Parsippany, NJ — INTTRA, the world’s largest multi-carrier e-commerce network for ocean shipping, has announced its strategic vision to help the ocean shipping industry excel in a new era of supply chain shipment visibility defined by accessible, high-quality data for shippers of all sizes. The vision taps the strengths of INTTRA’s vast collaborative network—connecting shippers and carriers across the globe—to ensure information is shared accurately, consistently and in a timely manner.
Only nine percent of today’s logistics professionals have complete visibility into their supply chains, due to the lack of access to quality data and a reliance on manual processes. Moreover, with quality data typically available to only the largest global shippers, many logistics professionals remain without effective supply chain shipment visibility—resulting in inefficient processes and information gaps.
"Bringing INTTRA’s e-shipping strengths to the supply chain visibility arena ensures the best information is available to shippers of all sizes around the world,” said Ken Bloom, CEO of INTTRA. “By offering easy access to our expansive set of container status events, we aim to help ocean shippers gain measurable improvements in the accuracy, completeness and timeliness of their data, so it can serve as a valuable asset for improving business results.”
Vision for Visibility
According to Gartner, “Only the power of a shared, collaborative platform connecting multiple business partners of the supply chain network can drive high data transparency. And high quality data is the ‘fuel’ of any business application software. Data could be inaccurate, incomplete, incorrect or too late, or in a wrong format. In order to process data in the collaboration platform, it has to be accurate, complete and timely!”
To improve supply chain shipment visibility—with high-quality data at its core—INTTRA is executing on a strategic vision comprised of three initiatives:
- A new supply chain shipment visibility solution: The new solution, available early 2014, will give shippers and freight forwarders access to data from INTTRA’s ocean carrier network and ultimately include optional data sources, such as U.S. rail and trucking. It will enable large volumes of timely container event information to be obtained, viewed and analyzed to improve the shipment delivery process, and enhance decision-making and logistics management.
- Strategic agreement: Today, INTTRA is announcing an agreement with Kewill, a global leader in multimodal transportation management software. Kewill’s technologies underlie INTTRA’s new supply chain shipment visibility solution, bringing together the power of INTTRA’s multi-carrier shipping network with Kewill’s innovative supply chain visibility software to form this new offering.
- A comprehensive shipment information quality program has been created for the ongoing analysis of data quality on INTTRA’s network of ocean carriers, and for driving sustainable quality enhancements. This program provides carriers with a systematic approach for gauging the timeliness, accuracy and completeness of container status events, and for helping them collaborate with shippers to pinpoint improvement areas.
“Like all shipments--data should be delivered correctly and on time,” said Erik den Ouden, Director of Global IT, JF Hillebrand (a member of INTTRA Product Advisory Council). “By prioritizing data quality, INTTRA enables JF Hillebrand and the ocean shipping community to target a critical issue head-on: the need to exceed customer expectations in a real-time world. The powerful carrier connections enabled by INTTRA will help us easily access the quality data we need in a fast, timely manner to keep customer satisfaction rising, and do so across a larger portion of our addressable market.”
New Supply Chain Visibility Solution, Kewill Agreement
With the industry’s most extensive network of carriers, INTTRA offers a view into 34 percent of the world’s container shipment movements. This will provide users of INTTRA’s new supply chain shipment visibility solution a complete look at supply chain data, enabling shippers to anticipate delays and respond quickly to changes. It will also enable carriers and shippers to use large volumes of data for analyzing business factors, such as shipping volumes across many carriers and shipping performance metrics.
INTTRA’s strategic agreement with Kewill will accelerate the solution’s delivery to the ocean shipping market. According to Bob Farrell, President and CEO of Kewill: “Combining forces with INTTRA enables us to extend our strengths in supply chain visibility to the ocean shipping industry with the goal of delivering an unmatched experience for shippers and carriers worldwide. This solution, backed by INTTRA’s vision, will increase the speed and efficiency of containerized trade, while opening new avenues for improving business results in transport logistics.”
For more information on INTTRA’s supply chain shipment visibility initiatives, visit www.inttra.com.
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