With the world ticking closer and closer to the holidays, a massive influx of orders and proceeding shipments are inevitable. Thanksgiving, Halloween, and of course Christmas means that millions of packages will be passing through your gates and into countries all over the world.

Ocean shippers typically encounter disruptions and delays as peak season approaches, and 2022 is not expected to be any different.

What does this mean for you and your ocean shipping company? No matter the goods you have for your company, and no matter the typical timeline of delivery, there is a universal demand for better and quicker service. Fortunately, there are platforms that keep companies ahead of the competition.

2022 has already been a challenging year for supply chain professionals and ocean shippers. Global ports have experienced enormous congestion arising from geo-political events (Russia/Ukraine war), pandemic-related lockdowns (China), disruptions from labor strikes across Europe and the United States, and the pervasive problem of inaccurate shipment ETA as schedule reliability remain around 40% as of August 2022. Schedule reliability is still low compared to 2020, when it was about 75% at this time of the year, despite the fact that it has been trending upward since the beginning of the year.

Additional lockdowns due to the impending flu season are still a possibility in some areas of China and the labor strikes across Europe may continue throughout the end of the year.

Many of these issues may seem beyond the control of supply chain professionals. Surely, there is no way to directly combat these challenges? It’s true, while there is no way to change the tides of the challenges, it is entirely possible to mitigate the impact on your supply chain. One of which is real-time ocean visibility.

• Utilize a container tracking visibility platform with accurate and reliable data.
  

Traditional carrier ETAs are typically inaccurate and infrequently updated to reflect the precise location of your shipment. Relying solely on ETA updates provided by carriers means that your container shipment could be delayed without you being notified which will eventually affect the arrival date of your goods to your customers.

A container tracking visibility platform allows you to monitor the arrival times of container shipments with advanced predictive visibility, meaning that not only are you frequently updated about the location of your shipment but also, you are updated on the predicted arrival time of your shipment through the utilization of machine learning and artificial intelligence. There are several online sites for container tracking visibility, but it's crucial to perform your research to make sure the data provided on these platforms are accurate and reliable.

• Keep track of supply chain incidents and global port events.

In addition to gaining visibility into the arrival times of cargo, shippers need to utilize a  platform to visualize congestion times of global ports in order to stay ahead of disruptions. This provides everything ocean shippers need to know about congestion at the port, dwell times, and berthing availability.

By monitoring the port activity in real-time, ocean shippers can send their cargo to less congested ports and schedule arrival times to avoid certain peak rush times.

Here is what a typical ocean shipping and trading situation would resemble by adopting a real-time ocean visibility platform.

• Easy tracking with constant knowledge of every cargo shipment location.
• Get notified of delays and container arrivals at the port  
• Stay on top of delays and congested ports, and ways to easily avoid them to maximize efficiency past the point of docking.

With little to no room for error for ocean shippers in this peak season, there is such an advantage in real-time visibility platforms that any ocean shipping company will possess an edge over its competitors, no matter how steep the competition is. Maintaining constant knowledge of cargo location, trajectory, arrival times, and port congestion to mitigate unforeseen peak season delays and disruptions.

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Founded in 2018, SeaVantage is a fast-growing start-up helping companies transform their ocean supply chain with real-time and predictive visibility solutions. Top leading companies including Samsung SDS, POSCO, Hyundai GLOVIS, and Lotte Global Logistics utilize and trust our data solutions to optimize their maritime logistics and operations.

Our cargo insight,  ship insight, and port insight platforms help our customers proactively manage and respond to unforeseen disruptions in their ocean transport, which in turn ensures a better quality of service for their end customers and financial gains.

Email: sales@seavantage.com

Tel: (+82) 02-3444-7302 / (+82) 02-3444-7303

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