Buyer's Guide: Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking

We have developed ta buyer’s guide to not only cover what Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking does, but also to explain how each of its features can benefit you and help you determine if the technology is the right match for your business.

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What to Look for in a Best-In-Class Ocean Visibility Solution

BUYER'S GUIDE:

MY SHIPMENT ETA: ON-TIME LOCATION: CNSHA DESTINATION: USSEA AMS STATUS: 1C AIS: 31.2304° N 121.4737° E

22Descartes Systems Group, Inc. | www.descartes.com | Buyer's Guide: Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking™

Introduction

Are your customers looking for up-to-date information about where their ocean shipments are on their journey? Do you know where some of your ocean shipments are some of the time, but not where all of your ocean shipments are all of the time? Is manually checking carrier portals causing workflow bottlenecks? These challenges are why we created an innovative technology called Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking™, a leading-edge solution that allows Logistics Service Providers (LSPs) to track their shipments in real-time at the container level.

In order to better evaluate the solution, we developed this buyer’s guide to not only cover what Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking does, but also to explain how each of its features can benefit you, help you determine if the technology is the right match for your business, provide a clear overview of how our purchasing process works, and how the solution can help you elevate operations.

The guide covers:

• A Quick Overview: What Is Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking? • Determine Your Needs: What Are Your Top Pain Points? • What Are the Key Features of the Solution & Why Do They Matter to You? • What Should You Look for in Best-in-class Ocean Shipment Tracking Technology? • Success Story: A Customer that is Using Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking to Thrive • How Does the Buying Process Work? • Next Steps & Cost Savings

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33Descartes Systems Group, Inc. | www.descartes.com | Buyer's Guide: Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking™

Quick Overview: What is Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking?

Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking can add value to Forwarder Back-office Systems by extending and automating connectivity to and from stakeholders across the ocean supply chain. It enables you to make informed business decisions, reduces the time and effort required to track shipments, minimizes demurrage fees, and helps you provide customers with accurate shipment status information. The solution does this by collecting a comprehensive data set of ocean shipment status information from 70+ carriers, 500+ ports/ terminals/ramps as well as the top co-loaders.

From an operational perspective, this means that you can view where your customer’s ocean shipments are located and know at-a-glance if a vessel arrival time was changed or missed. From a customer-facing perspective, the technology can help you provide updates via an on-demand web-based portal, via automated emails, or via other existing customer-facing systems. With U.S. Ocean Automated Manifest System (AMS) security filing status information also available as part of the Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking data set, the technology offers one of the most complete and accurate sources of actionable ocean status data available from one technology provider.

Determine Your Needs: What Are Your Top Pain Points?

Before delving deeper into the features of Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking, it is important to consider your top pain points tracking ocean shipments. In order to help guide you through the pain point identification process, we have put together a short list of the top challenges that LSPs face:

We are spending too much time checking shipment statuses in carrier portals.

We have visibility gaps for ocean shipments

Our customers are asking for enhanced visibility on ocean shipments.

Carriers are claiming that containers are not being returned on time.

We are incurring high demurrage fees.

We need to know when our ocean shipments are arriving with more accuracy.

We need ocean shipment status updates to populate our forwarder back-office system.

Our operational workflow is not automatically triggered by key events in the ocean shipment journey.

We are concerned about the security of our data and need a solution that will keep our information safe.

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What Are the Key Features of the Solution & Why Do They Matter to You?

The features of Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking were developed to not only counter many of the top pain points that LSPs face but also to elevate operations. Please carefully review and evaluate the features to determine if they align with your individual business needs and will benefit operations. Some of the top features of the solution are listed below with a deeper dive into each:

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Reducing Demurrage Fees

An additional benefit of the broad information set is fact-driven data to counter demurrage fees. With demurrage fees hitting an average of $664 globally and fees topping $8.9 billion between 2020 and 20222 , LSPs are keen to combat these costs.

Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking features container port in-gating and out-gating times so LSPs can know exactly when a container left or returned to a port. Should an LSP incur a demurrage from a carrier that claims that a container was not returned on time, Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking enables LSPs to dispute such charges with time-stamped fact-based information.

