Container visibility has always been important to shippers but in today’s climate, tracking is even more necessary. In this era, the global economy runs nonstop. Thousands of containers are sailing the high seas at any point in time and in nearly every direction. The high volume of containers increases the risk of lost, stolen or delayed containers if you’re not paying attention or do not have the necessary tools/resources track your containers in real-time with accurate information.
What to Track
Containers should be tracked from origin to destination and every point in between. Tracking should be real-time monitoring based vital container information including:
- Container number
- Bill of Lading
- Country of Origin
- Delivery Location
- Estimated Time of Arrival
- Pick Up #
- Ocean Carrier
- Delivery Confirmation
Important: It’s possible for multiple container numbers to fall under the same BOL—so you must have both the container number and BOL to ensure accurate information.
How to Track
There are several different ways to track containers which opens shippers up to delayed or misinformation. Not every ocean portal is updated as often as you would think, especially when the container is on the ocean for several months. Each critical leg of the journey should offer an accurate view of container position.
Many ocean portals stop tracking once containers arrive at the port. Upon arrival at the port, most containers are diverted to truck or rail, to reach the final destination. This end journey, is typically the hardest for shippers to track and is highly important to meeting customer deadlines.
Third-party websites are capable of gathering important container data as well. Evans Distribution has partnered with a reliable third-party vendor to relay the container data to our international shipping customers via the ezTracker tool (within the evans365 business intelligence tool) at no charge to our drayage customers. This tool is highly beneficial to our transportation customers and logistics team by giving both parties arrival times and setting drayage pick-up appointments quickly and seamlessly. Here are a few more benefits of the ezTracker.
Benefits of Tracking Containers
- Reducing unexpected delays. It’s common for unforeseen challenges to arise throughout a container’s journey. The sooner you’re aware of delays the more time you have to adjust or reroute.
- Better communication between shippers, warehouses, drayage partners, customers, freight forwarders, and customers brokers.
- Better compliance with ports, rail yards, and customs agents as they receive your container with accurate information.
- Less additional fees related to demurrage and storage expenses.
- Swift route optimization when delays or challenges arise.
- Improved inventory management and production timelines.
- More oversight when tracking multiple containers, at various stages or routes.
- Increase in customer satisfaction and loyalty.
- Monitoring containers increases cargo security. When a theft occurs, you can locate goods quickly.
Evans’ ezTracker launched this year as an exclusive benefit for our drayage customers to always have timely and accurate information about their containers, 24/7. Discover why it’s easier with Evans. Get a drayage quote today!