Privacy Policy.

1. Introduction

CargoVane ("CargoVane", "we", "us" or "our") provides a cloud-based logistics and cargo management platform that helps cargo companies and freight forwarders manage shipments, clients, invoicing, tracking, messaging and day-to-day operations.

This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, share and protect information when you visit cargovane.com, create a CargoVane account, or use the CargoVane platform and its related services (together, the "Service").

Two kinds of people are covered here. First, our customers — the cargo companies and their staff who log in and use CargoVane. Second, our customers' clients and consignees — the people whose shipment and contact details our customers enter into the platform. For that second group, our customer is the data controller and CargoVane acts as a data processor, handling the data only on our customer's instructions.

By using the Service you agree to this policy. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service.

2. Information We Collect

We collect only what we need to run the platform reliably. That falls into four categories.

Account data

When you register a CargoVane account or add a staff member to it, we collect:

• Full name of the account holder and each staff user
• Business email address used to sign in
• Phone number (including WhatsApp number, where provided)
• Company details — trading name, physical address, country, tax identification number and company logo
• Role and permission assignments within your organisation
• A securely hashed password — we never store passwords in readable form

Shipment and cargo data

Operational records you create in the platform, including:

• Tracking numbers, bills of lading (HBL/MBL), container and consolidation references
• Origin and destination, routes, carriers, vessel or flight details and ETA windows
• Cargo descriptions, packing lists, HS codes, weights, volumes and declared values
• Status history and checkpoint events — booking, processing, shipping, transit, customs, clearance, warehouse receipt and delivery
• Financial records tied to a shipment — quotations, invoices, payments, expenses, supplier bills and journal entries
• Documents you upload, such as invoices, customs paperwork, proofs of delivery and photographs of cargo

Client contact data

To deliver notifications and give your clients visibility of their own cargo, the platform stores the contact details you enter for them:

• Client, shipper, consignee and supplier names
• Phone numbers used to send WhatsApp and SMS notifications
• Email addresses and postal or delivery addresses
• Client portal login credentials, where you enable portal access
• Message history — which notifications were sent, when, and their delivery status

You are responsible for having a lawful basis and the necessary consent to enter these details and to message these people. See WhatsApp Messaging.

Usage and log data

Collected automatically so we can keep the Service secure and working well:

• IP address, browser type, device type, operating system and screen size
• Pages and features accessed, timestamps and referring URLs
• Audit trail entries — who created, edited or deleted a record, and when
• Error reports, performance diagnostics and security event logs
• Cookies and similar technologies for session authentication, remembering your theme preference, and aggregate analytics

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information described above in order to:

• Operate the CargoVane platform — authenticate users, render your dashboard, process shipments and consolidations, enforce role-based permissions and keep your tenant data isolated from every other customer's.
• Send WhatsApp notifications to your clients via the Meta WhatsApp Cloud API — status updates, arrival and pickup notices, payment reminders and the messages you compose yourself, sent in your company's name.
• Send SMS notifications via SMS providers — the same categories of operational alerts delivered as text messages where WhatsApp is unavailable or where you prefer SMS.
• Generate invoices, reports and statements — branded quotations and invoices, client statements, outstanding-balance and ageing reports, route performance and revenue summaries, exportable to PDF and Excel.
• Improve our platform — diagnose faults, measure feature usage in aggregate, plan capacity, and build the improvements our customers actually ask for.
• Support and communicate with you — respond to enquiries, provide onboarding and migration help, and send service notices such as maintenance windows, security alerts and billing confirmations.
• Protect the Service — detect and prevent fraud, abuse, unauthorised access and policy violations.
• Meet legal obligations — comply with applicable tax, accounting, customs and law-enforcement requirements.

We do not use your shipment data, client lists or message content to train advertising profiles, and we do not use them for any purpose unrelated to operating the Service.

4. WhatsApp Messaging

How messages are sent

• CargoVane sends WhatsApp messages on behalf of cargo companies — our users. Each message is sent under the sending company's own WhatsApp Business identity, and that company is responsible for its content.
• Messages are sent only to clients who have provided their phone numbers to the cargo company in the course of a shipping relationship — for example when booking cargo, registering as a client, or nominating a consignee.
• Message content is limited to operational information: shipment status changes, arrival and customs updates, pickup readiness, delivery confirmation, invoices and payment reminders.
• Recipients can opt out at any time by replying STOP. An opt-out is recorded against that phone number immediately and suppresses further automated messages from the sending company. Recipients may also ask the cargo company directly, or write to us, to be removed.
• We use the Meta WhatsApp Cloud API, which is governed by Meta's own privacy policy. Phone numbers and message content necessarily pass through Meta's infrastructure in order to be delivered. See WhatsApp's Privacy Policy and Meta's WhatsApp Business Policy.

