If not, it is rated into the next invoice or a correction, according to your rules.
Can customers see the detail behind the invoice?
Yes. Usage can be shown line by line on the invoice and in the customer portal, so a customer can reconcile shipments against charges.
Does Apex handle 3PL storage billing?
Yes. Pallet-days, receiving, handling and value-added services are each metered and priced per customer contract.
Related in Apex
- Usage-based billingBill what customers used, rated at the price they signed, posted to your ERP.View
- Usage meteringMeters that turn raw events and ERP records into billable quantities.View
- Freight and landed costFreight, duty and surcharges quoted per lane or weight band.View
- Index-linked pricingPrices tied to steel, fuel or CPI, with caps and floors, re-priced on set dates.View
- InvoicingInvoices calculated in Apex, checked against the PO, posted to your ERP first.View
From Ferrata Labs
Start with Apex, or talk it through first.
Thirty minutes with Ferrata Labs on one workflow. You leave with a view of where Apex fits, and an honest answer if the sequencing is wrong and you should fix something else first.
Your pricing, approval and billing rules are your advantage, and they stay yours. Apex is configured to the way you sell and bill. You are not handing over a playbook or fitting into a template.