Today we’re thrilled to reveal our Spring ‘23 platform release, bringing a raft of new features and enhancements to our Road and Ocean Visibility solutions, including better ETA accuracy, as well as new data quality and usability enhancements.
We’re also excited to announce that we’re making our game-changing Carbon Visibility module generally available to a much wider audience.
Underpinning all of these new developments is our steadfast commitment to category-leading data quality. Continuing to invest heavily in R&D, our teams are making significant advancements in this space.
Along with data quality, a lot of work has also been done over the past 12 months to enhance platform stability and scalability for our rapidly growing customer base, while continuing to evolve our platform’s ease of use and reliable performance.
NEW OCEAN VISIBILITY FEATURES
More accurate ETAs and milestones
A new ML-based ETA model has been released, leveraging historical data for more accurate predictions, enabling better planning and cost reduction.
Shippeo web app users will now see a standalone Shippeo ETA in addition to those from carriers, which are typically more accurate. Users can access more details by simply hovering over the date with their mouse.
Customers receiving ocean shipment ETAs via API will now receive Shippeo’s improved ETA via ‘ETA_EVENT’ by default. If for any reason the Shippeo ETA cannot be calculated (due to missing vessel information, or missing transport plans, for example), the ETA provided by the ocean carrier will be sent instead.
Read more about Ocean Shippeo ETA
Vessel AIS-based milestone detection
We can now detect our own Vessel Arrive & Vessel Depart milestones (separate to those shared by ocean carriers), at all ports (i.e. port of loading, transshipment port, and port of discharge) by leveraging our Port Visibility Engine. Our customers benefit from improved milestone accuracy and completeness, resulting in better visibility.
Read more about Ocean Order details page
Easier Tracking
We’re introducing some updates aimed at making life a bit easier for our Ocean Visibility users.
Less minimum data is required for tracking
We’ve simplified our orders-in API to make it easier to start tracking a container. The minimum information required by our API has been reduced.
Although we have reduced the amount of mandatory information to enable container tracking to be set up more quickly, below is the information that customers can share with us and why we suggest it be shared:
- Master Bill of Lading number (MBL): This uniquely identifies a container’s journey and avoids tracking the wrong container. Whereas the container ID is used across all past and future shipments it makes across the world, and therefore is not a unique ID. The MBL number may also improve the amount of information shared by the ocean carrier on some occasions. Therefore, not having access to the MBL can impact visibility data quality negatively in some scenarios.
- Port of Loading/Discharge’s UNLOCODES: Shippeo uses this information to verify that we are tracking the right journey or leg for a container if the MBL number was not shared. For example, if a customer has planned a departure in Rotterdam and an arrival in Hong Kong, it wouldn’t make sense for us to start tracking the container on an earlier leg made from the US to Europe. Therefore, Port of Loading/Discharge UNLOCODES can impact visibility data quality.
- Planned departure and arrival dates: If shared, these dates are used to calculate a delay with the latest ETA, enabling new filters and new delay information to be displayed, in turn helping users better manage by exception. This date could correspond to your expected arrival at the port that you may have available in your systems. If not sent via API, we will instead rely on the first ETA communicated by the Ocean Carrier. (Read more about Setting and updating departure time).
Automatic order creation [Beta]
If a shipper is listed on the Master Bill of Lading, Shippeo will now automatically detect if a container is being tracked based on direct ocean carrier data feeds and create a transport order.
Additional information can also be received from shippers (such as SKUs or other references) via our Orders-in API, which includes the Container ID as well as the SCAC code, to help us recognize and match with the container being automatically tracked.
More efficient and effective management by exception
It’s now easier for users to focus on the tasks that really warrant their attention with delay management and filters.
Delay detection is now more powerful
Delays are now displayed next to each ETA. The delay can be calculated in two ways, either by comparing the latest ETA with the planned arrival date shared by the customer in orders-in, or by comparing the latest ETA with the first ocean carrier ETA received from ocean carriers.
