Following its initiation earlier this year, GateHouse Maritime and Satlock  announce preparations to move forward with a contract extension to meet the growing demand for reliable ocean visibility and shipping container tracking technology. This move comes after reports of increased unreliability in the ocean supply chain throughout 2020 and 2021.

The GateHouse-Satlock contract agreement—initially set for one year but now extended to three—has thus far satisfied both companies and will provide customers with the power of real-time, end-to-end monitoring of cargo and logistics operations by as early as January 2022:

– We are now ten months into our contract with Satlock and we couldn’t be more satisfied. We’re extremely proud to be partnering with such a pioneering logistics tech company and extending the contract to three years. Together, we aim to revolutionize ocean visibility, shipping traceability, and container tracking for customers worldwide throughout 2022 and beyond, says Martin Dommerby Kristiansen CEO at GateHouse Maritime.

Deteriorated supply chain increases demand for ocean visibility
GateHouse Maritime and Satlock’s continued partnership could not come at a better time. Ocean supply chain reliability is in a state of deterioration and has been since start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. This supply chain deterioration is causing untold headaches for cargo owners, freight forwarders, shipping firms, and customers experiencing lengthy shipping delays and unpredictable ETAs.

As a result, demand for precise container tracking across the entire shipping supply chain is increasing significantly:

– We’re fully aware of the problems facing the logistics industry, which took a huge hit during the coronavirus pandemic. Currently, container shipping reliability is sitting static at 40%, down from 60-80% in 2019, Martin Dommerby Kristiansen states and adds:

– By providing Satlock invaluable data from our large maritime data foundation, the company will monitor the exact location of individual containers at sea using its state-of-the-art satellite-driven technology. Furthermore, we combine our Arrival Prediction solution with machine-learning algorithms to pinpoint container schedules to accurately calculate arrival times with better precision than scheduled ETAs.

Mutually beneficial agreement for both companies

Not only is the GateHouse Maritime-Satlock partnership ready to tackle the demand for real-time ocean visibility and container tracking, but it is also mutually beneficial for both companies involved.

– Satlock is a phenomenal company to enter a contract with, not only for its efficient and advanced container tracking technology, but also for its infrastructure and business connections across the entire South America region. We see a huge opportunity to expand and enter many South American markets, including Chile, Argentina, and Ecuador, which will further strengthen our position as a global maritime data and analytics leader, states Martin Dommerby Kristiansen.

In 2011 Satlock was founded in Bogota and in the last decade its solutions have evolved to include patented electronic tracking and security devices, and IoT web control platform and provision of management reports through advanced business intelligence tools.

Satlock now has operations in Mexico, Central America, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Peru, Argentina and Chile offering services for customs control, risk management for cargo and control and management of fleets and logistics operations.

Previously, Satlock’s satellite-based lock service only provided onshore location information on transported containers, but that has changed with the new partnership with GateHouse Maritime. Now, Satlock expands its service to also cover real-time offshore container location data, providing its customers with efficient and accurate, end-to-end shipment tracking.

– First and foremost, we have been very satisfied with our partnership with GateHouse since its initiation earlier this year, which is why we now extend the contract from one to three years. Thanks to GateHouse Maritime’s large data pool, we are successfully expanding our tracking services to cover shipped goods, making our solutions even more accurate and precise for our customers. We’re happy the partnership is proving valuable for both parties, says Juan Guillermo Galan De Valdenebro, General Manager at Satlock.

With both companies currently satisfied with the contract, both parties now enter the preparation and planning phases. Full operation is expected to begin in February 2022.