Intermodal data disconnects and related transparency issues continue to challenge real-time shipment tracking, causing “persistent black-hole problem areas for cargo owners”, an industry expert in the field has told a webinar looking at the ‘State of Visibility’ in 2024.
According to Eric Johnson, a director at S&P Global and senior technology editor at the Journal of Commerce (JoC), this is despite significant improvement in the underlying technology that supports the visibility landscape over the last 20 years.
Integral to the challenges software developers faced was the steep increase in reliance and expectations placed by the market on cargo tracking, he said.
“Shippers are now ultra-reliant on in-transit visibility, predictive data and how data points feed into inventory management.”
Coupled with this, said Johnson, was the relationship cargo owners had with carriers and logistics service providers (LSPs).
However, despite the rate of progress on the visibility front, market dynamics and the regularity of supply chain disruptions mean that the goalposts keep shifting.
One of the most prominent ‘sticking points’, whether it’s on the side of providers or consumers, is accurately pinpointing the moment cargo starts to dwell and identifying what the hold-up is.
Usually, it happened when cargo moved between different modes of transport, said Johnson.
“I think it’s understandable that no matter how good the tech gets, if you don’t have insight into that shipment while it is static or while it falls through the cracks, it doesn't matter how good the technology to convey the good data is.
“If there’s data that’s missing, it’s still missing, no matter how good the support infrastructure is.”
Given the amount of data generated daily and considering the adage that if something can go wrong, it probably will, Johnson explained that data simplification and trust between LSPs might go a long way towards enhancing visibility.
Whether it is data creation, conveyance or ingestion, Johnson said he didn’t know anyone who wouldn’t welcome a less complicated, customer-centric experience.
“That’s what most of the inventors in the space are aiming for. I think it’s fair to say that it hasn’t been a simple process for customers of the carriers to get access to that data.”
He added that data consumption was also quite uneven, particularly at the inter-modal level or between carriers operating in the same mode of transportation.
“For instance, if a container is on a particular carrier’s vessel but it was booked through another carrier through a vessel-sharing agreement that has spots on that vessel, you may get two conflicting pieces of information around the same status even if you go to the two carriers’ websites.”
Ultimately it came down to carriers to figure out if they had the incentive and will to make it easier for cargo owners and agents to do business with them, said Johnson.
“Up to now, it hasn’t been the case. You could argue that the reason the visibility market exists is because it hasn’t been easy to get data from carriers directly.”
- The webinar was hosted by Tive.com, real-time cargo tracker. Download their report, "The State of Visibility 2024", here.
