Buyer’s guide
Choose lead generation software for your freight sales team.
Short answer. Freight forwarders use three kinds of lead generation software. Sales prospecting tools such as LinkedIn Sales Navigator and Apollo find people. Trade data tools such as ImportYeti, ImportGenius, Panjiva and Datamyne show shipment records. Shipper lead software such as Coreties starts from the shipments on your lanes and ends at a first message. Prospecting tools fit teams that already know which companies they want, trade data fits research, and shipper lead software fits sales teams that want to reach out this week.
How we compared
Five questions for every tool.
Lane and shipment fit
Does it start from the lanes you sell and show who ships on them, what and how often? A forwarder sells lanes. A list that ignores them leaves the rep to sort out who they can serve.
Who it’s for
Is it built for freight sales, or for research and general B2B selling? A research tool answers questions about a market. A sales tool tells the rep who to contact next.
Contacts
Does it find a person at the office you want, and is the email checked before you use it? A forwarder wins cargo from the office that books it. A contact at another office, or a guessed email, wastes the first message.
Outreach
Does it help with the reason to reach out and the first message, or does that stay with the rep? A rate pitch gives the shipper nothing new. A reason from its own shipping gives it one to answer.
How you buy
A free plan, self-serve plans, or sales-led plans after a demo. A small team wants to try a tool before it commits. A larger one wants a plan sized to its offices.
Search
Search box: auto-parts exporters in Germany shipping to the US, 50+ TEU
- Company location: Germany
- Exporting to: United States
- Commodity: Auto parts
- Volume: ≥ 50 TEU
| Company | Port of Lading → Port of Discharge | TEU, 12 mo, all lanes |
|---|---|---|
| Remstal Fahrzeugteile GmbH | BRV to CHS (Bremerhaven to Charleston) | 417 |
| Hohenlohe Gussteile GmbH | HAM to CHS (Hamburg to Charleston) | 235 |
| Allgäu Dichtungstechnik GmbH | BRV to SAV (Bremerhaven to Savannah) | 64 |
The tools
Eight options, what each is best for and where it stops.
At a glance
| Option | Kind of tool | Sees shipments | Finds contacts | Outreach help | How you buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coreties | Shipper lead software | Yes | Yes | Drafts the first message | Demo, then a trial |
| LinkedIn Sales Navigator | Sales prospecting | No | Yes | InMail | Plans, free trial |
| Apollo.io | Sales prospecting | No | Yes | Email sequences | Free plan, self-serve |
| ImportYeti | Trade data | Yes | Partly | None | Free plan, self-serve |
| ImportGenius | Trade data | Yes | Partly | None | Self-serve, no trial |
| Panjiva | Trade research | Yes | Partly | None | Annual, quote on request |
| Descartes Datamyne | Trade research | Yes | Partly | None | Quoted after a demo or trial |
| Freight networks and directories | Network or directory | No | No | None | Membership or listing |
- Coreties
- Kind of toolShipper lead software
- Sees shipmentsYes
- Finds contactsYes
- Outreach helpDrafts the first message
- How you buyDemo, then a trial
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator
- Kind of toolSales prospecting
- Sees shipmentsNo
- Finds contactsYes
- Outreach helpInMail
- How you buyPlans, free trial
- Apollo.io
- Kind of toolSales prospecting
- Sees shipmentsNo
- Finds contactsYes
- Outreach helpEmail sequences
- How you buyFree plan, self-serve
- ImportYeti
- Kind of toolTrade data
- Sees shipmentsYes
- Finds contactsPartly
- Outreach helpNone
- How you buyFree plan, self-serve
- ImportGenius
- Kind of toolTrade data
- Sees shipmentsYes
- Finds contactsPartly
- Outreach helpNone
- How you buySelf-serve, no trial
- Panjiva
- Kind of toolTrade research
- Sees shipmentsYes
- Finds contactsPartly
- Outreach helpNone
- How you buyAnnual, quote on request
- Descartes Datamyne
- Kind of toolTrade research
- Sees shipmentsYes
- Finds contactsPartly
- Outreach helpNone
- How you buyQuoted after a demo or trial
- Freight networks and directories
- Kind of toolNetwork or directory
- Sees shipmentsNo
- Finds contactsNo
- Outreach helpNone
- How you buyMembership or listing
Coreties
- What it is
- Shipper lead generation software for freight forwarders and container carriers, built on customs declarations and bills of lading from 20 reporting countries across the Americas and South and Southeast Asia.
- Best for
- Forwarder and carrier sales teams selling lanes to or from the Americas, South Asia and Southeast Asia. Pick a shipper to get a sourced reason to reach out, a verified contact at the right office and a drafted first message you approve.
- Limitations
- No free plan. No US air or land data. The forwarder of record shows only on some US import records. Lanes that touch none of its reporting countries, such as China to Europe, aren’t covered. No CRM sync today, only Excel export.
- How you buy
- Demo on your lanes, then a trial. Plans are sized by team, with one shared credit pool.
Apollo.io
- What it is
- A sales prospecting tool with a contact database, email sequences and CRM integrations.
- Best for
- Teams that run their outreach as email sequences, or that also sell outside freight.
- Limitations
- It doesn’t see shipments. Finding the shippers on a lane, and the reason to reach out to each, needs another tool.
- How you buy
- Free plan, then public self-serve plans that use credits.
ImportYeti
- What it is
- US customs data search. The free plan searches US ocean imports. The paid Yeti Logistics plan, aimed at forwarders, drayage and customs brokers, adds US exports, US air, US land and Mexico.
- Best for
- Quick, free checks on who a US company imports from. US air, US land and Mexico cross-border data on the paid plan.
- Limitations
- The US and Mexico only. Contacts come only from what a shipper printed on its bills of lading. No outreach tools.
