For most importers in Malta, the goods are the easy part. The hard part is everything around them: supplier confirmations, freight quotes, tracking, Customs, the monthly NSO Intrastat return, invoices from five different parties and a landed cost that someone has to rebuild in a spreadsheet. This article explains what import management software does, why it matters more for an island economy, and how Haul by Haystack runs every import from purchase order to closed file with AI.
What is import management software?
Import management software, sometimes called logistics or importation software, is a system that follows an import from the moment a purchase order is raised until the goods are received, paid for and costed. Instead of the order living across an ERP, a shared inbox, a freight agent’s portal and several spreadsheets, everything sits in one place, with a clear next step.
Most logistics platforms on the market are built for freight forwarders or for very large shippers. Importers and distributors, especially smaller ones, usually manage with email and Excel. That works until volumes grow, a key person is on leave or the auditors ask for a complete file.
Why is importing into Malta so paperwork-heavy?
Almost everything sold in Malta is shipped in, so even a mid-sized wholesaler can have dozens of orders on the water at once. Each one involves a supplier, at least one freight agent, a haulier, often a Customs broker, an insurer and the bank. Every party sends its own documents and invoices, in its own format.
On top of that sit the reporting rules. The National Statistics Office sets Malta’s Intrastat threshold at €700 for arrivals and dispatches, far lower than in most EU countries, so nearly every business buying from the EU must report those arrivals every month. Goods from outside the EU need a Customs declaration with the right commodity codes, values and origin.
New EU regulations add more checks. The EU Deforestation Regulation applies to large and medium operators from 30 December 2026, covering goods such as wood, cocoa, coffee, rubber and palm oil. Under the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, the definitive period began on 1 January 2026, with an exemption for importers below 50 tonnes a year of CBAM goods such as steel, aluminium and cement.
What does Haul by Haystack do?
Haul is an AI logistics and importation platform built by Haystack in Malta. Every purchase order in your ERP becomes one file in Haul, and that file moves forward on its own:
- Order: the purchase order is picked up from your ERP and becomes a Haul file.
- Supplier confirms: AI reads the order confirmation, matches prices and parts, and flags any price that changed beyond your tolerance.
- Freight: quotes are requested from your agents, compared side by side and the best landed cost is recommended for you to approve.
- On the way: the shipment is tracked and the haulier is told before the goods arrive.
- Customs and NSO: Customs entries are prepared for goods from outside the EU, and EU arrivals are added to the month’s Intrastat return as XML.
- Invoice arrives: lines, freight and commodity codes are read and your ERP is updated.
- Goods arrive: a person receives them in one click.
- Pay and cost: agent, haulier and broker invoices become payments checked against the approved quote, and landed cost is built from the real invoices.
- Close: the complete audit file is exported as one PDF.
Haul uses the same building blocks as our wider work on processing documents with AI and connecting business systems, packaged as a product for importers.
How does Haul compare freight quotes?
Haul asks your freight agents for quotes about two weeks before the goods are ready, reads each reply from email and lays the options out side by side, much like a flight search. Each quote shows the price, route, transit time and its effect on landed cost, and Haul marks the recommended, cheapest, fastest and most expensive options. A person approves the winner, and Haul books it and tells the other agents.
How does Haul handle Customs and NSO Intrastat?
For goods from other EU countries, Haul values each arrival with its share of freight, checks the commodity code against the EU’s Combined Nomenclature and adds the lines to the month’s Intrastat return, ready as XML. For goods from outside the EU, it prepares the Customs entry with codes, values, origin and documents for your broker. Where the checks disagree on a commodity code, Haul asks a person to confirm it rather than guessing.
How does Haul calculate landed cost?
Landed cost is built from the real invoices, not estimates: the supplier’s goods, freight, Customs and duty, haulage and insurance, spread across the order lines by value. Haul compares the estimate made when freight was approved with the actual cost and shows the margin for every order, so pricing decisions are based on what the goods really cost.
What still needs a person?
Haul is designed so that people make the decisions that matter. A person approves supplier payments and freight, accepts prices that changed beyond tolerance, receives the goods that physically arrived, confirms a commodity code when the checks disagree, submits the NSO return and closes the file. Everything Haul did along the way is logged in the order’s audit file.
Who is Haul for?
Haul is built for importers, distributors and wholesalers that buy goods from the EU, the UK and further afield, from building suppliers and hardware importers to food, retail and industrial distributors. It suits groups with several companies too: parts bought for a sister company are moved onto its own order and invoiced between the companies at cost. One Maltese importer using Haul moved its logistics paperwork from a team of ten to one person, freeing nine people for higher value work.
How do you get started?
Setup takes weeks, not months. Haystack connects a test copy of your ERP and your mailboxes, imports your open orders and runs Haul alongside your current process for about a month before switching over. If you are planning a wider digital project, eligible businesses may be able to part-fund it through Malta Enterprise schemes, and our guide to what AI document processing costs and when it pays back explains how to measure the return.
Frequently asked questions
What is import management software?
Import management software keeps every step of an import in one place, from the purchase order and supplier confirmation to freight, Customs, Intrastat, invoices, landed cost and payment. Haul by Haystack goes further and does much of that work itself with AI, leaving people to make the decisions.
What is Haul by Haystack?
Haul is an AI logistics and importation platform built by Haystack in Malta. It gives every purchase order one file, reads supplier and agent emails, compares freight quotes, prepares Customs entries and the NSO Intrastat return, builds landed cost and prepares payments for approval.
Does a business in Malta need to file Intrastat?
Malta’s Intrastat threshold is low: the NSO sets it at €700 for arrivals and for dispatches, so most businesses that buy goods from other EU countries need to file monthly returns. Haul adds every EU arrival to the month’s return and prepares it as XML.
Does Haul replace our freight forwarder or Customs broker?
No. Haul is software, not a forwarder. It works with the agents, forwarders, hauliers and brokers you already use, asks them for quotes, compares them and keeps their documents and invoices in the right order file.
How long does it take to set up Haul?
Weeks, not months. Haystack connects your ERP and mailboxes first, imports open orders, runs Haul alongside your current process for about a month and then switches over.
Want to see Haul on your own orders? Book a Haul demo and we will show your open shipments running through it.
