That may be changing now that INTTRA, the multi-carrier e-portal, has teamed up with the information standards group GS1 to develop and implement guidelines and standards for the exchange of data on the whereabouts of container shipments.

　　INTTRA, which provides electronics booking services for 52 ocean carriers and non-vessel-operating common carriers, has been working on the guidelines for nine months in a workshop with GS1 in the U.S., whose data standards are already in use by more than 300,000 businesses in 25 industries.

　　“A lot of people are talking about improving supply chain visibility, but we have a blueprint for the underlying data to make improvements possible, and everyone will benefit from the foundation work done by this organization,” Sandra Moran, INTTRA’s chief marketing officer, said in an interview with the JOC.

　　The problem facing the working group that developed the guidelines was that the data provided by ocean shipping lines and NVOs on the whereabouts of shippers’ containers comes in a wide variety of formats. Shippers may need the data in formats different from what carriers provide or may not be able to read that data.

　　The container industry already had somewhat vague guidelines for data, but because they were not clear and there were no standards for the way data should be exchanged, this creates barriers for the way the container industry can deliver and exchange data.   In addition, there were no clear standards for when key events in a shipper’s supply chain should trigger transmission of data.

　　Last summer INTTRA and some of its carriers and large freight forwarders joined with shippers in the GS1 U.S. Logistics Workgroup to develop data guidelines and standards. “We got all the people who want the data together in the same room with the people they were asking to provide the data,” Moran said. “That created a very clear picture of the people who were requesting the information and the people who were providing the information.”

　　Shippers in the workshop had the opportunity to tell carriers what they need to know and when based on where their containers are based on certain key events, and carriers gained a better understanding of how and when to provide that data.

　　The workshop produced standards for electronic data exchange in the container industry that will be published in the next three months and incorporated in the North American standards published by the American National Standards Institute.

　　“Then we will incorporate those standards in the global GS1 system so it can be deployed all over the world,” said Melanie Nuce, vice president of industry engagement for GS1US. “The nice thing is we’ll all be using the same language, so small companies who don’t have EDI infrastructure will be able to get visibility into their supply chain at any given time over portals or whatever kind of software they use.”

　　INTTRA is already using the new guidelines and training shippers that use its network how to use the data. In addition carriers and freight forwarders in the INTTRA network are already putting the new data guidelines into practical use. “If the carriers need to make any changes in their systems they are already doing that work now,” Moran said. “When INTTRA’s visibility solution comes to market it will be looking for the information or be presented in this way.”

　　The new standards are likely to prove very popular with shippers. An Aberdeen Group survey of 149 companies with global supply chains found that 63 percent of respondents rate supply chain visibility as a high priority for improvement. Another 45 percent said the key driver for improving visibility is addressing the operational pressures of expanding their global operations and their complexity.

(Source:JOC)