As CNS Partnership continues in Miami, Florida with meetings and networking galore, here we spend a few minutes with Donna Mullins.
     Although Donna, as you read this, is enjoying a well-earned vacation, she is always a vital engaging factor at trade shows and events.
     Join us for some reflective observations up close and personal from the Vice President Kale Information Solutions USA.
     Donna has been lynchpin for the Kale Logistics drive to greatness ever since the Thane, Mumbai-based company burst on the scene, fresh as Listerine, with Donna and Amar More creating a great new future for the way cargo moves all over America.
     Here in her own write Donna, keen to share a very great adventure, invites CNS conferees on a sentimental journey. 
     “In early January 2019 I received an invitation from HJAIA to attend a workshop about Cargo Community Systems that was being presented by Kale Logistics on January 15. I, along with many of the air cargo stakeholders in ATL, attended the meeting and we saw something we had never seen before - coordinated cargo and data movement brought together in a single platform that connects all stakeholders and cargo logistics providers giving each Trusted Trade Partner the ability to have visibility of the cargo movement and share transportation updates on every shipment. 
     “In February 2019 a Steering Committee was established which included members from HJAIA, ground handlers, truckers, brokers, and forwarders.  This committee was very enthusiastic about the efficiencies that the Cargo Community System would bring to the air cargo industry. As one of the ATL Cargo Community System (ATLCCS) Steering Committee members I helped negotiate the MoU between Kale Logistics and the ATL air cargo community. We finalized the agreement and in April 2019 Kale sent the ATLCCS the final case study plan to execute a PoC (Proof of Concept) with Swissport ATL agreeing to be the anchor (ground handler) for the project.” 
     “On July 18, 2019 I, President/CEO of Mullins International Solutions signed a contract with Rajesh Panicker, Director of Kale Logistics to be their Sr. Consultant in the U.S. to help promote their Air Cargo Community System.
     “Being a former broker and 3PL provider, I was eager to introduce this "best thing since sliced bread" technology to the industry I grew up in. In fact, my first email to Amar following the signing of the contract started like this ‘First, let me say how excited I am about our partnership and the opportunity we can bring to the international logistics world.’ I still have that same eagerness and passion.  During my consultancy I helped to get stakeholders on board and represented Kale Logistics at many events. 
     “On November 14, 2019 the very first shipment was created and processed in the Kale ACS in Atlanta, GA. This was indeed a monumental event and a great milestone in the Kale ACS journey.  
     “Then, January 20, 2020 happened – the first reported case of COVID.  Almost everything halted on the ACS. People were trying to learn how to do their old job a new way and introducing something new was not anything the community had much of an appetite for at the time with the exception of a few initial participants in ATL who saw the benefit of the technology from the PoC. The implementation of the ACS would have been one of the most efficient and effectives ways for the community to reduce the face-to-face needs and to expedite those contact times in an extremely busy and strained air cargo environment. Yet still, both Kale Logistics and I continued with our vision to help optimize trade facilitation through technology. 
     “So much so that Kale asked me to open Kale Info Solutions USA and I accepted. In April 2020, I interviewed and offered a position to the very first Kale Info Solutions employee, Sheereedah Copening, (right) Customer Service Manager, with the plan for me to run their USA operations as Vice President starting in June of 2020.
     “Sheereedah and I worked remotely with stakeholders here in Atlanta to help them learn and navigate the system and the processes of the cargo data flow.  With thanks to our supporting participants, we have heard from many truckers how the system has helped them increase trips to the airport and increase other volumes as a result. The labor cost and fuel cost reduction obtained via the ACS appointment system is also a benefit the community has been able to receive.
     “Thanks to the excellent sales and marketing support from our headquarters in India, and our sales and support teams here in North and South America, we have had the opportunity in the past five years to provide our products – we do more than just Airport Community Systems – to a variety of cargo stakeholders. We have had several successful ACS POCs in both North (U.S. and Canada) and South America (we call it our NASA team); we have our GALAXY, GALAXY is our ground handing warehouse management system, product in the U.S. and Mexico; our LeMP, LeMP is our Logistics e-Market Place product, is starting in the U.S.; our PCS, PCS is our Port Community System product, is being implemented soon in several U.S. ocean ports; and our LCCT, LCCT is our Logistics and Customs Control Tower product, is being viewed as a new service here in the U.S. too as well as our e-comm platform; and we were powering the first automated CES in the U.S.  We also provide Agentic AI for chatbot and predictive analytics. When we say, “Kale – Technology that Transforms” – we meant it for the entire supply, value, and data chain community.

      “In August, 2021 Kale Info Solutions was contracted to provide dock management technology to WFS cargo handling stations. We are very honored to be the trusted technology provider to WFS for our Truck Slot Management module of the ACS.  We started in JFK, one of their busiest hubs, and phased in the “Time is Money” program to all of their JFK facilities. WFS then rolled the program out to their BOS and ATL stations. Their plan is to gradually roll this out to all of their stations and we couldn’t be happier to be partnering with them in their vision to move more digital in their operations. 
     “In July 2021 we were awarded the ALM (ANC Marketplace – Kale Info Solutions) contract for our LeMP all-in-one hub for logistics platform product.  October 2021, we received the contract award for our ACS by the City of Philadelphia (PHL) and in August 2022 Kale Info Solutions was awarded the ACS contract by the Greater Rockford Airport Authority (RFD). This year, in February 2025 we were awarded the ACS contract by EL DORADO International Airport (BOG) to develop South America’s first Airport Community Systems.
     “Coming from the very fasted paced Customs and logistics side of the international trade and transportation industry I’ve been very accustomed to things happening fast – that cargo has to move and move today. Here in the SaaS world I’ve had to become accustomed to decisions and implementation to move at a much slower pace. Coming to understand software from a developer point of view is very enlightening when you’ve always been on the user side. Learning development (no I don’t write code) challenges and helping Kale with the UX/UI has been one of my focus points since I have been on the user side and have interacted with many different technology solutions to bring my experience to the developer’s table. Working with the clients to customize many of the functionalities for their business disciplines is what make Kale’s technology so appealing.
     “In the North American region, to me as a former Customs Broker who had to arrange deliveries of international cargo, the automation and technology is surprisingly slow to be adopted. With the U.S. being a technology giant, I can’t understand why companies, and governments, are not standing in line to implement ACS, PCS, or other cloud-based software that Kale Info Solutions offers. 
     “2025 is Kale Info Solutions USA’s fifth anniversary.  I am very proud to have met Amar in 2019 and to have the opportunity to lead a new company, a new solutions branding, and a positive change management for the international trade and logistics industry.  I have been very blessed that my Kale journey has allowed me to be involved in projects and proposals in other countries and regions, giving me an even greater sense of helping our global industry too.”
GDA/SSA