Cosco Licenses Celarix Rate Explorer for
Tariff and Contract Management Automation

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 27, 2001--Celarix, Inc., the leading provider of collaborative logistics solutions for global shippers and carriers, today announced that Cosco, Inc. has licensed Celarix Rate Explorer to automate the contract, tariff and pricing activities of the firm's liner shipping companies.

Under this agreement, Celarix will host Celarix Rate Explorer allowing Cosco to manage their service contracts and rate tariffs internally.

``Celarix has a proven Web-architected solution that gives us the capability to create and maintain calculable service contracts - eliminating the manual, laborious processes involved with text-based contracts. Using Rate Explorer also will allow us to dramatically improve our productivity and rating accuracy by removing bill-of-lading rating issues,'' said Howard Finkel, vice president, commercial, for Cosco. ``We now also have the ability to extract valuable management information relative to our service contract rate trends.''

Cosco owns and operates more than 500 merchant ships, including container vessels, bulk carriers, general cargo ships, tankers, LPG vessels, refrigerated cargo ships, timber vessels and passenger/cargo ferries, amounting to 20 million deadweight tons. Celarix' Web-based Rate Explorer is a complete, function-rich solution for contract and tariff management. The solution will be used by Cosco to retrieve rates in rate tariffs and service contracts, publish and file tariffs and calculable service contracts, manage the price quotation process, and integrate with the lines' management systems for auto-rating of bookings and bills-of-lading.

``With Celarix Rate Explorer, Cosco will completely migrate from text-based service contracts to calculable service contracts. This will greatly improve their rating productivity, customer service levels, rate analysis capabilities, and ultimately, their competitiveness,'' said John Preuninger, executive vice president of Celarix. ``Cosco is among six large shipping lines that have licensed Celarix Rate Explorer this year, which has further extended our market momentum and leadership. Cosco is a well-respected leader operating in many significant trade lanes around the world, and we are pleased to be working with them.''

About Cosco, Inc.

Currently, COSCO, Inc. has over 85 subsidiaries and offices throughout the American continent, including USA, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Panama and China, with over 700 employees. COSCO serves a diversified set of maritime-related services, shipping agency, sales, technical consulting, bunker supplies, inland transportation, tanker, air cargo, finance, international trade, real estate, tourism and contract employment.

About Rate Explorer

Over the past eight years, Rate Explorer has become the leading Web-based solution for tariff and service contract automation. Rate Explorer provides tools to support calculable service contracts, including bid management, rate analysis, auto-ratings of bookings & bills-of-lading, and integration with enterprise systems. The system handles everything from the simplest deals to the largest and most active service contracts to ensure 100 percent freight accuracy. Rate Explorer eliminates the excessive use and waste of paper and speeds the service contract negotiation process significantly.

About Celarix

Based in Cambridge, Mass., Celarix, Inc. builds high-performance business networks by leveraging the power of logistics execution systems which provide tariff and service contract automation to the shipper, carrier and freight forwarder communities. Celarix' solutions are based upon an expansive business network that powers real-time visibility and allows trading partners to collaborate around a shared set of logistics processes and business intelligence tools. This combination of services and solutions, including the business network, proactive event management and fully integrated logistics execution applications, allows companies to quickly realize new supply chain performance improvements through faster cycle times, lower inventory costs and more predictable delivery.