What Does This Mean For You?

Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking ends the need to not only connect with carrier portals but also empowers LSPs to make better decisions. Beyond this, due to the rich data set, LSPs can enjoy superior event frequency and data accuracy versus legacy visibility solutions. This means that you are equipped with more information than the competition which can differentiate your service offering.

Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking offers the richest data set available with status information from 70+ carriers, 500+ ports/terminals/ramps as well as the top co-loaders.

The Richest Data Set & What This Means for You

One powerful feature of Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking is the unparalleled data set that it collects. The solution standardizes, digitizes, and automates data collection and ensures information integrity so LSPs do not have to. Data collected includes:

• Carrier Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) 315 messages, also known as an ocean status detail package, to inform LSPs and their customers about specific events across the shipment lifespan both on the water and for carrier inland moves.

• Satellite-based Automatic Identification System (AIS) details to pinpoint the exact location of a vessel on its journey.

• U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) ocean cargo manifest messaging to gain insight into a shipment’s security filing status

(1) Container Exchange, (2) U.S. Federal Register

http://www.descartes.com https://www.container-xchange.com/blog/demurrage-detention/ https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/10/14/2022-22290/demurrage-and-detention-billing-requirements

Integration, Automation & What This Means for You

The integration and automation capabilities of Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking go hand-in-hand to deliver insight and efficiency for LSPs. The data integrates with Descartes Forwarder Back-office systems, proprietary or third-party platforms via Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), or other data transfer protocols. However, it is how the data is used intelligently to power automations that sets the technology apart. If, for example, an Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) was changed or missed, operational users will see at-a-glance that a shipment is at risk of arriving outside of its expected time window. From there, back- office systems can be configured to trigger smart automations such as user actions or client updates to speed service.

What Does This Mean For You?

The rich data set powering Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking can seamlessly integrate with back-office systems and can power smart workflow-driven automations. This means that LSPs can focus operations on time-sensitive exceptions, improve overall service levels, meet customer expectations, and better time deliveries.

Descartes Advanced Ocean tracking integrates with existing systems & uses data intelligently to trigger smart automations such as user actions or client updates.

Descartes Systems Group, Inc. | www.descartes.com | Buyer's Guide: Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking™

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Customer Visibility & What This Means for You

Logistics is a service-oriented industry, and tools that can elevate customer service are critical to help LSPs stay profitable and competitive. This is especially in today’s environment where customers expect on- demand access to the location of their ocean shipments. Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking can equip you with customer facing visibility via a web-based portal, via automated emails, or via other existing customer-facing systems.

About Sustainability

Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking automates tracking processes and reduces the need for manual labor which saves time and resources. This can improve efficiency, accuracy, and reliability while identifying potential issues in advance to avoid delays and improve customer satisfaction. The technology can also reduce paperwork by enabling electronic document submission and receipt to save time and reduce paper waste.

What Does This Mean For You?

Today's customers want to know where all of their ocean shipments are all of the time. Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking results in happy customers, delivering the customer-facing visibility that customers expect. This means that employees are freed from looking up individual shipment statuses. As a result, LSPs are freed to do what they do best– moving freight and focusing on value-added tasks.

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Data Security & What This Means for You

Modern supply chains depend on logistics service providers to coordinate and speed the movement of goods worldwide. With 68% of business leaders recognizing that cybersecurity risks are increasing, data security is top of mind for many LSPs. Logistics service providers are particularly concerned about data security since LSPs:

What Does This Mean For You?

Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking is built with the latest secure and redundant architecture as part of the Descartes Global Logistics Network™ (Descartes GLN™), which manages the real-time flow of information for thousands of LSPs. Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking users benefit from:

• A modern application data security structure to safeguard against cyberattacks. • Denied Party Screening (DPS) across a frequently updated database of cyber criminals. • A 24/7 network operations center that responds to security events.

