This commentary appeared in the print edition of the Jan. 6, 2020, Journal of Commerce Annual Review and Outlook.
Visibility technology has made great advancements, but there are still gaps. As noted in a 2017 Journal of Commercearticle, “End-to-end visibility remains one of the most sought-after services by shippers in a never-ending battle to limit disruption to supply chains and avoid the damaging knock-on effects generated by delays and uncertainty.”
Indeed, connecting all the supply chain components — including containers, suppliers, and transportation carriers — with the shipper is difficult for supply chains that have become more complicated in today’s environment.
Today’s environment is rife with risks that include trade wars, Brexit, climate change, and more. Supply chains need to be proactive and have the ability to flex and adapt quickly to changes. One supply chain disruption can have a crippling effect.
For example, the 2016 collapse of Hanjin Shipping Company resulted in customers having to retrieve an estimated $14 billion worth of goods that were still on board its container ships. The result was delays for customers and additional supply chain costs for the shippers.
Of course, visibility is much more than monitoring and managing extraordinary exceptions such as the Hanjin collapse. Visibility needs to be a part of operations in a manner that drives better performance and uncovers unknown facts.
The number of visibility solutions providers has grown over the years; however, visibility requirements continue to be high on shippers’ list of concerns. For true end-to-end visibility, solution providers and supply chain partners should collaborate and partner together. This year has witnessed such partnerships as Kontainers and Chain.io, Catapult and Xeneta, and the Port of Long Beach’s Port Optimizer leading the way. In 2020, we will see more.