Plan, procure, execute, & track transportation for every shipment across your supply chain & logistics operations
A SaaS solution to help grow your business by achieving 100% perfect order execution at high volumes
Increase vehicle capacity utilization and customer promise adherence
Grow your business with omnichannel presence and automated pickups
Consolidate shipments for hub to hub movement across land and air
Real-time customer communications and collect accurate PODs
Orchestrate logistics operations with multiple 3rd party carriers
Achieve cost effective, scalable, sustainable, and customer centric deliveries
Orchestrate all your cross-border logistics operations with ease
Improve address accuracy, ensure first-attempt delivery success, reduce costs and boost customer experience
Gain end-to-end shipment visibility, get proactive alerts, and send customers live tracking links
Grow business in a dynamic world and manage operations across First, Middle & Last mile
Delight customers by seamlessly managing store and online orders across own fleet and 3rd party
Reduce freight costs & get end to end visibility across shipments
The global market for container shipping is anticipated to reach USD 15.87 BN in 2028, growing with a CAGR of 12%. Although a sizable quantity of freight is now transported globally by air, rail, and road, containers continue to be the main mode of transport for freight, with over 80% of all goods carried by sea.
Long gone are the days when shipment tracking was tedious and error-prone. To gain greater visibility into cargo and container movements, businesses are increasingly investing in software that offers tracking live container via BL No. These systems enable real-time shipping visibility and lowering of expenses related to demurrage and detention.
To thrive in a competitive global market, brands need to be efficient and profitable. With container tracking solutions, businesses can easily acquire better visibility and control over shipment processes. With GPS and allied tracking mechanisms, tracking live container via BL no remains a preferred choice among shippers, freight forwarders, 3PL/4PL, as well as customers.
This blog explores the significance, benefits, and transformation that container tracking software brings. And we will have a look at the role of BL numbers in tracking containers across shipments in the global arena.
Container tracking is the process of getting detailed information about the movement of designated cargo through sea lanes and ports all over the world. Container tracking helps logistics providers determine the position of current containers across geographical barriers. Container tracking can be done manually or by using container tracking software.
A smart container tracking software collects information from various sources to determine the real-time location of the cargo. The built-in customizable dashboard provides a 360-degree view of all in-transit container movements. This allows all the stakeholders involved to derive information from a single source, reducing coordination errors and information disparity. As the container tracking platform resolves time-consuming tasks, businesses can focus on more important aspects of management and operations.
Live container tracking refers to tracing one or multiple shipments on a real-time basis. Customers, shippers, carriers, and freight forwarders can get the latest cargo status updates owing to live container tracking. Live container tracking gives updates like the delivery time, the current location of the shipment, ETAs, etc.
A few of the conditions for status updates given by container tracking software are as follows:
Logistic companies spend valuable tech and capital resources on live container tracking of cargo for a multitude of advantages that come about. These benefits work best when the technology is of the highest quality and is applied as per the business needs in accordance with the latest methods.
Three major advantages of investing in and utilizing live container tracking and visibility are discussed below.
Working manually can be a time-consuming and ineffective use of human resources. The use of electronic data interchange (EDI), which lessens duplication and other waste, is an improvement to the manual process. The need to manually visit various carrier websites to find out the status of the cargo is eliminated with EDI.
All container-related data is centralized for simple processing and access. Hence, decision-making becomes simpler and more accurate. When a status changes, the logistics companies will be notified so they may take the necessary action to ensure the optimum delivery schedule.
The expenses spend by logistics companies as a result of demurrage and detention is drastically reduced due to real-time container tracking. This is because companies will receive timely notifications when the goods have arrived or are delayed, allowing them to handle it properly.
In the days before modern technology, it took some time for the cargo status to update. That meant that even while the shipment has already arrived and is racking up detention fees in addition to other expenses, companies would act as though it is still on the way due to incorrect information.
Using container tracking software, companies can cut the time it takes to learn that the package has arrived by as much as a day. Further, this system limits the number of incorrect deliverables, significantly reducing the overall transportation expenditure. This, in turn, saves a lot of money which can be used for re-warehousing, storage, and transportation. With this intelligent solution, companies can now track all activities related to shipping, allowing better communication and response to client complaints as well as preventing them.
Since the customers receive their shipments on time, they prefer improved operations. Additionally, it enables shippers to communicate with customers in case of contingencies so they can prepare backup plans.
Customers are more likely to understand if they are notified of a problem before it has any negative effects rather than waiting until it has. Instead of emailing each customer separately and calling to confirm information, technology now makes it possible to connect with several customers at once through electronic means.
