CargoWise Global Outage Hits Freight Forwarding Operations

WiseTech Global's CargoWise platform, a critical system for freight forwarding and logistics operations, experienced a significant global outage lasting approximately two hours. The incident triggered the company's 'Major Incident' protocol due to widespread login failures and disruption to electronic messaging capabilities—core functions that logistics and customs professionals depend on daily. The outage, escalated before 7am UK time, represents a notable disruption to the logistics ecosystem given CargoWise's global user base.

For supply chain professionals, this incident underscores the operational vulnerability created by dependency on single platforms for mission-critical functions. CargoWise users experienced inability to access shipment documentation, communicate electronically, and manage compliance processes—functions that cannot easily be transferred to backup systems on short notice. Two-hour outages can cascade into significant delays in customs clearance, documentation submission, and visibility across global shipments.

This event highlights an increasingly important risk category for supply chain organizations: technology infrastructure resilience. While WiseTech demonstrated rapid incident response through escalation protocols, the incident reflects the reality that even mature, enterprise-grade platforms are vulnerable to service interruptions. Organizations relying heavily on CargoWise for their export-import operations should review their business continuity procedures and consider whether redundant access methods or alternative documentation pathways exist for critical scenarios.