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How Olaret manages nearly 1,000 container loads a month with just two dispatchers

Olaret runs 1,000 container loads a month with two dispatchers. The result: 70% more efficient work, 60% less customer back-and-forth, and 30% volume growth with the same team.

Company profile

Mait Talen Olaret dispatcher
Olaret is a container transport company with almost 30 years in the business, built around the road haulage of containers. Their day-to-day isn't just moving cargo from A to B. It's container logistics with all its real complexity: ports, shipping lines, imports and exports, different container types, tight timing, and constant back-and-forth between many parties.

Olaret's team is small but the workload is large. Including management and accounting, five people work in the office, two of them dispatchers. Those two people alone handle an average of 50-60 trips a day and close to 1,000 loads a month. That makes precise planning and a clear overview of the whole transport chain essential for Olaret.

Olaret's core customers are shipping lines, freight forwarders, logistics companies, importers, and exporters. Among their better-known clients are Maersk and CMA CGM.

With that volume and customer base, running close to 1,000 loads a month with two dispatchers leaves very little room for manual work. This is where Planlogi stopped being just software for Olaret and became the central tool the whole operation runs through.
  • Company size
    2 dispatchers, 30 drivers, plus management and accounting in the office
  • Fleet size
    30 trucks + 50 trailers, plus crane-equipped trucks (sideloaders) for lifting containers
  • Service area
    Mainly Estonia; occasionally Finland and the Baltics
  • Transport volume
    900+ loads a month
  • Customers
    Shipping lines on direct contracts, freight forwarders, logistics companies, importers, exporters, and private individuals. Notable names: Maersk, CMA CGM
  • Services
    Container transport between port and customer, port-to-port container moves, transport of different container types
Olaret container transport

Before Planlogi: the biggest bottleneck was a lack of visibility

Before Planlogi, Olaret's transportation management was largely ran through Excel spreadsheets, phone calls, emails, and paper. One of their dispatchers described their old way of working as "fit for the last century," where all the operational information ran through the dispatchers and there simply was no real-time overview. If you needed to know the status of a truck, a container, or a load, you had to call the driver, wait for an answer, and then manually pass the same information on to the customer.

„A huge amount of time and effort went into calling every driver to ask where they were, what they're doing, why, and so on. Our hands were full the entire time.“

However, the the most painful bottleneck for Olaret, was that the full picture was never in front of you.

Planning ran partly on memory, a whiteboard, the previous day's plan, and phone conversations. Drivers had to be contacted constantly, because even though you could see a truck on the map, there was no clear visibility into the status of a load, why a truck was standing still, or what would happen next. Customers, in turn, depended on the dispatcher the same way, because they had no direct access to the information.

That meant constant duplication of information. The dispatcher had to take information from the driver, share it with the customer, solve problems on the fly, and keep an eye on everything else at the same time. Even though load volume back then wasn't much lower than it is now, there was far more manual work, and the same job took more time, attention, and stress.
Olaret transportation fleet

The costliest mistake from a lack of visibility cost Olaret €6,000

Olaret's earlier way of working was also a business risk. When planning runs partly from memory, off a whiteboard, out of email, and by comparing things by hand, you never get one clear view of what's done, what isn't, and what's in progress.


Dispatcher Mait put it very plainly: before, you had to stand up, write on the whiteboard, compare trucks and trips against each other, and piece the picture together roughly from memory. That's where the mistakes came from: something got erased, something was forgotten and never added, and the full picture was never in front of you.

„The more pen and paper, the more room for mistakes. We've seen it all happen.“

In container transport, these mistakes are especially painful and costly. A job left undone or badly managed doesn't just cause internal confusion; it can quickly turn into direct financial loss. Mait gave the example of a reefer (refrigerated) container shipment that went undone and only came to light a month later. A container like that costs on average €150-200 a day. It shows exactly how the old way of working wasn't just tedious manual effort. It was a real risk that could sit unnoticed for a long time and end up hurting the revenue.

„One reefer container shipment that went unnoticed for a month cost us around €6,000.“

The same risk showed up in the everyday paperwork. The more paper, manual re-keying, and double entry there was, the more chances that something would get lost, go unnoticed, or fail to reach the right place at the right time.


