Maersk’s AE19 eastbound rail service is less than three months old, but it has already done more than just connect the Atlantic and Pacific, moving freight along a continent-spanning journey across Russia’s Trans-Siberian Railway. It innovates the complementary service of Maersk’s core ocean carrier business and is a recent highlight of its joint TradeLens project with IBM.
Beneficial cargo owners (BCOs) — whether they are a big box store, a transnational manufacturer, or any other large-scale importer — are increasingly turning to third-parties like freight forwarders or non-vessel operating common carriers (NVOCCs) to manage their ocean freight.
Any given container might collect over 100 versions documents over the course of its journey. The World Economic Forum calculates that processing these can amount to 20% of the cost of the shipment. Here's how that's going to change.
What happens when different players in a supply chain can’t agree on fundamental definitions? Or when shippers, carriers and customs authorities need to rely on paper documents because their computers can’t talk to each other?
A platform approach does what different shipping software and portals have been trying to do for years: facilitate exchanges of information and foster connections among participants from end to end of the supply chain.