Connect to Global Parties

From shippers, to intermediaries, to

government agencies, LSPs connect to a

broad range of supply chain participants

Often Use Legacy Technology

Many LSPs remain entrenched in older

systems with legacy security vulnerabilities

and gaps

House a Rich Internal Data Set

The nature of logistics means that large

volumes of valuable data are housed in

internal systems and platforms

Transfer High Volumes of Data

LSPs send and receive a substantial amount

of information that may not be secure

and encrypted as it moves

Descartes Systems Group, Inc. | www.descartes.com | Buyer's Guide: Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking™

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What Should You Look for in Best-in-class Ocean Shipment Tracking Technology?

From limited data aggregators to home-grown systems, LSPs want to know what to look for in a complete ocean shipment tracking solution. Best-in-class ocean shipment tracking technology should:

Descartes Systems Group, Inc. | www.descartes.com | Buyer's Guide: Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking™

Connect to the largest number of carriers, ports, terminals, and ramps.

Include intelligent automation throughout the workflow process.

Enable access without being a party on the Bill of Lading.

Integrate with current back-office systems.

Allow for customizable alerting to focus employees on actionable items.

Be extensible and allow LSPs to add-on further functionality as business expands.

Feature expert implementation to get you live quickly and help keep you successful.

Have a long-term industry presence, deep expertise, and a proven success record.

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Accelerated Global Logistics: A Success Story from a Business That Is Using Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking to Enable Growth

Accelerated Global Logistics (AGL) is a growing company that is expanding into new shipment specializations. Given the time-sensitive nature of the industry niches it serves, clients expected a quick customer service turnaround. To provide customer updates, operations staff needed to check a range of carrier websites and were spending a growing amount of bandwidth to obtain status updates. A solution was needed to advise operational staff of exceptions automatically and to reduce time spent in carrier portals.

“Being able to use Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking within our forwarder back-office system is a plus for our operational efficiency. With Descartes, we can continue our growth journey and provide the highest level of personalized customer service for which we are known.”

Noe Chavez Co-founder & Managing Member Accelerated Global Logistics

Descartes Systems Group, Inc. | www.descartes.com | Buyer's Guide: Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking™

https://www.descartes.com/resources/knowledge-center/accelerated-global-logistics http://www.descartes.com https://www.descartes.com/resources/knowledge-center/accelerated-global-logistics

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How Does the Buying Process Work?

Descartes is skilled in getting LSPs live as quickly as possible to ensure that Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking will benefit operations and the bottom line. Here is what to expect from the buying process:

A Discovery Call to Understand Your Requirements

During this conversation, we’ll listen to your biggest pain points regarding tracking ocean shipments and determine whether Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking is the right fit for you.

A Live Product Demonstration (Virtual)

We take you through a product tour that gives you a transparent view of the features that you would use if you chose our solution.

A Solution Proposal & Implementation Timeline

We provide you with a price quote that includes implementation. If you’re ready to hit the ground running, we’ll build out a clear timeline with milestones to detail how we can get you live as soon as possible.

Signing The Agreement & Starting Implementation

By the time you sign, you will have a clear view of what will happen and the results you can expect from Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking.

Implementation & Go-Live

Our expert implementation team will work with you to implement the solution and train your staff. By the time you reach go-live, your operations team will be ready to use Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking with confidence.

Ongoing Support

With Descartes, you’re inheriting a solid team that will support you and your business as it continues to grow. Our live customer support team will remain available, providing ongoing attention to ensure things run smoothly.

If you're looking to see if Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking is a good fit for your company, you can know what to expect from the potential buying journey with clearly defined milestones.

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Next Steps & Cost Savings

Descartes internal research has shown that the cost of tracking each ocean shipment is $15 of labor. With the average customer moving 7,500 shipments per year, this means the typical cost savings of $93,000 using Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking per year! With this in mind, we encourage you to evaluate the return on investment (ROI) and the benefits that you can achieve by implementing Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking.

In conclusion, Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking allows logistics service providers to connect to the broadest range of carriers and ports worldwide. It is our 30+ years of experience, deep domain expertise, understanding of LSP operations and market, enriched data set, integrative capabilities, customer-facing visibility, and data security that sets Descartes apart. As you explore your buying journey, we encourage you to carefully weigh the features available to you from the solution, gather your pain points, and connect with us to explore if Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking is a right fit for your operations.

Buyer's Guide: Descartes Advanced Ocean Tracking

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