Why I Built StowNexa

It started with my own work

I work in import and export, and planning container loads is a regular part of my job.

That’s where StowNexa started. I had a problem I kept running into, and I wanted a better way to handle it.

If you’ve had to figure out how a shipment will fit inside a container, you probably understand the frustration. You have the cargo dimensions and quantities. You know the container size. But there’s still a gap between knowing the numbers and knowing how everything is actually going to fit.

Some items need to stay upright. Some shouldn’t be stacked. Turning one box can change the space available for everything around it. A total volume calculation only gets you so far.

And when you’re doing this regularly, you want something you can use without making the planning itself another big job.

The price was hard to justify

When I looked at other packing programs, the options I found were expensive for what I wanted to spend.

I could see the value in having software help with the work. That was never the question. But I also knew what it felt like to need a useful tool and hesitate because of the cost.

I kept thinking there should be a more affordable option—something that smaller businesses and people handling their own shipments could reasonably use.

That thought stayed with me because I was one of those people. I wasn’t looking at container planning from the outside. I needed to do it myself.

I wanted to build something I would use

My goal with StowNexa was to make a more affordable packing program while continuing to push the features and the packing algorithm further.

Affordability mattered, but so did the quality of the plan. I wanted to put serious effort into how the software arranges cargo, handles different requirements, and helps someone understand the result.

For me, being able to look at a load matters. A number telling you that the cargo fits is useful. Being able to see the arrangement gives you something more concrete to review and question.

That’s the kind of tool I wanted beside me while working through a shipment.

There’s a person responsible for every load

A container plan can look like a simple arrangement of boxes on a screen. Behind it is someone responsible for getting the shipment ready.

Sometimes that person works on a large logistics team. Sometimes they’re handling purchasing, talking to suppliers, answering customers, and figuring out the load in between everything else.

I know that side of the work. It’s why I care about making StowNexa accessible.

I want someone to be able to use it because it helps them do their job, without feeling like they need to be a much bigger company to justify the expense.

That’s why it exists

StowNexa grew out of work I already do and a tool I wanted for myself.

I’m building it for other people who deal with the same questions: Will this shipment fit? What happens if the quantities change? Is there another arrangement worth trying?

There’s plenty I want to keep improving. My experience in import and export is what started the project, and it’s what I want to keep guiding it.

If planning container loads is part of your work too, I hope you’ll give StowNexa a try. I’d also like to hear what makes that work difficult for you.

That’s how this started for me: a problem that kept coming up, and the thought that there had to be a better way to work through it.

—Paul, founder of StowNexa