Automating Global Tracking of Shipping Containers

In Brief

Automating logistics for accurate and up-to-date information

Dunavant, a global logistics and supply chain management company, transports over 10,000 shipping containers per month. Its employees were manually collecting information from 22 terminal websites once per hour. This process was not only time-consuming but was also prone to errors.

Resource Data developed DunTracking, a custom system that automates the data collection and entry process. As a result, Dunavant has achieved significant time and cost savings.

The Challenges

Manually updating statuses of thousands of containers worldwide

Dunavant transports more than 10,000 shipping containers a month via truck. It relies on accurate, up-to-date information on these containers as they travel through ports and railroad yards (i.e., terminals) to know when and where to send their trucks.

Employees collected information from individual terminal websites once per hour and then manually entered data into Dunavant’s core system for truck management. This manual data entry was time consuming and error prone. They needed automation.

Dunavant needed a solution that could extract the data automatically and convert it into a format Dunavant’s existing truck management software would accept. Unfortunately, transportation terminals handling the containers tracked by Dunavant employ diverse terminology and tracking methods. At any time—and without announcing it—terminals may introduce new container types or rename vessels. And because Dunavant lacks control over the data, automatically extracting information from these terminal websites was particularly challenging.