Arabic and English are one build, checked for parity on every change, and every document the system issues exists in both.
CargoSharks vs CargoWise: a CargoWise alternative for Gulf forwarders
The two are not the same size of thing. Here is what each is for, where CargoWise is the better answer, and the questions worth putting to both of us.
- Built for
- Forwarders in Kuwait, the UAE and Saudi Arabia
- Modes
- Sea, air, road, rail and courier
- Languages
- Arabic and English, one build, documents in both
- E-invoicing
- ZATCA Phase 2 and UAE e-invoicing, in the product
- Your data
- Your own database, in your own instance
- Getting started
- Free demo call, then 15 working days of paid setup and onboarding
The two are built for different sizes of operation
A platform that quotes 193 countries and a system built for a Kuwaiti forwarder are aimed at different operations. Where they overlap is where you have to decide, and the question there is which one was built for your size.
What each product says it is built for, in its own words
Vendor sites, read 25 Aug 2026
CargoSharks
- Where it works
- Kuwait and the Gulf
- Languages
- 2 (English, Arabic)
- Who it is for
- Freight forwarders
CargoWise
- Where it works
- 193 countries
- Languages
- 30
- Who it is for
- Forwarders, customs brokers, warehouse operators, carriers and drayage operators
What CargoWise says about itself
WiseTech Global’s CargoWise calls itself “the platform that powers global logistics”: “a single intelligent system” on “a single global database” that “unifies your end-to-end supply chain”, quoting 193 countries, 30 languages and 162 currencies. It addresses forwarders, customs brokers, warehouse operators, carriers and drayage operators from the same platform.
Read from www.cargowise.com on 2026-08-25. If it has gone out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
Pick CargoWise if
- You clear customs in a dozen countries and need the coverage of a platform quoting 193 of them. This is the strongest single reason to pick CargoWise.
- Your customers, agents or parent company already run it and the integration is the point.
- You have the implementation budget and an internal owner for it. A platform of that scope repays configuration, and configuration takes somebody’s year.
Pick CargoSharks if
Each point is a mechanism you can check in the demo.
The dinar keeps its three decimal places from the database to the printed invoice. Money is decimal end to end and never a floating-point number.
Separation between branches and entities is a row-level policy in the database on every table. A query written wrong returns nothing rather than somebody else’s shipments.
Nothing is deleted. A database trigger stamps every change with who made it and when, and a superseded row is marked superseded and kept.
You can open all of it now, on seeded data, with a sign-in for you, your customer and your agent, without talking to anybody.
3 of 11 seeded currencies carry three decimals
- Three decimals
- KWDBHDOMR
- Two decimals
- USDEURGBPAEDQARSARINRCNY
What this system stores
KWD12.345
All three decimals, from the database to the invoice.
What a system built for dollars stores
KWD12.35–
The third decimal is rounded away.
Check each claim in the demo
No sign-up and no call. All of it takes about ten minutes.
| The claim | How to check it |
|---|---|
| Five transport modes | Start an enquiry in the demo. The mode selector offers sea (FCL and LCL), air, road, rail and courier. |
| Three decimals on every dinar | Open any invoice in the demo. A system built for dollars and adapted shows two. |
| Separation enforced by the database | Sign in to the demo as the customer contact and try to open the operations board. Other customers’ shipments are not hidden behind a filter; they are never returned. |
| Changes kept, nothing deleted | Revise a milestone on a demo job. The planned time stays beside the revised one instead of being overwritten. |
| Arabic and English, one build | Press the language switch and issue a document. The layout, the figures and the document all turn right-to-left, with no English label left behind. |
| About ten minutes for all of it | No sign-up and no call. The whole page rests on that. |
The screen this argument rests on
Ask both of us these, and compare the answers
Our answers are written down, and under each is what a good answer sounds like from any vendor, us included. If another vendor answers better, buy from them.
Is the Arabic a translation layer, or the same build?
The same build. Right-to-left is part of the layout, and a build check fails if a string exists in one language and not the other. Open the demo, press the language switch, and look at a delivery order.
What a good answer sounds like: A good answer names a mechanism: a parity check that fails a build, one catalogue for both languages, right-to-left in the layout. A weak one is “yes, we support Arabic” and a screenshot. Ask to see a printed delivery order; that is where an added-on language shows first.
How many decimal places does an invoice in Kuwaiti dinars carry?
Three, everywhere, because the dinar has three. It is the fastest way to find out whether a system was built for dollars and adapted.
What a good answer sounds like: “Three” should come back at once and without conditions. Hesitation, or “it is configurable”, usually means money is a floating-point number somewhere and the decimals are a display setting, which is fine until a rounding difference lands on a reconciliation.
Whose database is it, and can I have a copy of my data without asking?
Yours: a PostgreSQL database in your own instance, shared with no other customer. An export in an open format is yours any day at no charge. Today we assemble it for you; a single self-service export action is specified and not yet built. Source escrow is available on request.
What a good answer sounds like: Listen for a named engine and an export you can trigger yourself. “We can arrange an extract” is a different answer from “here is the button”, and the difference is what leaving costs you in three years. Hold us to the same test.
What does it cost when volume doubles?
Ask every vendor this, in writing. Per-shipment and per-transaction pricing is normal in this category, but it is a different shape of bill from a flat one, and the difference shows up in year two rather than at signature.
What a good answer sounds like: Any pricing shape is defensible; a refusal to put the shape in writing is not. Ask for the figure at twice and five times today’s volume, in the contract rather than on a call, and ask us the same way.
Can I see it working, today, without a call?
Yes: demo.cargosharks.com, with no sign-up. This question separates vendors more reliably than any feature question, which is why it is last.
What a good answer sounds like: Yes and no are both legitimate. A demo that needs a discovery call first is a sales process, and also a reliable measure of how long onboarding will take to start.
A flat bill against a per-shipment bill as volume grows
Illustrative, not to scale
- Flat
- Per shipment
Why there is no tick-and-cross grid
We know our product properly and theirs from the outside, and a grid written by one side goes stale silently. Ask us directly at hellocargosharks.com and you will get a written answer that cites what each vendor publishes, and “we do not know” where we do not.
See it on your own lanes.
The demo is the real software on seeded data, open with no sign-up. The demo call is free, and we tailor it to your shipments.