'Music to my ears' I could say, thinking of the many years I spent organizing logistics in the earlier part of my life. Making logistics simple, reliable and stress free requires a magic touch and after speaking with Michelle I have developed this conviction: she does have a magic touch, and much more: a malicious pneumonia almost killed me, and in all that I even felt guilty, because I had promised Michelle to prepare the article about her work and activity, but I could not lift a finger... So I told Michelle she would have to wait. She showed her sympathy and consideration in a way I shall never forget. She kept corresponding with me and encouraging me with admirable empathy. After much trouble, here we are eventually. I am now able to deliver my conversation with this extraordinary woman about her business and her achievements.

A Woman-Owned Industry Leader

Based in Peabody, Massachusetts ImEx Cargo is a certified woman-owned logistics company, Airline GSA, Domestic Freight Broker and government contractor with +30 years of experience in international and domestic freight. Michelle and her team provide end-to-end cargo solutions for air freight, trucking, and government transportation, backed by strategic tech and deep operational experience.

The Journey to Innovation

In a period when even the most reluctant operators are embracing digital technology as an essential part of their offer ImEx Cargo appears to be well placed to take stock of their investments: a totally new digital portal serves a number of functions in their daily routine and we are proud we have the opportunity to explain why it is so special.

Michelle explained: "We were handling 200–300 emails per day, multiple carrier reports, AWB inventory, custom billing models, and sales intelligence — all while supporting several airlines simultaneously." Clearly Michelle's experience shaped the reliability and depth of the system she proposes. "Decades of running freight desks, booking with over 20 major airlines, and manually managing millions of kilos gave us a very different lens compared to the Silicon Valley startups. This portal wasn't imagined; it was earned through operational pain, late nights, crisis management, and rebuilding during COVID. Everything inside the platform exists because we lived without it, felt the impact, and designed a better way."

Born from Crisis

Michelle was adamant: "COVID magnified every bottleneck. During that time, I was hospitalized with COVID for 8 days, on oxygen, but never stopped working. I couldn't let our customers or team down. That's when I knew: we had to build something that could scale sustainably, protect our independence, and serve the industry." As it happens, quite often the best ideas come from exceptional hardship. This is a case in point in my view.

There is more... "We were weeks away from launching this system with AirBridge Cargo when Russia's invasion of Ukraine shut their U.S. operations down. Overnight, we lost 50%+ of our revenue. I made a decision: we would no longer depend on anyone else's system, contract, or circumstance. We would build our future. And now we are in a position to decide our own future, respectful of all our connections and alliances, but happily independent. That is how it all started."

Plug-In Freight Ops™: Completing the Ecosystem

I interrupted Michelle's train of thoughts with a pointed question: "The air cargo industry has invested billions in digitalization. In this crowded landscape, Plug-In Freight Ops™ fits where exactly?"

Market Opportunity

"Because our platform spans many segments, the total reachable market is much larger than tools that only do bookings or only do trucking."

Reducing Costs, Increasing Revenue

"Plug-In Freight Ops™ help reduce costs and increase revenues for airlines and forwarders," Michelle explained. "Airlines and GSAs reduce costs by reducing manual quotes by 60-80%, thus reducing mis-billings and AWB errors. Automation of sales reporting and forecasting affords eliminating system switching. In all this Forwarders enhance revenue by comparing airline, GSA and interline options instantly, improving speed-to-quote and providing real-time visibility to customers without extra overhead. The result is that the same staff can double their throughput without burnout."

Key Capabilities

In terms of interline strategies and network expansion the online portal enables forwarders to instantly compare mainline and interline pairings side by side, an invaluable facility when capacity fluctuates, as is almost routine in recent times. Airlines, particularly niche and long-haul carriers, can widen their market reach without increasing staff, offices, or sales teams. For GSAs representing multiple airlines, the Plug-In Freight Ops™ becomes a centralized sales intelligence engine.

Government Contracting Excellence

Government contracting and federal modernization efforts are crucial today. "Government agencies and prime contractors are under pressure to modernize logistics and increase WOSB/DBE participation. Plug-In Freight Ops™ provides: a digital quotation/bookings/tracking layer for government freight, audit-ready documentation, shipment-level transparency and milestone compliance, as well as automated reporting for government oversight," i.e. all that even the most exacting professional could require. "We're positioning ourselves as the future of digital GovCon freight, a space where most traditional tools don't operate."

The Official Launch

The ImEx Cargo Portal officially launched in September 2025 to coincide with Supply Chain Month and Women in Logistics Month.

"We're now in Phase 2 with government freight tracking tools, ULD booking, and forecasting modules on the roadmap."

Addressing Industry Inefficiencies

Michelle was indeed persuasive, but we do know that there are areas of inefficiency that still exist within the industry, so I asked her what were the biggest inefficiencies still holding air cargo back.

That is when I really appreciate talking to an expert: "Three persistent gaps remain across the global cargo chain:

Every large digital platform claims to be 'the future', but freight people live in today's reality. The ImEx Cargo Portal was built to bridge real operational gaps we've experienced for decades."

What Makes the Difference

"Our model is built to support SaaS, FaaS (Forwarding-as-a-Service), and white-label licensing for cargo partners worldwide" she proudly concluded.

The ImEx Cargo Academy

Ms De Fronzo is not a person to sit idly contemplating her success. She just achieved a not-so-small industrial miracle and she is already planning another endeavor: introducing the ImEx Cargo Academy to complement our tech and expand our industry impact.

"We launched the ImEx Cargo Academy, which is an online platform training the next generation of logistics professionals, because we wanted to make sure the next gen professionals would be fully aware of the potential of our offer and were perfectly equipped to expand within the customers' requirements with little or no doubt on the solutions at hand."

What's Next

A Vision for the Future