How Cargoo’s visibility to the SKU’s within misplaced ocean containers saved a customer’s promotion

Human error sent ocean freight containers in the wrong direction.

Using Cargoo the customer was able to immediately understand the scope of the problem and avoid a major setback.

It’s going the wrong way!

An international retail chain was planning a promotional campaign for spring apparel across 8,000 outlets. Their promotional items were sourced in Asia and shipped with well known ocean freight carriers. Due to human error during a trans-shipment stop in Shanghai, many containers with promotional items were mistakenly thought to be empty, and loaded onto a vessel going in the wrong direction. This mistake put the entire campaign at risk, threatening not only a loss of revenue but also major reputational damage to the retail chain.

Not your typical exception management

When the discharge/loading documentation was received in Cargoo the vessel was sailing to Europe. Cargoo flagged the discrepancy vs expected container status and generated an alert for the retailer’s supply chain manager. They used Cargoo to access the inventory of the affected containers at SKU level and identify exactly what was moving in the wrong direction.

How is that possible?

Cargoo is a powerful order management platform specialized in ocean transportation. It covers the supply chain process from the time an order is booked to it’s delivery in the Buyers warehouse. Meaning, Cargoo contains not only the Shipping Instructions, but also the details of the PO’s and how SKU’s were stuffed into containers. This level of detail consolidated in one location provides BCO’s with unprecedented visibility of containers and their contents at the SKU level.

Customers of Cargoo invite their shippers, logistics partners and suppliers to collabo-rate on the tool, which centralizes information and keeps it accurate. Cargoo customers currently on-boarded more than 3000 partners, so many large and mid-sized carriers and shippers already use Cargoo.

Ocean freight visibility exception solved

Knowing the scope of the problem while the vessel had almost 20 days of transit time remaining, the supply chain manager could begin solving the problem. This involved:

  • Informing the custom authorities about the error at the port expecting to receive empty containers
  • Working with that ports staff to inform them of the inbound containers and arrange a short term storage solution
  • Specifying and booking alternative transportation that delivered the promotional inventory to Europe at about the same time the original vessel arrived

Main takeaways:

Cargoo is an order management solution that digitizes ocean transportation. Buyers and supply chain partners collaborate to execute orders and centralize information in one place, which provides unprecedented visibility of ocean freight shipments

  • from the moment orders are placed
  • through every execution step with suppliers, shipping partners and carriers
  • and reports metrics such as CCU rates, monitors detention and demurrage costs, and tracks container ETA’s
  • all at SKU level

If most of your supply chain is shipped by ocean freight, contact Cargoo. Clara or Miriam will help you determine if there is a valid business case for your needs.

TEU’s processed / day

25000+

Shipments processed / day

5,400+

Companies Onboarded

3,000+

Lanes covered

98%

Business Development Representative

e: [email protected]
w: www.cargoo.com

Ready to take your ocean freight management to the next level ? 
Book a meeting