In that model, the problem was no longer just that the work was inconvenient. It was that control rested far too heavily on people's memory, attention, and whatever interruption came next.

Why did Olaret choose Planlogi?

Olaret's team understood that the way they'd been working wasn't sustainable. When a large part of the daily operation depends on Excel files, phone calls, emails, and what's in people's heads, at some point the question is no longer about convenience, but about whether the whole workflow is manageable at all.

„We understood a long time ago that what we were doing wasn't sustainable. We started looking into what solutions others use and how they manage their processes.“

Olaret wasn't looking for a generic TMS. They wanted a TMS software that would actually work in a real container transport workflow. Many of the solutions on the market didn't fit, because the specifics of containers (container numbers and other information that's mission-critical to their work) weren't covered well enough. If a system doesn't account for the real logic of container transport, it won't help solve the most important problem either.
The deciding factors in Planlogi's favour were above all:
  • A clearer overview of the whole operation
  • Real-time status tracking
  • A container-transport-specific approach
  • Container numbers and other mission-critical information covered
  • Better route and mileage visibility
  • The ability to plan ahead, especially for Maersk orders
  • The ability to copy orders
  • An overview of work that's done/not done/in progress
  • Planlogi didn't feel like a "generic system," but a solution that could be adapted to the real work, with a helpful, flexible team and support crew behind it
In the end, two things became decisive. First, that Planlogi made the big picture overview clear. Second, real-time status tracking, which had been one of the biggest missing links in their old setup. Where information used to have to be gathered from different places and through people, Planlogi moved the work much more towards a single, visible workflow.

That gave Olaret the confidence that this wasn't just another piece of software, but a tool that actually helps them run their daily operation better.

„We really like how helpful the whole Planlogi team is. They understand our problem and they're always there for us.“

The Planlogi team's approach also played a part. For Olaret, it mattered how quickly the Planlogi team grasped their problems and helped solve them at every step. For a container transport company, whose workflow has many quirks and nuances, that matters a great deal.

They didn't just need finished software; they needed a partner willing to build the solution better together with them. That, too, tipped the scales firmly in Planlogi's favour.
Olaret European container haulage TMS

How does Olaret manage its loads with Planlogi now?

For Olaret, Planlogi changed the whole daily logic of their container transport operation. Where an order used to come in by phone or email, get registered by hand, and get planned using Excel, a whiteboard, and memory (with drivers coming into the office to pick up paperwork), the same work now runs quickly through one central system.

„Where I used to have to assemble the picture from pieces myself, now the complete picture is right there in front of me. I open my computer in the morning and immediately see who's already there and who isn't. And then I calmly start taking in the next orders.“

With Planlogi, Olaret's workflow is much clearer and calmer. An order comes into the system or is entered quickly. If it's a repeat or similar load, there's no need to build everything from scratch again; you can copy an existing job. That matters especially for container loads, where a lot of the work follows similar logic. Mait said outright that entering, planning, and processing loads became roughly 70% easier, especially for similar loads, because instead of the earlier manual work, all it now takes is a copy and a few small tweaks.

„The workload dropped enormously, especially for entering, planning, and processing loads. Honestly, everything is now at least 70% faster, especially when it's similar loads.“

For the dispatcher, this means the workday no longer starts chaotically, fighting fires. Opening the Planlogi system, you immediately see which jobs are done, which are in progress, and the current status of a truck or order. Where you used to have to call, dig, and guess why a truck was standing still or whether loading had already begun, now those signals are right in front of you. That makes the workday a lot smoother.

Another important change is how drivers and planners work together. Thanks to the digital workflow, drivers no longer have to come through the office every time to pick up paperwork or ask about their next trip. They can see for themselves where the next trip goes, get the instructions they need, and capture signatures digitally.

„There are some drivers I haven't seen in weeks, because they no longer have to drive back to the office after every load to return paperwork. All the information and documents are with us digitally straight away. It's visibly reduced our time spent, fuel costs, and interruptions to office work.“

The change in customer communication is just as big. Where all the information used to run solely through the dispatchers, information now reaches the customer faster and more accurately. Customers no longer need to call or email to the same extent, because visibility is better and some of the information is available directly through the Planlogi customer link.

By Olaret's estimate, calls and correspondence with customers are down by about 60%. That doesn't mean communication has disappeared. It means there's less of it in the places where you used to relay missing information back and forth by hand.

