How long did this project take to deliver?

The full pricing command centre — rules engine, live fuel and route API integrations, admin panel, audit logging, and mobile quoting tool — was delivered in three months. That included replacing the entire spreadsheet-based workflow across four regional offices without pausing daily quoting operations.

Does this only work for over-dimensional cargo (ODC) and heavy transport, or would it work for a smaller fleet?

The rules engine is built around configurable parameters — trailer type, weight class, axle configuration, and permit rules — so it scales down cleanly to simpler load types and smaller fleets that don't deal with ODC or low-bed complexity. A smaller operator would use the same core engine with a lighter rule set and skip the senior-approver escalation tier entirely.

What happens if the Rapid API fuel feed or Google Maps API goes down?

The pricing engine falls back to the last synchronised fuel index and cached route distances rather than blocking quote generation entirely, so reps can still issue a quote using the most recent known values. Pricing managers are flagged in the admin panel when a feed is stale so they can manually verify before final approval on high-value quotes.

What was the biggest risk in a project like this?

The biggest risk was migrating pricing logic that existed only as institutional knowledge in senior staff's heads and scattered spreadsheet formulas into documented, enforceable rules without breaking pricing on live customer quotes. That was mitigated by running the new engine in parallel with the old spreadsheet process for a transition window before cutting over fully.

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Logistics & B2BSaaS Application DevelopmentAI-Powered Software

Dynamic Logistics Pricing Command Centre

Replacing spreadsheet-based freight quoting with an automated pricing engine synced to live fuel and route data, giving a heavy-transport operator instant, defensible quotes for its most complex load types.

Freight quotes generated in seconds with real-time fuel cost synchronisation

Client

Confidential — B2B heavy transport operator

Industry

Logistics & B2B

Timeline

3 months

Technologies

7+ tools

The Challenge

!Manual quoting for heavy freight — over-dimensional cargo (ODC), flatbeds, and low-bed trailers — required an ops coordinator to cross-reference multiple spreadsheets, permit tables, and route notes, often taking three to five hours per request during peak season.

!Fuel price fluctuations were only reflected in quotes through a weekly manual update cycle, meaning any diesel spike mid-week was absorbed as unrecovered cost on freight already booked at the stale rate.

!Sales representatives across four regional offices worked from independently maintained spreadsheet copies, so the same lane and load could return three different prices depending on which rep answered the phone, creating friction with repeat customers who compared notes.

!Complex load parameters — axle weight distribution, trailer type, escort vehicle requirements, and state-by-state oversize permit rules — had no standardised input flow, so quoting accuracy depended heavily on one or two senior staff who understood the full permit matrix.

!There was no audit trail for quote history, meaning disputes over what a customer was originally quoted versus what was invoiced were resolved by digging through email threads rather than a system of record.

!Route distance and toll estimates were calculated by hand using printed atlases and driver knowledge, introducing rounding errors that compounded on long interstate hauls and skewed margins on low-margin backhaul lanes.

!Management had no visibility into quote-to-win ratios or pricing trends by lane, trailer type, or customer, making it impossible to identify which segments were underpriced or which sales reps were discounting excessively.

!Onboarding new quoting staff took months because pricing logic existed only as institutional knowledge and scattered spreadsheet formulas rather than documented, enforceable business rules.

!Sales reps in the field had no way to generate a defensible quote without calling the office and waiting for someone to run the numbers manually, which meant competitors who could quote on the spot regularly won time-sensitive freight bids before this operator's quote even reached the customer's inbox.

!Finance had no reliable way to model the margin impact of a fuel-price swing before it hit, so pricing decisions during volatile fuel markets were reactive rather than planned, and the operator routinely discovered a quarter's margin compression only after the invoices had already gone out.

Our Solution

Built a web-based pricing calculator with a dynamic rules engine that accounts for trailer type, weight class, axle configuration, distance, and ODC-specific parameters like escort vehicle count and permit surcharges.

Integrated Rapid API for real-time diesel and petrol price synchronisation, so every quote generated automatically reflects the current fuel index rather than a stale weekly figure, with configurable fuel surcharge formulas per contract.

Implemented a route distance engine using the Google Maps API to calculate journey kilometres, estimated transit time, and toll exposure directly from origin and destination inputs, eliminating manual atlas lookups.

Created a quote management system with full version history, multi-step approval workflows for discounted rates, and one-click customer-facing PDF export with company branding and terms.

Built an admin panel that lets pricing managers adjust rate cards, fuel surcharge multipliers, and permit-fee tables directly, without filing a development ticket or waiting on engineering cycles.

Deployed comprehensive audit logging capturing every quote generated, edited, approved, or accepted, timestamped and tied to the originating user for full traceability during customer disputes.

Added role-based access so junior sales staff can generate standard quotes within pre-approved margin bands, while ODC and low-bed quotes above a threshold automatically route to a senior approver.

Layered in a reporting dashboard showing quote volume, win rate, and average margin by lane and trailer type, giving management the data to correct underpriced segments within weeks rather than quarters.

Shipped a mobile quoting tool for field sales reps that pulls the same live pricing engine used at the office, letting reps generate a defensible quote on the spot during a customer conversation instead of promising a callback.

Added fuel-price scenario modeling directly into the pricing engine, letting finance simulate margin impact across a range of fuel-price movements before committing to lane pricing for the quarter instead of finding out after invoices had already shipped.

Measurable Impact

Quote generation time

3-5 hours → under 60 seconds

The automated rule engine replaces manual spreadsheet calculations across all load types, including complex ODC configurations, cutting quote turnaround by over 95%.

Fuel price sync

Real-time (vs. weekly)

Live API integration ensures every quote reflects current diesel and petrol costs, closing the weekly lag that used to erode margin on mid-cycle price spikes.

Pricing consistency

100% (down from 3 differing prices per lane)

A single source of truth across all four regional offices eliminates version-mismatch disputes and rep-to-rep price variance.

Audit coverage

100% of quotes, dispute resolution in minutes vs. days

Every quote carries a full history trail, cutting dispute-resolution time from days of email searching to under 15 minutes on average.

New staff ramp-up

2-3 weeks (down from 3+ months)

Documented rules and guided workflows let new quoting staff produce accurate quotes without years of institutional knowledge.

Margin visibility

Underpriced lanes flagged within 2-4 weeks

Management dashboards now surface underpriced lanes and excessive discounting patterns that previously took a full quarter or longer to detect.

Approval control

100% of above-threshold ODC quotes auto-escalated

Discounted and high-value ODC quotes are automatically escalated to senior approvers, reducing unauthorised margin erosion.

Field quote turnaround

Under 60 seconds, on the spot

Sales reps now generate defensible quotes during the customer conversation itself instead of promising a callback, closing more time-sensitive bids.

“What used to take our ops team half a day now takes 30 seconds. The fuel sync alone paid for the project in the first month, and for the first time we can actually see which lanes are losing us money instead of guessing. Our reps stopped losing time-sensitive bids to competitors who could just answer faster than we could.”
M
Managing Director
B2B Heavy Transport Operator (NDA)

Technology stack

ReactNode.jsPostgreSQLRapid APIGoogle Maps APIAWSPDFKit