BLACKBIRD · TEAM CHAT · LOGISTICS
BLACKBIRD: team chat that knows your container numbers.
Team chat for forwarders and logistics companies: channels, threads and direct messages in one workspace for your company — and every container, B/L or AJU number typed in the chat opens its history.
- 6Kinds of number recognised in chat
- 4Ranked access roles
- 3Web, Android and iOS
This section is about how a forwarder's operations team coordinates today: in personal group chats, email and phone calls that never meet.
COORDINATION TODAYOne container, five places to talk about it.
A question about one shipment arrives in a group chat, the answer comes by email, the confirmation by phone. When the customer asks again, the history is on the phone of whoever happened to hold it.
Scattered conversations
One container number is discussed in three groups and two inboxes. No single place holds all of it.
History nobody can search
Finding the latest on a B/L means scrolling a group back for weeks, or calling the person who remembers.
People leave, their access stays
A personal group chat does not belong to the company. Staff who have left are still in it, with everything it holds.
The problem is not too little chat. It is chat that is not tied to the work.
BLACKBIRD brings the team's conversations into one workspace the company owns, and ties every number to its history.
The data shown here is illustrative.
This section shows one BLACKBIRD channel at a forwarder: the team's messages, a milestone card sent by another system, and the history panel for one container number. All data here is illustrative.
Type a container number. Its history opens.
BLACKBIRD recognises container, B/L, booking, PO, AJU and shipment numbers in every message. Click one, and the Entity panel gathers its timeline from the channel messages you are allowed to see and your synced email.
priok-imports
Message #priok-imports
Entity
Timeline
- Chat#priok-importsHas container DEMU1234567 berthed? The consignee wants an update today.Rina · 12 minutes ago
- MailArrival notice DEMU1234567The vessel has arrived at Tanjung Priok. Discharge schedule attached.Shipping agent · 40 minutes ago
- Chat#surabaya-exportsBooking for DEMU1234567 confirmed, stuffing on Monday.Budi · 3 hours ago
This section sums up what BLACKBIRD does as everyday team chat, for companies choosing where their team works.
CONVERSATIONSEverything you expect from team chat.
Channels and threads
Public and private channels per team or per customer. Replies go into threads so the channel stays readable.
Direct and group messages
One-to-one messages, or a small group for matters that do not need a channel.
Search across the workspace
Search every message you are allowed to see from one search box. Other people's private channels never appear.
Files and attachments
Send documents and images right in the conversation, kept in private storage.
Scheduled messages
Write now, send later — a cut-off reminder for the next shift, for example.
Notifications you control
All messages, mentions only, or nothing; mute a channel, and set keywords that always reach you.
Web, Android and iOS
One workspace in the browser and on the phone, with push notifications in the app.
Categories, pins and reactions
Group channels, pin the messages that matter, and answer quickly with a reaction.
This section is for IT and operations teams: how the systems you already run send news into a BLACKBIRD channel.
KEY FEATURE · WEBHOOKSYour systems report to the channel.
Every channel can have an incoming webhook: an address that takes an HTTP POST from your system and writes it as a message. It can be plain text or a structured card — milestone steps, a status card, or a list of documents.
The request from your system
What appears in the channel
Milestone
DEMU1234567 · Shanghai → Tanjung Priok
BL DEMO2409001
- Loaded
- Departed
- Arrived
- Discharged
View details
A status that changes updates its card instead of adding a new message.
One address per channel
A webhook is secured by a token that can be rotated or revoked at any time, and it is rate-limited.
Cards, not only text
Send milestone steps, a status card or a list of documents by category, and the channel shows it as a card.
Updated in place
Send again with the same key, and the card already there changes. The channel is not flooded with status messages.
The limits BLACKBIRD keeps inside one workspace: who may do what, who sees which channel, and what is recorded.
CONTROLThe company decides who may do what.
Everyone in the workspace has a role, and every role has limits.
Four roles, ranked
Owner, admin, member and guest. A person can only change the role of someone below them, and an admin cannot touch another admin.
Access per channel
A private channel is visible only to its members, and each person's access to each channel is set from one member table.
Leaving means leaving
Members can be removed or banned, and every moderation action is recorded in the workspace's audit log.
How BLACKBIRD sits beside the other APEX Intelligence products and the systems you already run, for IT and operations teams.
BLACKBIRD · APEX Customs AI · ATLASWhere the team talks about work from other systems.
BLACKBIRD does not read APEX Customs AI or ATLAS data directly. It is where the team discusses the work from both: AJU and container numbers mentioned in chat are recognised, and any system that can send an HTTP POST can report to a channel.
- NUMBER IN A MESSAGE → RECOGNISED AUTOMATICALLY
- NUMBER → TIMELINE FROM CHAT AND EMAIL
- WEBHOOK → CARD IN THE CHANNEL
Short answers about the numbers it recognises, webhooks, access, the phone apps, and staff who leave.
Questions from operations and IT teams
How is BLACKBIRD different from an ordinary group chat?
BLACKBIRD is one workspace the company owns, not a group on personal phones. The company decides who is in it and in what role, who sees which channel, and every message a person may see can be searched from one place. Container, B/L and AJU numbers in messages are also recognised and open their history.
Which numbers does BLACKBIRD recognise in chat?
Six kinds: container numbers (four letters and seven digits), plus B/L, booking, PO, AJU and shipment numbers when written with their prefix, such as BL, BKG, PO, AJU or SHP. Click the number to open a timeline from the channel messages you may see and your synced email.
Can our systems send messages into a BLACKBIRD channel?
Yes, through an incoming webhook per channel. Your system sends an HTTP POST with text, or a structured card such as milestone steps, a status card or a list of documents. Sending again with the same key updates the existing card instead of adding a new message.
Who can see what inside the workspace?
Public channels are open to workspace members; private channels only to their members. Search only returns messages you are allowed to see. The guest role marks people from outside the company, and admins set each person's channel access from the member table.
Is BLACKBIRD on the phone?
Yes. Besides the browser, BLACKBIRD has apps for Android and iOS with push notifications. In the browser, desktop notifications can be turned on while the BLACKBIRD tab is open.
What happens when an employee leaves the company?
The owner or an admin removes or bans them from the workspace, and they lose access to every channel. The action is recorded in the audit log, and the team's conversations stay in the company's workspace.
BLACKBIRD is where the team talks. The other three products handle customs documents, operations, and the systems no product covers yet.
The other APEX Intelligence products
See how it works on your own documents.
How to start: a demo run on your own documents, for teams weighing up APEX Intelligence.