AMERSFOORT, The Netherlands, May 17 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Descartes Systems Group (Nasdaq:DSGX) (TSX:DSG), the global leader in uniting logistics-intensive businesses in commerce, announced that Tony’s Chocolonely, one of the Netherlands' leading chocolate brands, is using the Descartes Global Logistics Network™ (Descartes GLN) to support expansion into the United States of America by streamlining electronic communications and order-to-cash processes with retailers.
 
"To accelerate our mission of making the cacao industry 100% free of slave labour, we needed to grow our business in the USA given the significant demand for chocolate and the presence of key players in the chocolate industry in that market,” said Frans Pannekoek, ‘Bean to Bar tender’ and responsible for the Supply Chain at Tony’s Chocolonely. “Electronic communications standards are different in North American and Europe. As an existing Descartes customer, we were able to quickly augment our existing Descartes GLN deployment to implement the new protocols and message sets to effectively communicate with our international retail and distribution customers in the USA.”
 
Descartes' GLN is one of the world's most extensive multi-modal electronic communications networks, connecting thousands of parties in more than 160 countries. It helps streamline, automate and standardize multi-party buy, sell, ship, and pay processes. These processes can involve a broad range of data elements and business documents that often span the buyer and seller of goods, transportation providers, logistics intermediaries, customs authorities and other supply chain participants across different geographies and levels of IT sophistication. Coupled with Descartes’ extensive experience in on boarding and activing trading partners, GLN customers can quickly benefit from improved operational performance, reduced costs, and the agility to better satisfy customers. 
 
“We’re very pleased to support growth at Tony’s Chocolonely by providing business-to-business connectivity and full visibility of their logistic processes from their operations in Belgium to their retailers in the USA,” said Fred van der Heide, VP Product Management at Descartes. "Growth via international expansion is an important, yet challenging, endeavour for many companies. Descartes’ GLN was designed to help companies manage their global commercial, logistics and customs processes as they grow.”
 
About Tony’s Chocolonely
Tony’s Chocolonely exists to end slavery in the chocolate industry. The Amsterdam based social enterprise envisions 100% slave free chocolate and grew out to be the second largest chocolate brand in the Netherlands. Tony’s Chocolonely was founded in 2005 by Dutch journalists when they discovered the world’s largest chocolate companies were buying cocoa from plantations that used child slavery. They turned themselves into the police as “chocolate criminals” who had purchased and eaten illegally manufactured products. Tony’s Chocolonely has since dedicated its efforts to educating people about the inequality in the chocolate industry, as well as creating its own chocolate bar as an example of the reality of slave free chocolate. As part of the company’s traceable bean-to-bar concept, Tony’s Chocolonely has built direct, long-term relationships with the farmers in Ivory Coast and Ghana who grow its cocoa to solve the underlying causes of modern slavery.
 
Learn more at www.tonyschocolonely.com.
 
About Descartes
Descartes (Nasdaq:DSGX) (TSX:DSG) is the global leader in providing on-demand, software-as-a-service solutions focused on improving the productivity, performance and security of logistics-intensive businesses. Customers use our modular, software-as-a-service solutions to route, schedule, track and measure delivery resources; plan, allocate and execute shipments; rate, audit and pay transportation invoices; access global trade data; file customs and security documents for imports and exports; and complete numerous other logistics processes by participating in the world's largest, collaborative multimodal logistics community. Our headquarters are in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada and we have offices and partners around the world. Learn more at www.descartes.com, and connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
 
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements 
This release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws ("forward-looking statements") that relate to Descartes' solution offering and potential benefits derived therefrom; and other matters. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements or developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to, the factors and assumptions discussed in the section entitled, "Certain Factors That May Affect Future Results" in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Ontario Securities Commission and other securities commissions across Canada including Descartes most recently filed management's discussion and analysis. If any such risks actually occur, they could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. In that case, the trading price of our common shares could decline, perhaps materially. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Forward-looking statements are provided for the purposes of providing information about management's current expectations and plans relating to the future. Readers are cautioned that such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. We do not undertake or accept any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect any change in our expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based, except as required by law. 
 
Global Media Contact
Mavi Silveira
Tel: +1(800) 419-8495 ext. 202416
msilveira@descartes.com
 
Media contact EMENAR
Renate Kok
Tel: +31 33 4606200 ext. 640073
rkok@descartes.com

Source : The Descartes Systems Group Inc.

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