New filters
On top of the existing filters offered to users, such as filtering by Port of Loading, Port of Discharge, or the latest ETA, they now have new filters to hone in on problematic shipments and manage exceptions more efficiently.
Users can now easily spot shipments that are late by a certain number of days.
Users can now find containers that are sitting at the port of discharge, or stuck in transshipment. By combining multiple filters at once, and leveraging our Bookmark feature, users can easily see which containers are in demurrage or detention.
General usability improvements
We’ve made some useful information more readily available to users.
Filter historical positions by vessel
Users can now view the historical positions of a shipment filtered by individual vessels.
View more when hovering over order lists
Now when there are multiple bills of lading attached to a container, you can see them by simply hovering over them with the mouse. A new ‘active’ tag indicates which reference is the most recent.
When a user hovers over the ocean carrier’s name, the relevant SCAC codes are now shown.
Better communication and collaboration
New notifications and the ability to share public tracking links and attachments make it easier for users to work efficiently and streamline communication with customers.
New configurable notifications
It’s now possible to configure and send some new SMS and email notification types to both internal users and external parties. Configuration is carried out by your project manager. You can now trigger notifications when:
- a container reaches a given milestone
- a container is late by more than “X” days
- a container’s ETA changes by more than “X” days
Public link
It’s possible to share a tracking link to anyone for an ocean shipment, either via the Shippeo platform or via an ‘event out’. The recipient will see a tracking page tailored to their needs.
Attachments
Documents such as master bills of lading, purchase orders or sales orders, can now be attached to a container.
Read more about Attachments in Ocean Order details page
ENHANCEMENTS TO ROAD TRACKING
Data Quality Initiatives
Improved geofencing through GPS signal smoothing (coming soon)
Customers now benefit from higher tracking quality as outliers are eliminated from the GPS data. This enhanced, best-in-class geofencing prevents inaccurate actuals polluting ETAs and insights, ensuring higher tracking accuracy.
Mobile app bug fixes
Several mobile app bugs have been resolved. Users also now have the ability to check if their drivers are using the latest mobile app version, to ensure they are benefiting from the latest features and bug fixes.
Read more about the last mobile app's releases
Usability Enhancements
Access your handling unit-level pictures and comments directly in the ‘Order details’ cargo tab
Users can now access direct field comments and pictures shared by drivers, allowing them to quickly see things like the extent of damaged handling units and access other contextual unit-level information.
Read more about Good management
Improve your collaboration with carriers with ‘tags’ sent directly from their TMS
Transport orders can now receive useful contextual information from carriers in the form of ‘tags’, sent directly along with other transport order information from a carrier’s TMS. This feature aids in generating more synchronicity between carriers’ and shippers’ systems, making collaboration easier.
Read more about Tag management
GENERAL AVAILABILITY OF OUR CARBON VISIBILITY MODULE
After a successful launch with trial customers in 2022, Carbon Visibility is now out of beta and available to all.
Accurate & accredited, without the effort
Our unique carbon emissions reporting tool combines Shippeo’s advanced visibility data capabilities with cutting edge data modeling from industry expert Searoutes, to provide extremely accurate transport and distribution GHG (CO2) emissions reporting across transportation and logistics activities, including shipments over road or ocean legs.
Shippeo’s CO2 emissions calculator and analysis tools are GLEC-accredited and offer organizations a far easier and more accurate means to measure performance against sustainability objectives.
- Users can quickly compare emissions calculations between various carriers, countries, or modes of transport
- Emissions data can be exported and leveraged to improve supply chain strategy and design to reduce emissions and meet the reporting requirements of an increasingly regulated shipping landscape
Read more about Carbon visibility feature
Preparing for the EU’s upcoming carbon reporting legislation
From 2024, around 50,000 companies operating within the EU (including subsidiaries of non-EU companies) will soon need to comply with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). This new regulation aims to increase corporate transparency and accountability on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) matters. Reporting of emissions relating to transport and logistics will become compulsory, so now is the time for organizations to act.
Discover more about this and Shippeo’s approach to CO2 emissions calculations in our new white paper.