By using container tracking software, the logistic providers can obtain real-time information to maintain timelines and ensure on-time delivery for customer satisfaction. The solution also provides accurate and reliable data on the surrounding conditions, such as temperature and the present state of the boxes.
Although there are various ways to track a container, the most popular one is to use the online tracking tool on the website of the shipping company. To track a container using this method, customers require the container’s reference number.
The three ways of container tracking are listed as under:
An internationally recognized alpha-numeric combination of seven numbers and four letters is called a container number and is used to identify containers. The International Standards Organization (ISO) assigns it to each container through the Bureau International des Containers (BIC).
Container number plates are commonly used for tracing containers. This is an accurate approach to tracking several containers attached to the same bill of lading. Using third-party websites or the shipping company’s internet services, companies can keep tabs on the whereabouts of any number of containers. The following details can be tracked with a tracking app:
Businesses that need to schedule the arrival of their shipments with other areas of their operations will find this information useful. Additionally, it can be used to track a shipment’s status while in transit and react to delays.
A booking number is a number associated with a place or service reservation. The number is used to track (or, in certain situations, identify) the status of the products, storage, or services offered by providers. It is the reservation number given to shippers by a carrier or freight forwarder for shipment purposes. Each shipping business has a unique mechanism in place for reserving cargo capacity on a ship. A unique booking number is provided by this system, which is used to trace and handle the shipment.
The booking number is generated by the computer system of the shipping company and is often assigned to a particular shipper. The shipment is then tracked and managed using this number throughout the delivery procedure.
When items are carried, the relationship between the shipper and the carrier is governed by a bill of lading, which is a document that goes with the freight. It provides information about the shipment’s cargo and transfers ownership of the shipment to the designated recipient party. It is a legal document that is used to record information about the details of the shipment.
Additionally, a unique number is given to each bill of lading. This number is used to trace the shipment’s progress and ensure it gets to its destination safely. The number can be used to track down stolen or misplaced shipments.
The following information can be accessed when tracking is done for live container via BL No:
The vessel name refers to the unique number given to each container for shipment tracking purposes.
Delay notifications communicate the late arrival of shipments to the logistic providers and customers.
The estimated time of arrival (ETA) is the time it takes for a specific shipment to arrive at its destination. Thus, it is primarily intended to inform about the anticipated duration of the goods’ transportation before arrival at the final destination.
In the case of transportation, the ETD provides information on the day the shipment departs from the previously mentioned seaport or airport. The forwarding agent or the customer can track the status of the parcel by delivery ETDs.
Arrival notice gives notifications regarding shipment arrivals at discharge ports.
Release notification gives out information stating that goods have been released from the ports for delivery.
To track a container via the bill of lading number, the following procedure must be followed:
Each container is listed on the shipping line website. For tracking shipments, the name of the shipping website must be known.
The BL number is always made up of 4 letters (the carrier’s code), followed by an “8, 10, or 12” digit code. It is present at the top right-hand corner of the page, next to the words ‘BOL #’.
The BL number is to be typed on the shipping line website in order to track the shipment.
The rising demands within the logistics industry make it very difficult for shippers and container owners to keep track of stock and to track bills of lading easily. A few major challenges while BL number are:
Therefore, it is worth investing in container tracking software or an automated container tracking system through which logistic providers can upload a list of BL numbers at one go and track all containers in one place. Container tracking software minimizes the need for human intervention in the supply chain process, such as uploading status updates, confirming delivery timelines, or communicating alerts to clients.
As the software intelligently automates every step of the journey, it minimizes the probability of human error and reduces the inconsistent recording of details. The software for container tracking also sends automated predictive alerts for detention and demurrage to help businesses re-schedule the pickups from the port.
Shipsy’s container tracking software seamlessly connects all cross-border and local logistics via intelligent logistics management. The user-friendly platform from Shipsy offers total visibility into all first, middle, and last-mile activities and unlocks operational efficiency for end-to-end logistics visibility.
Be it freight forwarders, 3PL/4PL, or shipping lines, businesses can be assured of simplified carrier connection backed by real-time analytics. With smart and customizable business reports, enterprises can ensure optimized decision-making.
Shipsy’s smart container tracking software solution helps businesses to achieve the following and much more:
Request a customized demo to stay ahead of logistics challenges at every step. Connect with our experts today to boost the transparency and efficiency of international logistics management.
Intelligent automation, AI, and analytics are spurring consequential changes in the logistics ecosystem. Here is how these technologies are transforming goods movement in local and cross-border trade.
Do cross-border deliveries still bother you? Read how a smart container tracking software solution helps you track shipments in real-time, reduce incidental costs, offer dynamic ETAs, and improve CX.
