When Tariff Chaos Fuels Tech Spend: What Q3 Results Signal For Your 2026 Plan

On 3 December 2025, The Descartes Systems Group reported record results for its fiscal third quarter of 2026. Revenue grew at a double digit rate compared to last year and recurring services revenue increased even faster, with profitability and cash generation improving at the same time.

Those results arrived in a quarter where many forwarders, shippers, and BCOs still describe the environment as uncertain, squeezed, and hard to forecast. Descartes CEO Edward Ryan did not say that demand suddenly became easy. He pointed at the same forces you are dealing with: continued tariff volatility, frequent updates to sanctioned and restricted party lists, and planning challenges across shippers, carriers, and logistics service providers.

When a vendor can grow recurring revenue and margins in a quarter like that, it usually means one thing: customers consider those tools part of the basics now, not a nice-to-have add-on. For an operations leader or LSP executive, the real question is how to respond without trying to build a billion dollar platform.

Why A Record Quarter In A Messy Year Should Get Your Attention

Seen from an operator’s point of view, a strong quarter from a logistics technology provider in a difficult market tells you three things.

Customers are not cutting core visibility and compliance tools. Even as some trade lanes soften, spend on platforms that handle shipment lifecycle data, compliance checks, and network workflow is holding up or growing.
Volatility is driving demand, not killing it. Tariff shocks and changing sanctions lists make planning harder. They also make clean, timely data and alert driven workflows more valuable because they reduce the cost of being surprised.
Software that sits on top of physical flows is monetising complexity. The companies that can normalise events, flag risk, and trigger the right actions are converting disruption into subscription revenue instead of only absorbing the cost.

If you strip away the ticker symbol, this is the key point. In an environment defined by tariff shocks, sanctions complexity, and operational risk, logistics software that turns that noise into usable intelligence is growing and generating cash. That is exactly the kind of capability that many mid sized LSPs still treat as optional.

Why This Is Bigger Than One Vendor’s Quarter

You can always ask whether one company’s quarter is just their own story. You do not need another stack of vendor surveys to see that something broader is happening. You can see it in your own network.

Customers expect earlier, clearer warnings on delays instead of last minute emails.
Port changes, blank sailings, and tariff shifts are now routine rather than rare.
Internal teams are tired of copying status information between portals, spreadsheets, and chat threads.

In that environment, it is not surprising that platforms which can normalise events and trigger the right response are winning budget while other projects get delayed. A record quarter from a logistics technology provider is simply a visible confirmation of a shift that most operators already feel.

What An “Intelligence Layer” Actually Looks Like

The phrase “intelligence layer” can sound abstract. For a forwarder, NVOCC, or shipper, it becomes easier to act on if you break it into three layers that sit on top of each other.

Layer 1: Systems of record. Your TMS, ERP, WMS, customs and broker systems, carrier portals, and spreadsheets. These capture bookings, invoices, master data, and filings. They are essential, but they are not designed to reconcile every new tariff rule, sanctions update, or port disruption into one live operational picture.
Layer 2: Visibility and events. This layer ingests and normalizes shipment status, container events, vessel movements, dwell times, and delay signals across carriers and modes. It answers questions such as “Where are my containers”, “What has changed since yesterday”, and “Which shipments are trending late”. For ocean freight, this usually means a multi carrier, multi port tracking layer.
Layer 3: Intelligence and workflows. Once you have consistent events, you can define rules, models, and automated workflows. Examples include alerts when transshipment windows are at risk, predictions of arrival windows, and triggers that connect to pricing, capacity decisions, or customer communication. This is where AI and machine learning add value by finding patterns in delays, port congestion, or compliance risk that humans cannot track manually at scale.

Rather than starting with layers that span all modes and regions, identifying which layer is weakest in your own operation and what minimal set of capabilities would turn your current visibility into a real decision tool.

Turning Q3 Headlines Into Your 2026 Plan

Instead of reading Descartes’ Q3 as someone else’s success, you can treat it as a prompt for your own 2026 planning. Three concrete moves are realistic for a mid sized LSP or shipper.

1. Put “unified visibility and exceptions” in your top three tech priorities

Many organisations still treat visibility as a one time dashboard project. The combination of recent earnings and day to day operating pressure suggests that this approach is becoming risky.

