Who does not want to experience unprecedented visibility on all their shipments in real-time?

The ongoing pandemic has made it clear that global supply chains are only as strong as their weakest link, i.e. visibility. It has become more imperative than ever to adopt a system that enables real-time container tracking. Any efficient and real-time container tracking solution provides extensive monitoring capabilities via a single dashboard. Get live updates and alerts on the movement of your freight, which serves to effectively eliminate the need for manual tracking.

Visibility is the key to avoid major disruptions in the supply chain. With technology at our fingertips, there are several intelligent solutions out there that are doing wonders in the field of automated container tracking.

Take, for instance, Cogoport that promises to provide information and full control on bookings done from any part of the world, by simply filling in the details on their dashboard or the Alpega Group that guarantees to remove any blind spots in your supply chain with their real-time visibility network software.

The effect of COVID on container tracking

With most of the logistics providers scaling down their operations drastically due to the pandemic, the container shipping industry has been operating at a minimal pace. There has been a massive decline in international trade, which did not bode well for the shippers.

As per the statistics released by Alphaliner, 30% to 60% outbound shipping capacity that has been withdrawn in Asia-Europe marine routines has severely disrupted trade activities.

Ports around the world have been facing severe congestion issues due to cargo not being picked up on time or containers being misplaced as warehouses are chock full. They are even sending back cargo to their origin to reduce port congestion. There has also been a major decrease in the demand and supply for freight operators.

This only drives home the fact Container Tracking and tracing is the need of the hour. A report by Research and Markets stated that the number of active tracking devices deployed for cargo loading units including trailers, intermodal containers, rail freight wagons, air cargo containers, cargo boxes and pallets reached 7.5 million worldwide in 2019. Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25.4 per cent, this number is expected to reach 23.2 million by 2024.

How to ensure end-to-end visibility in the container tracking process?

Supply chain management begins with real-time visibility and needless to say, digital automation is the go-to answer for most of the challenges faced by industries in this era. Companies that have already implemented end-to-end container tracking solutions will be in a better position to handle the post-COVID world.

The idea being, to stay in constant touch with the freight vessel, companies need to invest in state-of-the-art container tracking systems.

Digital transformation initiatives that have been implemented by leading companies in this sector ensure secure shipments by alerting their customers in case of any deviation from the original path. Any such software will be equipped with a unified dashboard where all the information is displayed as well as stored, making it easy for the customers to access data on their containers.

This makes it possible to make use of data-driven insights to take a proactive approach and always be in control when faced with any sudden issues.

Container tracking is a necessity that cannot be ignored. Implementing sophisticated container tracking software will go a long way in ensuring a smooth running of all your freight operations.