In the freight industry, the term shipment and ocean visibility allow for accountability and responsiveness and is one of great import as almost all stakeholders in the industry require it for efficient operations. Ocean visibility allows for clear and accurate data to be represented and conveyed to the different players in the market. Essential, what it does is gathers together different multimodal information and put it together in one single source so that one person is able to make sense of the entire picture as a whole. Ocean Visibility with advanced technology has become a great tool and with integration into supply chain management software, in the case of improved predictive ocean visibility, has been very beneficial.
Increased shipment and ocean visibility for the likes of manufacturers, shippers, freight forwarders. Suppliers, and not to mention NVOCCs, means that they are accountable and responsive. Whilst over-the-road transport visibility has been effective, ocean visibility has been trickier. The fact of the matter is that hiccups in ocean visibility can cause roll-on effects all the way down the supply chain with demurrage being the common outcome which means higher costs. However, with improved predictive ocean visibility, and the use of advanced technology it has been able to give supplies and other stakeholders clear insight into where their cargo is and when they can expect milestones and also whether they can expect added costs, demurrage fees and more.
Predictive ocean visibility has factored into utilizing historical data to ensure more accurate estimated arrival times (ETAs). Using predictive models, stakeholders are able to amend and project manage the ripple effects of delays that are to be expected giving them lead time react to changes in the budgeted timeline. Using real time planning tools, proactive plans can be devised.
Furthermore, my inputting different types of data into an ecosystem of sorts, better decision making is possible. Whether you’re a cargo owner, freight forwarder, and/or shipper with reliable, accurate and timely information, and other functionalities such as alerts for real time data, due responses can be arrived at for freight services end-to-end. With the modernization of global supply chain management measures and technological advancements, ocean visibility is a considered a much needed necessity especially to factor and predict different disruptors in the global market in order to adapt and react accordingly.