How Technology Improves Multimodal Logistics Visibility

Imagine a company transporting goods from India to the United States. They could choose to ship the goods by sea, which would take weeks. Alternatively, they could fly the goods, but that would be expensive. With a multimodal supply chain, the company could use a combination of sea and air transportation, getting the goods to the US faster and at a lower cost. Even National Logistics Policy and PM Gati Shakti – National Master Plan focus on tapping into multimodal logistics along with digitization to bring down India’s overall logistics spending to a single digit. But the ability to see goods’ location and status as they change modes or even vehicles is a high priority here.

With technological advancements, businesses can gain real-time visibility into the movement of goods across multiple modes of transportation, including air, sea, and ground. It allows organizations to make more informed decisions and improve efficiency, performance, and competitiveness. This article explores how technology improves multimodal visibility and benefits businesses.

Ensures Real-time Visibility Over Multimodal Movements

Consider an importer waiting for goods to arrive, but they’re delayed and stuck in transit, and the delivery company has no idea where they are. The same goes for the exporter. It is a frustrating experience for the business customer and can harm the company’s reputation. The inability to track shipments, especially when the deliveries take place using two or more transportation modes/different partners and during the hand-offs, is one of the biggest challenges. Another concern is the lack of standardized information.

In addition, AI and ML-powered logistics management systems fetch real-time tracking status of shipments from various modes and partners to extend a consolidated tracking view under a single dashboard. This allows relevant delivery stakeholders to track every shipment accurately, set accountabilities in parlance to delivery SLAs, and facilitate a top-notch customer experience.

Automates Documentation 

Paperwork is a tedious and time-consuming process. Doing it manually, especially in the case of international goods movement, demands excessive investment in time due to the involvement of multiple stakeholders and authorities from the first to the last mile. It makes the entire process extremely cumbersome and erroneous.

However, businesses can automate documentation handling, making operations cost, time, and resource-efficient. Digital document handling, smart invoicing and billing, seamless integrations across multiple platforms, and multi-channel functionalities help businesses reduce the person-hours for shipment handling by 56 per cent and manual ERP data entry by 65 per cent.

Boosts Collaboration Among Stakeholders

In multimodal logistics, businesses often communicate only with the primary service provider. In contrast, communications with subsidiary service providers remain absent (at least in the eyes of the company). This non-transparency introduces a feeling of mistrust among businesses if they’re being billed rightly for services. An end-to-end logistics management platform allows smart quote management and provides access to historical data for trade routes and current market rates. It increases transparency over processes and instills trust amongst stakeholders. It ultimately results in improved quality and efficiency of operations. Besides, automated negotiations and multiple dynamic bidding deadlines ensure the best freight rates every time.

Reduce Risk Susceptibility Across Multiple Touchpoints

Multimodal logistics brings a larger-than-life issue of shipment handling. It is due to the multiple touchpoints each shipment goes through, which increases the risk of the freight being susceptible to damage, theft, pilferage, and fraud. An innovative dashboard that extends a unified view across different shipments can streamline supply chain management. Predictive analytics and automated daily shipment reports keep relevant supply chain participants posted on shipment statuses or any emergencies, delays, or risks. It further helps avoid issues like stolen shipments and more. It helps lower ETA SLA breaches by 37 per cent and incidental costs by 34 per cent. It also boosts customer satisfaction by 64 per cent.

The role of a new-age yet seasoned logistics management solution provider is critical in handling complexities that arise when taking the multimodal route. Such technology partners make processes more efficient, leading to cost savings. Furthermore, they can help businesses minimize adverse environmental impacts by providing visibility into the carbon footprint of freight operations before the shipment journey commences.

SHIPSY MEDIA CONTACT

arjun.alva@shipsy.io