In response to significantly turbulent sailing schedules, rising detention and demurrage charges, and calls from the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) to increase data visibility within the industry, Vector.ai today announced a significant product upgrade to its arrival notices offering. Vector.ai’s product line will now provide unparalleled automated workflows to help importing freight forwarders seamlessly handle inbound arrival notices, from first receipt to final revision.

Arrival notices absorb hours of a forwarder’s time as their operational teams monitor email inboxes, reacting to multiple versions of a notice per shipment. The reality is many forwarders strain to keep up with the sheer volume of updates, resulting in missed information, inaccurate ETAs and difficulties in timely coordination with drayage providers on cargo arrival, often resulting in expensive demurrage penalties due to storage at ports or late pickup.

“The update of our arrival notices tool results in sizable time savings and real time, accurate ETAs, which helps keep freight moving on time and penalty free, while keeping shippers in the know,” said James Coombes, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Vector.ai. “By automating arrival notices processing, forwarders can be confident in capturing critical data seamlessly.”

On Aug. 13, the Federal Maritime Commission announced that it is considering invoking its newly granted emergency powers under the 2022 reform of the Ocean Shipping Act to require data sharing among terminals, truckers, carriers, and other parts of the shipping industry.

“Arrival notices enables freight forwarders to provide the type of visibility that shippers want and the FMC is seeking from the supply chain technology industry,” continued Coombes.

Vector.ai’s new arrival notices release will provide unprecedented end-to-end automation for a traditionally time consuming process. The solution will offer freight forwarders intelligent comparison of incoming shipment information versus existing data, flag changes to the shipment status and push updates into the TMS. The exception-led workflows guide operators’ attention to priority jobs and the smart assign feature directs arrival notices to the right team, person and shipment, keeping operators laser focused.

“By automating what were once complex data tasks, our team can hand the workload over to capable AI and channel their energy into adding extra value for our clients, all while meeting the commercial goals of the business,” added Adam Hill, President & Chief Operating Officer, Scarbrough Group.
“As the age of disruption continues to demand more from all links within the global supply chain, forwarders need to be armed with tools to meet these challenges head on,” added Coombes. “By simplifying and automating complex data transmissions, such as those performed around arrival notifications, we are providing forwarders with the ability to supercharge their team’s productivity and combat delays.”