- How you buy
- Free plan, then public self-serve plans.
ImportGenius
- What it is
- A trade data tool with US bill-of-lading history and import and export data from 25+ countries. Logistics and freight forwarding is one of its eight industries.
- Best for
- Deep US history, with imports from 2006, and countries Coreties lacks, such as Indonesia, Turkey or Russia.
- Limitations
- Contacts come from a research team on request, 25 or 50 a month on monthly US plans. Its Vietnam data covers trade with China only. No outreach tools. One seat on monthly plans, up to three on annual plans.
- How you buy
- Public self-serve plans, monthly or annual. No free trial.
Panjiva (S&P Global)
- What it is
- Trade research from S&P Global Market Intelligence, with shipment data from 22 source countries, company linkage and data feeds.
- Best for
- Market research across industries, US history back to 2007, and S&P data delivered into Snowflake or a CRM.
- Limitations
- Built for buyers, suppliers, logistics teams, governments and analysts, not for freight sales alone. Working out why a shipper is worth contacting stays with the rep. No outreach tools.
- How you buy
- Annual subscription, quote on request.
Descartes Datamyne
- What it is
- A trade research database from Descartes covering 230 markets, from customs declarations, US bills of lading and census statistics. Its freight forwarder product finds US prospects by lane, carrier and volume in TEU, the standard 20-foot container unit.
- Best for
- Trade research across many markets, census statistics, and US master and house bills.
- Limitations
- The forwarder product finds US prospects. Contacts are company profiles with contact details, not a person found per office. No reason to reach out and no outreach tools.
- How you buy
- Quoted after a demo, or a free trial on request. Training and support included.
Freight networks and directories
- What it is
- Agent networks such as WCA, and directories and marketplaces such as Freightnet. Leads arrive as requests from partner agents or from shippers looking for a forwarder.
- Best for
- Forwarders already in a network who want agent business and inbound requests.
- Limitations
- You wait for the request. You don’t pick the shipper, the lane or the timing.
- How you buy
- Membership or listing, on terms set by each network or directory.
Sources
Each company's own pages, checked between 4 and 22 October 2026.
- LinkedIn Sales NavigatorSales Navigator
- Apollo.ioProductPricing
- ImportYetiYeti Logistics pricingQuick Contact
- ImportGeniusHow it worksLogistics & freight forwardingPricingFAQ
- Panjiva (S&P Global)Panjiva Supply Chain IntelligenceSubscribe, archived January 2025
- Descartes DatamyneCountries coveredDatamyne pricingDatamyne freight forwarders solution
Coreties’ own data · as of 4 October 2026
What we see in our own records.
We count records, which are declaration lines or container lines, not shipments.
About half of US import records name the shipper.
- What we see
- In our US import bills of lading, the shipper’s name is filled in on 49% of records.
- Why it matters
- A tool built only on US bills of lading misses the foreign shipper on about half of US import records. Export records from the origin country, such as India or Vietnam, name the exporter at origin.
- Source
- Coreties US import bills of lading, field fill rates, last 12 months of data to June 2026. As of 4 October 2026.
More Vietnamese exporters shipped to the US in early 2026.
- What we see
- About 5,500 Vietnamese exporters shipped by ocean to the US from January to April 2026, up from about 4,700 in the same months of 2025.
- Why it matters
- The shippers on a lane change from one year to the next. A list built on last year’s records misses this year’s newcomers, so check how recent each tool’s records are on your lanes.
- Source
- Coreties Vietnam export customs records, ocean, January to April 2026 against January to April 2025. Company names counted, multiplied by 0.85 to allow for duplicate names and rounded down. As of 4 October 2026.
Records outside the US arrive weeks to months after the cargo moves.
- What we see
- On 4 October 2026 the latest full month of records was July 2026 for Mexico, Chile, Peru and several other Latin American countries, April for Vietnam and February for India.
- Why it matters
- How far customs data runs behind the cargo depends on the country. Ask each vendor for the latest month per country on your lanes. In Coreties, each company profile shows the date of its latest record.
- Source
- Coreties customs records, latest full month per country. As of 4 October 2026.
Small teams
Which one for a small forwarder.
The owner sells, mostly on agent requests.
Start with what costs only time. Your network, ImportYeti’s free US search and LinkedIn. When you want a steady list on your own lanes without the manual work, look at Coreties.
One to five people selling lanes to or from the Americas, South Asia or Southeast Asia.
Coreties. Each person gets a short list each morning, each shipper with a reason, a verified contact and a drafted first message. Plans are sized by team.
Your trades are China to Europe or inside Europe.
Coreties doesn’t cover these lanes. Sales Navigator and your agent network are the better start.
You sell US imports and need US air or land too.
ImportYeti’s paid logistics plan has US air, US land and Mexico. Coreties has no US air or land data.
Combinations
Two tools or one, step by step.
See ImportYeti + Apollo next to Coreties, step by step →
Where the rep switches tools
With ImportYeti + Apollo
- ImportYeti
- Find shippers
- Check volume and recency
- See why now
- Switch tool: Copy into Apollo
- Apollo
- Find the person
- Verify the email
- Write the message
- Send and log
2 tools, 1 switch
With Coreties
- Coreties
- Find shippers
- Check volume and recency
- See why now
- Find the person
- Verify the email
- Write the message
- Send and log
1 tool, no switch
Questions
Questions about lead generation software.
The one that starts from your lanes and leaves little sorting. If your lanes touch the Americas, South Asia or Southeast Asia, Coreties gives each person a short list of shippers each morning, each with a reason to reach out, a verified contact and a drafted first message. If you only need occasional US checks, ImportYeti’s free search and LinkedIn cost nothing but time.