„Customers are far happier, because the information is faster and the information is more accurate.“

The final stretch of the work, which used to get stuck behind paperwork, now moves forward faster too. Where you previously had to wait for a driver to come back with the documents, sort through them, scan them, and only then move on to invoicing, the process is now digital. Where in the worst case that used to mean a delay of up to a week (drivers were out on the road and couldn't return documents any sooner), the same step is now "just two
clicks."

Reporting has also become much simpler, because instead of printing things out and moving them into Excel, it now takes just a few seconds.
Olaret truck

With Planlogi, Olaret manages up to 1,000 loads a month 70% more efficiently, with two dispatchers

✅ 70% less manual work with the same team
Adopting Planlogi made Olaret's entire workday more efficient. Where managing container loads used to mean constant manual entry, checking, calling, and processing for two dispatchers, a large part of that load is now pulled together by the system. By Olaret's estimate, the workload for entering, planning, and processing loads dropped by around 70%, especially for similar loads. That alone is a huge win for a company managing close to 1,000 loads a month with two dispatchers.

✅ Repeat loads get done in minutes
This is clearest with repeat and standard jobs. Where a similar load used to have to be rebuilt by hand essentially from scratch, you can now copy an existing job and move on quickly. Even entering a standard order by hand now takes just a couple of minutes. That means the planner's time no longer goes on the same volume of mechanical work. It can go into the quality of the work, customer communication, and preparing the next loads.

✅ Invoicing no longer waits on paperwork
Invoicing has sped up too. Where the full process for a single load (gathering the paperwork and processing it correctly) could take around half an hour, it now usually fits within about 10 minutes, and for standard jobs even a couple of minutes. At this kind of volume, that's no longer just "a bit faster." It's a real change in how much the same team can get done in a day.

✅ 60% fewer calls and emails with customers
Alongside speed, interruptions are down too. For Olaret, the volume of customer-related calls and emails has dropped by about 60%, because information moves faster, more accurately, and partly straight through the system. That means less back-and-forth just to find out the status of a load. Customer satisfaction is better as a result, because faster information means less waiting and less uncertainty for them.

✅ Easier and faster rollout than expected
The rollout also went quickly and easily for Olaret. The office got to grips with the system fast and switched over even ahead of the original deadline. For drivers, the transition has naturally been more gradual, since some are used to long-established ways of working, but 80% of drivers already use the system. That shows a digital workflow can be successfully adopted even in a company with a more conservative team.

✅ Freed-up time now goes into quality and growth
The time freed up has given Olaret room to do the work to a higher standard, keep information flowing properly, and go after new customers and new orders. The same team now works less on the edge of overload and more with deliberate control. On top of that, Olaret has grown its load volume by nearly 30% since joining Planlogi.

Just as important, Planlogi isn't an add-on software for Olaret. It quickly became the central tool the whole operation runs on.

„Today, Planlogi is the core of our whole transport operation. It's where everything starts, where everything comes together, and where everything happens from beginning to end.“

Planlogi results in numbers

  • 20 minutes faster invoicing per load
  • 70% more efficient order entry, planning, and processing
  • 1,000 loads a month with 2 dispatchers
  • 80% of drivers actively using the system
  • 60% fewer back-and-forth customer communications about loads
  • 30% growth in load volume with the same team

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What is Planlogi?

Planlogi TMS dispatcher dashboard and driver mobile app
Planlogi is a cloud-based transport management system (TMS) built for small and mid-sized road freight operators across Europe. It replaces the fragmented mix of spreadsheets, paper waybills, WhatsApp threads, and disconnected accounting tools that most growing hauliers rely on, bringing dispatch, eCMR, a driver mobile app, track-and-trace, proof-of-delivery, and invoicing into one platform.

Unlike enterprise TMS suites built for 500+ truck fleets, Planlogi is priced and designed for the hauliers that actually move European freight: fleets of 5 to 100 trucks, where every hour of admin time and every late invoice hits the bottom line.

Planlogi is a leading TMS platform for SMB European road transport operators, supporting the development and rollout of the eFTI system. Our platform meets both European Union requirements and local legislation, helping companies bring their logistics software into line with eFTI standards.