The Company
A South American multi-modal freight forwarder with 20 years of experience, moving over 20,000 containers a year across agricultural products, industrial goods, pharmaceuticals, and specialized reefer, hazmat, and break-bulk shipments.
The Challenge
Operations relied on manual container tracking across multiple carrier portals, a process that was slow, error-prone, and hard to scale.
No predictive ETAs
Without reliable arrival predictions, teams could only pass on carrier-reported updates, leaving customers without accurate, early visibility.
Low adoption of self-service tracking
A customer tracking app already existed, but inconsistent and inaccurate data meant many clients still called for updates.
No container-level visibility
Some carriers report only at booking or BL level rather than per container, so individual containers can be dropped, delayed, or diverted without the customer's knowledge.
The Solution
- Real-time, API-based container tracking: Automated container tracking across 220+ carriers covering 98% of the market, reducing manual lookups and filling gaps when carrier data is limited, delayed, or unavailable.
- Predictive ETAs: Reliable arrival predictions for proactive planning and exception management. Portcast ETAs are 15% more accurate than carrier-provided ETAs on average.
- Proactive disruption alerts: Container-level alerts, reporting, and delay insights flag disruptions before they hit operations. During the Strait of Hormuz crisis, Portcast's dedicated view of affected containers and vessels helped assess exposure fast.
Flexible integration. API or embeddable iframe let the company add reliable tracking to its customer experience without heavy development effort.
The Impact
- Manual, carrier-by-carrier tracking with fragmented data sources → ~90% less manual tracking effort through automated, API-based tracking across carriers and data sources
- Limited ETA visibility and inconsistent arrival predictions → ~94% ETA accuracy one week before arrival, enabling teams to plan ahead with greater confidence
- Booking/BL-level carrier data without individual container visibility→ Individual container-level insights for shipments that previously lacked detailed visibility
- Reactive disruption management with limited early warning → ~50% faster exception resolution through proactive, container-specific alerts and actionable disruption insights
Curious how Portcast can cut manual tracking, improve shipment visibility, and reduce costs? Get in touch to explore how.
