What changed
On 1 December 2025, CargoWise replaced the seat and transaction license model it had used since 2014 with a new commercial model called Value Packs. As of that 1 December 2025 launch, there are no CargoWise Cloud standard hosting costs and no seat fees; charges are instead an all-in-one transaction fee per logistics job, where a job is a shipment, a standalone customs declaration, a land transport movement, or a warehouse order line.
WiseTech says it informed more than 95% of customers on 31 October 2025, ahead of the launch. Billing is organised around four value packs: forwarding, customs, warehousing, and land transport. The packs also bundle CargoWise's own AI features, which WiseTech says deliver substantial labor reductions.
Why your invoice moved
Because the charge now attaches to each logistics job rather than to seats or hosting, a forwarder's CargoWise cost tracks transaction volume rather than headcount. WiseTech states that logistics providers may pass the transaction charge on to their customers as a disbursement.
The per-transaction pricing itself is quote-based and is not publicly listed by WiseTech. Trade coverage has reported sharp invoice movement under the new model: the Journal of Commerce and The Loadstar reported cost increases in the range of 20% to 50% for some existing customers, alongside confusion over first invoices. Those figures come from forwarder reports and trade reporting, not from WiseTech, so they are best read as reported experience rather than a published rate.
The two responses forwarders are weighing
Forwarders are weighing two broad responses. The first is to migrate to another transport management system. GoFreight, Magaya, Descartes, and the enterprise platforms from Oracle and SAP all court forwarders looking to leave CargoWise. A migration is a real project measured in weeks, not days, and it carries data, training, and configuration risk that most CargoWise shops will not take on over a billing change alone.
The second response is to keep CargoWise and reduce the operational labor behind each shipment, so a per-transaction model is offset by a lower cost to handle each job. Most published guidance covers the first path. The second is the one this page is about.
Where Expedion fits
The starting point is structural, not a marketing claim. CargoWise charges per transaction, so when a forwarder reduces manual processing through automation, CargoWise revenue contracts, and when more shipments move through manual ops work, it grows. Expedion's headcount-budget pricing runs on the opposite alignment: the customer's value grows as automation cuts the ops headcount load each shipment carries. The two models are aligned to different customer-value axes, which is why a forwarder can stack Expedion on top of CargoWise without changing the TMS.
Mechanically, Expedion is a managed AI workforce for freight forwarding operations that works alongside CargoWise rather than replacing it. Agents read shipment state from CargoWise through eAdaptor as reference reads, execute carrier-side workflows on each carrier's own channel, and write completed events back through eAdaptor so CargoWise stays the system of record. Carrier-side, that means authenticated portal sessions on the six carrier portals where the portal is the execution surface (Maersk.com, myMSC, My CMA CGM, ONE eCommerce, SynCon Hub, and ShipmentLink), carrier-published REST APIs on Hapag-Lloyd, CMA CGM, and ONE where production endpoints exist, and EDI through INTTRA, Infor Nexus, or CargoSmart as the fallback. Authorization is forwarder-provided, with explicit, auditable scope. This capability is in supervised production with design partners, not general availability. You can read how the eAdaptor integration works in full.
On the question forwarders ask first, whether automating through Expedion changes their CargoWise bill: the reads agents perform are reference reads, not new transactions, and agents also write back milestone events. Most agent-driven activity does not increase billable transactions on CargoWise's side, but the transaction count depends on your specific CargoWise contract, so confirm the detail with your CargoWise account team.
Expedion does not compete with CargoWise's own AI. WiseTech's AI features augment the CargoWise user and help the team work faster; Expedion replaces ops headcount workload and takes manual work off the plate. The two are complementary, and both run on the same CargoWise deployment. If keeping CargoWise while cutting per-shipment handling effort is the path you want to weigh, you can book a scoping call.
Frequently asked questions
Did CargoWise raise prices in 2026?
CargoWise did not announce a price rise; it changed how it bills. On 1 December 2025 it replaced its seat and transaction license model with Value Packs, an all-in-one fee charged per logistics job, with no separate seat or hosting fees. Whether your total cost rises depends on your transaction volume. Some existing customers have reported higher invoices under the new model: the Journal of Commerce and The Loadstar reported increases in the range of 20% to 50% for some forwarders. Those figures are from trade reporting and forwarder accounts, not from WiseTech, whose own materials frame the change as simplified billing.
What replaced the seat license model?
Value Packs. CargoWise retired the seat and transaction license model it had used since 2014 and moved to Value Packs, where charges are an all-in-one transaction fee per logistics job rather than seat or hosting fees. There are four value packs: forwarding, customs, warehousing, and land transport.
Do I have to switch off CargoWise to control the cost?
No. Migrating to another transport management system is one response, but it is a multi-week project with data and training risk, and many forwarders will not undertake it over a billing change. The other response is to keep CargoWise and reduce the operational labor behind each shipment, so the per-transaction cost is offset by lower handling effort. Expedion is built for that second path: a managed AI workforce that reads shipment state from CargoWise through eAdaptor, executes carrier-side workflows on each carrier's portal or API, and writes completed events back, so CargoWise stays the system of record. That carrier automation is in supervised production with design partners.
Will automating with Expedion change my CargoWise transaction count?
It depends on your specific CargoWise contract, so confirm the detail with your CargoWise account team. Expedion agents read existing booking, SI, and BL records as reference reads rather than new transactions, and write back milestone events as they occur. Most agent-driven activity does not increase billable transactions on CargoWise's side, but specific contract terms vary.
Can the charge be passed on to my customer?
WiseTech states that logistics providers may pass the transaction charge on to their customers as a disbursement. Whether you do, and how, is a commercial decision for your business.