What we keep

For each message we retain the recipient number, the template or text sent, the timestamp, the sending company and the delivery status returned by the provider. This record exists so that both you and the recipient can verify what was sent, and so delivery problems can be diagnosed.

Your obligations as a sender

If you use CargoVane's WhatsApp features, you must comply with the Meta WhatsApp Business Policy and obtain proper consent from your clients before messaging them. Sending unsolicited or promotional messages through the platform is prohibited and may result in immediate suspension.

5. Third-Party Services

Running CargoVane means relying on a small number of specialist providers. Each receives only the data needed for its specific function, and each is bound by its own terms and privacy policy.

We also use error-reporting tools to diagnose faults. Where a provider is replaced or added, we update this policy accordingly.

Cookies and analytics choices

Inside the application we use only the cookies needed to keep you signed in and to remember preferences such as your light or dark theme. Our public website additionally sets Google Analytics cookies (names beginning _ga) to measure aggregate traffic.

You can clear or block cookies in your browser settings at any time, and you can opt out of Google Analytics across all sites using Google's browser add-on. Blocking analytics cookies does not affect your use of the CargoVane platform. Blocking essential cookies will prevent you from signing in.

6. Data Sharing

We share data only with the service providers needed to operate CargoVane, as listed in section 5 — including the analytics and content-delivery providers named there — and only to the extent each needs it to perform its function on our behalf. They are contractually required to protect the data and may not use it for their own purposes.

Beyond that, we may disclose information:

• At your direction — for example when you email an invoice, share a public tracking link, or grant a client portal access.
• Within your own organisation — to the staff users and roles you have authorised in your account.
• Where the law requires it — in response to a valid legal process, court order or regulatory obligation, or to protect the rights, property or safety of CargoVane, our users or the public.
• In a business transfer — if CargoVane is involved in a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, data may transfer to the successor entity, which remains bound by this policy. We will notify you before your data becomes subject to a different policy.

We never share one customer's shipment data, client list or financial records with another customer. Tenant isolation is enforced at the data layer.

7. Data Retention

We keep information only as long as it serves a purpose, or for as long as the law requires.

Other categories follow the same principle:

• Messaging logs — retained for up to 24 months to evidence what was sent and to honour opt-outs. Opt-out records themselves are kept indefinitely, because forgetting them would mean messaging someone who asked us not to.
• Security and audit logs — retained for up to 12 months for investigation and compliance.
• Encrypted backups — rotated on a rolling schedule; deleted data disappears from backups as those snapshots age out.

You can export your data at any time before closing your account. See User Rights.

8. User Rights

Your data belongs to you. At any time you may ask us to:

• Access — tell you what personal data we hold about you and how it is used.
• Correct — fix anything inaccurate or incomplete. Most fields you can edit yourself in the app.
• Export — provide your clients, shipments, invoices and payments in a portable format such as CSV, Excel or PDF.
• Delete — erase your account and associated personal data, subject to the retention periods in section 7 where the law requires us to keep certain records.
• Restrict or object — limit how we process your data, or object to a particular use.
• Withdraw consent — where processing rests on consent, withdraw it at any time. Message recipients can also opt out by replying STOP.

To exercise any of these rights, email info@cargovane.com. We respond within 30 days and may need to verify your identity first.

If you are a client of one of our customers — for example you received a WhatsApp update about your cargo — the cargo company that holds your details is the controller of that data. Please contact them directly. If you cannot reach them, write to us and we will route your request to the right company and help them act on it.

9. Security

We protect your data with layered technical and organisational safeguards:

We also apply hashed password storage, least-privilege internal access, tenant isolation at the data layer, regular patching, and monitoring for anomalous activity.

No system is perfectly secure. If a breach affects your personal data, we will notify affected users and any required authority without undue delay, and tell you what happened and what we are doing about it. Help us by using a strong, unique password and keeping your login credentials private.

10. Children's Privacy

CargoVane is a business tool. The Service is not directed at anyone under 18 years of age, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children.

If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact info@cargovane.com and we will delete it promptly.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy as the platform evolves or as the law changes. When we do, we will revise the "Last updated" date at the top of this page.

For material changes — anything that meaningfully affects how we handle your data — we will give you notice by email or through an in-app notice before the change takes effect. Continuing to use the Service after a change takes effect means you accept the updated policy.

We recommend reviewing this page occasionally so you always know where you stand.

12. Contact Us

Questions about this policy, or about how your data is handled? Reach us directly — a person reads every message.