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Local startup sets out to transform Puerto Rico logistics industry 

Artificial intelligence-powered platform Nauta is helping importers streamline operations and build a global infrastructure.

The Puerto Rico import industry is changing under the leadership of a new generation of importers who are defying traditional ways of doing business by taking advantage of new technology to run day-to-day operations, control costs and grow their business.

The industry’s ecosystem is finally evolving, Valentina Jordan, co-founder and CEO of Nauta, a logistics tech startup, told News is my Business.

“Many of these import companies are family-owned businesses that started decades ago and have been passed down from generation to generation. The newer generations who are inheriting these businesses are not going to run them the way their parents did. They’re willing to step outside the box and start to digitize processes,” she said.

Jordan and co-founder Rafael Santiago put their combined 22 years of experience in technology and logistics to create Nauta, an artificial intelligence-powered B2B software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that digitizes and automates up to 75% of importers’ operational tasks.

“The craziest thing about the local industry is that technology doesn’t work for operators, but operators work for technology, and there’s no sense in that. It should be the other way around,” Jordan said.

Having experienced firsthand the challenges of fragmented logistics, Jordan and Santiago set out to simplify processes and interconnect key players in the supply chain. Nauta uses AI to capture, contextualize and structure data, providing real-time visibility, access and control over shipments.

While other technology exists in the industry, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), transportation management system (TMS) and warehouse management system (WMS), these solutions typically require users to adapt and undergo year-long implementations, Jordan explained. 

Ironically, though importers are the principal players in the industry, they have the least technology. 

“They continue to use Excel to run their operations … they’re not usually the first to invest in technology, unlike freight forwarders, which had to invest in tech or they wouldn’t have a way to operate,” she said.

Importers typically rely on a manual orchestration of information involving hundreds of emails to and from vendors, suppliers, custom brokers, freight forwarders, shipping companies, trucking companies and others.

“Any mistake or delay in this complicated exchange of information can significantly affect importers by increasing costs and hindering growth,” Jordan said.

Almost all, 99%, of logistics processes take place via email. It is how importers communicate with shippers, custom brokers, truckers, financial institutions, insurers, etc. On average, each container involves 52 emails and 29 documents, Jordan said.

Nauta connects to users’ email and other systems they already have in place. The platform’s AI engine extracts, contextualizes and structures the information that moves through email, including the subject line, the body of the email and the attachments.

“So the importer no longer has to depend on emails to see what containers are arriving, which are at risk, if they have any critical documentation regarding delays or cost overruns, all of the actional items and proactive insights needed to run a smooth operation,” Jordan said.

“The previous technology did not allow for this. That’s why we’re convinced that now is the time for logistics. We’re going to see a lot of innovation in this field because of AI. We’ll still need humans to make decisions, but we can eliminate the manual processes, the back-and-forth emails,” she added.

In Latin America, mistakes or delays cost importers an average of $457 per container, and in the U.S., the average is $1,500 — a significant amount for importers that are bringing hundreds of containers a month, according to Jordan. Nauta’s customers move between 50 and 1,500 containers a month of nondurable goods that have a life cycle of up to three years.

Made in Puerto Rico
Nauta was officially launched in Puerto Rico in March last year. Now, after two months of full operations, the company has managed more than 5,000 containers and 100,000 emails for clients in Puerto Rico, Mexico and Colombia.

Puerto Rico offers a strategic location, and its entrepreneurial community provides an ideal ecosystem for innovation, Jordan said.

“We started in Puerto Rico because we saw the problem here. Being an island … 80% of what we consume in Puerto Rico is imported. Right now, it’s a very costly, very inefficient process because it depends on manual labor,” she said.

Nauta is committed to position the island as a global leader in technology and sustainability, Jordan said. The company’s ambitious growth plans include expanding further into the U.S. and to Asia by the end of the year.

Transforming the ecosystem
At present, the parties involved in international trade — such as importers, exporters, shippers, truckers, freight forwarders, banks and insurers — are largely disconnected.

“There are many systems, a lot of data. We need to get them to talk to each other more efficiently. That’s our vision. We’re building the global digital infrastructure so that everyone in the industry can speak the same language and connect to the same information,” she said.

“We’re merging technology that has been used for decades with all of this new technology to allow all parties to speak the same language,” Jordan added.

Author Details
Author Details
G. Torres is a freelance journalist, writer and editor. She’s worked in business journalism for more than 25 years, including posts as a reporter and copy editor at Caribbean Business, business editor at the San Juan Star and oil markets editor at S&P Global Platts (previously a McGraw Hill company). She’s also worked in marketing on and off for decades, now freelancing for local marketing and communications agencies.
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1 Comment

  1. Mauricio Ucrós Maldonado January 30, 2025

    Nauta sounds really good, I want to know more!

    Reply

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