Give it a name and an owner. Define a 2026 initiative such as “Ocean visibility and exception management” with clear sponsors in both operations and IT or product. Without ownership, tools stay unused.
Connect it to specific pain. Examples include frequent port changes, tariff sensitive destinations, consistently late transshipments, or high customer complaint volumes about late information.
Choose one or two simple KPIs. For example, reduction in manual status checks, reduction in customer “where is my container” inquiries, or earlier detection of missed transshipments.

If stakeholders push back on budget, you can point at something simpler. Manual work does not scale. Every extra portal your team checks and every extra status email they write is time they are not spending on exceptions that truly matter. Choosing to stay manual is no longer a neutral baseline. It is a strategic choice with a cost in missed opportunities and hidden overtime.

2. Build your intelligence layer in thin slices, not as a giant transformation

Trying to jump straight from spreadsheets to something that looks like a global, multi-mode logistics network in one project is a good way to stall. A safer approach is to focus on thin vertical slices that connect data to a decision end to end.

Slice one: consolidate ocean tracking on one lane. Choose a high value export or import lane where you have multiple carriers. Consolidate container and BL tracking for that lane into a single view. Use it daily in operations meetings.
Slice two: define basic exception rules. Start simple. For example, “alert if a container misses its planned transshipment by more than 24 hours” or “flag shipments to tariff sensitive markets when they fall more than two days behind plan before final delivery”. Put a real person in charge of responding to each alert type.
Slice three: link to tariff and sanctions risk. Instead of trying to automate legal decisions, start by tagging shipments that are exposed to specific tariff regimes or restricted party risks. Make those tags visible in your planning and customer service tools so teams can prioritize.

Each slice is small enough to deliver in a quarter. Together, they move you from passive dashboards to an intelligence layer that changes how you plan and execute.

3. Tie every digital project to one planning question

In its Q3 messaging, Descartes did not talk about “AI” or “digital transformation” in isolation. It framed its value around helping customers plan and execute shipments under volatile tariffs and fast changing sanctions. You can apply the same discipline internally.

Before you approve a visibility or AI project in 2026, ask a simple question:

Which concrete planning or execution decision will this help us make earlier, faster, or with more confidence

If the answer is fuzzy, the project probably belongs in an experiment bucket, not in your core operations roadmap.
If the answer is specific, you can measure outcomes. Examples include fewer unplanned premium shipments, lower demurrage and detention, better on time performance for key customers, or more accurate allocation of capacity across carriers.

Linking projects to decisions also improves communication with your customers. Instead of talking about “advanced analytics”, you can say “we invested in tools that give us earlier warning on this lane, so we can rebook or re route before delays become failures for your shipments”.

If You Are Still Mostly Manual, Narrow The Scope On Purpose

It is reasonable for smaller companies to look at Descartes’ results and think “we do not have that kind of budget or team”. The risk is that this becomes a permanent excuse to delay any change while competitors quietly build their own intelligence layers.

A practical compromise is to narrow both time and scope.

Pick one lane and one quarter. For example, “Asia to Europe reefer exports in Q2 2026” or “imports via a specific hub port for one major customer”.
Set a modest target. For example, “cut manual tracking checks on that lane by 30 percent” or “detect missed transshipments at least 24 hours earlier than today”.
Use simple tools first. You do not need complex AI models on day one. A reliable multi carrier tracking feed plus basic alert rules can already change outcomes.

If the test fails, you have limited the cost. If it works, you have a concrete case study to support a broader investment in your visibility and intelligence layer.

What This Means For Tradlinx Users

Descartes’ Q3 FY26 is a visible signal that the market is rewarding logistics companies that can turn tariff volatility, sanctions complexity, and disruption noise into data driven decisions.

Tradlinx users already sit close to that opportunity. You work with multiple carriers, complex port choices, and customers who increasingly expect proactive information, not just reactive updates. The missing piece for many teams is a consistent visibility and intelligence layer rather than more spreadsheets and portal logins.

Tradlinx Ocean Visibility and our intelligence features are designed to sit on top of your existing TMS, ERP, and carrier contracts, unify your ocean tracking data, and surface exceptions before they escalate. Recent results from the technology side of the industry simply make the stakes clearer. In 2026, treating visibility and intelligence as optional will look less like caution and more like risk.