Drayage providers play a crucial role in the global supply chain, including assisting shippers with a container’s transition from ocean to land. But the pandemic highlighted existing inefficiencies and the need for better tracking technology.
Traditionally, drayage providers have scraped websites and used manual track-and-trace processes to track containers as they make their way to ports and through terminals. In many cases, drayage providers have bounced from carrier website to carrier website, made phone calls and sent emails in search of timely location updates.
Unfortunately, these manual track-and-trace processes are time-consuming and prone to error. Thankfully, there’s a better way for drayage providers to track containers.
How Drayage Providers are Using Vizion
Leading drayage providers are choosing Vizion for container visibility for a simple reason: Vizion’s direct connections to 60+ major ports and terminals around the world empower drayage providers to anticipate when containers are available while also providing a high level of service to their customers.
Vizion’s 60+ Port & Terminal Connections make available two new events:
- Last Free Date: Know when free time expires so that you can help your customers avoid unnecessary demurrage charges.
- Container Available for Pickup: Know exactly when and where a container will be available for pickup so that you can spend less time idling and waiting.
These new events can be used in tandem with Vizion’s existing events to provide a clear view into a container’s journey from port of origin to when it’s ready for a drayage provider to collect it from a terminal.
How Vizion Works
Vizion fully replaces your manual track-and-trace processes with an API that pushes accurate location updates to your ERP, TMS or other systems. As a result, your team gets back the time once spent on manual processes — time that can be used on high-value tasks like delivering exceptional customer service.
Vizion’s API normalizes data from multiple sources, including EDI, AIS, port/terminal connections, plus others. The sources are already connected so that drayage providers enjoy instant-on capabilities. And data sources are refreshed multiple times daily to reduce latency to the greatest extent possible.
The Benefits to Drayage Providers
What does this level of visibility do for drayage providers? It unlocks three primary benefits:
- Better service: Drayage providers can provide a high level of service to customers, including using Last Free Day alerts to help customers avoid fees.
- More customers: By providing a high level of service, drayage providers can reduce churn while also securing new customers.
- Streamlined operations: Automated container tracking through Vizion empowers you to spend less time waiting and more time moving containers.
You can try Vizion by tracking a container now. All you need is the carrier name and a container number.
To learn more about container tracking and Port & Terminal Connections for drayage providers, contact us to talk to an ocean freight expert.
