In a competitive logistics marketplace, today’s customers have high expectations. According to a BusinessWire interview with industry expert Yifot Baror, “a whopping 91% of consumers actively track their packages, 39% track them once a day, and 19% of Americans track their packages multiple times each day.” 

Yet despite the demand for tracking, many shippers have yet to embrace real-time freight visibility solutions. A recent survey from FreightWaves found that among shippers, “only 37% reported using in-transit visibility solutions,” despite significantly higher usage of freight visibility solutions in other sectors. 

Many shippers facing growing demand for freight visibility options from customers are turning to tech-enabled solutions to help them stand out from the competition. Through innovative freight visibility software, shippers can improve communication, better navigate volatile markets, and offer customers the container tracking they demand. For these three top-tier shippers, improved freight visibility was the answer to their supply chain challenges. 

Optimized Communications for Optimized Performance

The Problem: Ocean Freight Visibility Lags Behind Growing Operations

Scan Global Logistics has offered shippers reliable access to optimized shipping solutions for more than 45 years. From airfreight to overland, from fulfillment to distribution, the logistics professionals at Scan Global logistics have long prided themselves on providing shippers reliable service in even the most complex logistical environments. 

However, the COVID pandemic was one surprise Scan Global Logistics couldn’t see coming. As Kasper Kristensen, the company’s Director of Ocean Freight (North America), said, “Our operations teams spent a lot of time getting the right information from the carriers. COVID made everything more complex; at times, it felt that not even the carriers had the latest information.”

Facing a fast-changing logistics landscape as the global shipping industry came to grips with the COVID-19 Pandemic, Kristensen and the team at Scan Global found that effective communication had become almost impossible. Without the ability to communicate quickly and effectively across logistics channels, Scan Global Logistics began struggling with frequent delays and disruptions. 

The Solution: Improved Communication Through Ocean Freight Visibility

According to Claes Brønsgaard Pedersen, Global CFO of Scan Global, “Overcoming the challenges of market volatility and uncertainty required a unique approach to freight tracking, management, and logistics that we had yet to fully master.”

To regain control while operating amid unprecedented port congestion, Scan Global turned to ocean freight visibility. With improved freight visibility, Scan Global gained access to a wide range of tech assets, which were then seamlessly integrated into the company's existing tech infrastructure. 

Like many logistics providers, Scan Global had long struggled with outdated communication strategies, relying on manual technologies and multiple sources of information. By partnering with an API-enabled ocean freight visibility provider, Scan Global gained instant access to full communication between all logistics partners across all modalities and platforms. The information gathered through improved communication could then be integrated via the application programming interface into a single source of truth.

“We are now able to measure lead times across the various legs of the transportation with seamless confidence and assurance that was lacking previously,” said Alan Melgaard, CEO of Scan Global. For Scan Global, improved ocean freight visibility helped to take the uncertainty out of uncertain times.

Freight Visibility Versus Volatility

The Problem: Freight Visibility Suffers Amid Volatile Conditions

Clark MHC, a leading manufacturer of forklifts and warehouse equipment, had fallen prey to a common pitfall. The capacity crisis, driven by a driver shortage and lack of available chassis at American ports, left few options for delivering its merchandise to customers. As a result, Clark MHC turned to freight forwarding businesses to access the capacity it needed. This volatile shipping environment, one with more moving parts, more logistics partners, and more volume–was stressing Clark MHC’s shipping personnel to the brink.

“Since we started using multiple forwarding partners due to the volatility in the market, we have so much stuff in the wind we don’t know where it’s at,” a representative from Clark MHC said. “We wanted a unified platform, so we had one place to go to track all our forwarders and all-out containers.”

The Solution: Volatility No Match for Improved Freight Visibility

Clark MHC knew that a volatile shipping landscape demanded innovative solutions. That’s why Clark MHC turned to a freight visibility provider when faced with a difficult situation. After considering several options, Clark MHC chose an API-enabled ocean freight visibility solution to improve communication between customers and logistics professionals. With real-time ocean freight visibility, Clark MHC can navigate a volatile shipping environment and provide excellent customer service. At the same time, this technology enabled Clark MHC to integrate various logistics providers into a single source of truth, cutting down on cumbersome manual processes.

Since introducing an ocean freight visibility provider into their tech stack, Clark MHC says, “We’ve been able to achieve more proactive tracking, and not as much time wasted finding container status or communicating to stakeholders.”

Unprecedented Tracking for Unprecedented Times

The Problem: Without Tracking, Shippers are Operating in the Dark

For the Plastic Development Group (PDG), the COVID-era supply chain snafus meant that they needed more capacity — and fast. At one point, PDG had partnered with 13 different freight forwarders, many of which were based in China and had vastly different expectations of freight visibility than PDG. 

While partnering with many logistics providers gave PDG the capacity to get through a difficult time, it still needed more freight visibility for important bookings. Increasingly, shippers like PDG are finding themselves with too much demand and too little capacity, leading them to hire freight forwarders — but without adequate freight visibility, increased capacity through 3PLs can be a mixed blessing. Without ocean freight visibility, PDG was left with inaccurate ETAs for high-importance freight, putting their customers — and their reputation — at risk. 

The Solution: Freight Visibility Shines Light on Operations

For the Plastic Development Group, first-hand experience with the negative consequences of poor ocean freight visibility was the sign it needed to reprioritize freight visibility throughout its operations. Through a partnership with an innovative ocean freight visibility provider, PDG could access the real-time freight visibility it needed to ensure that everyone, from logistics partners to end customers, had access to the latest logistics information. With easy access to unprecedented ocean freight visibility track and trace, high-end analytics, and automated exception alerts, PDG was able to provide accurate ETAs to important clients, saving clients — and the company — from an unpredictable supply chain.

Real-World Logistics Crises Require Real-Time Visibility. Partner With OpenTrack Today. 

For the supply chain professionals at Scan Global Logistics, Clark MHC, and PDG, only one freight visibility provider could offer the on-demand ocean freight visibility they needed: OpenTrack. OpenTrack, an industry-leading ocean freight visibility solution, arms shippers with the powerful tech tools they need to survive an unpredictable logistics marketplace, including:

• Port to Port Ocean Freight Visibility
• Automated Exception Alerts
• Cutting-Edge API

After partnering with OpenTrack, Scan Global, Clark MHC, and PDG were able to face real-world logistics challenges with real-time freight visibility. Could your business do the same? Book a demo with OpenTrack today, and let’s find out.