The STA (Scheduled Time of Arrival) is one thing. The ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) is, or ought to be, closer to the truth and is the one question all consignees have – right down to the individual online shopper expecting their delivery. Many things can get in the way of a shipment’s STA – from unforeseen events, delays due to technical or weather conditions, resource problems, mistakes, etc. Lack of information and transparency cause lack of trust among shippers and freight forwarders, and are increasingly less acceptable in today’s technologically advanced age. Hence, air freight tracking solution developer, BlueBox Systems, has created an ETA feature that enables precise predictions, putting an end to uncertainty. Users gain a better overview of their transport and logistics processes, enabling them to plan more efficiently and cost-effectively, and act more quickly in the case of irregularities. Gone is the long-winded manual tracking alternative.
Martin Bernemann, Chief Technical Officer at BlueBox Systems, explained why his company came up with its ETA solution: “If you don’t know exactly where your expected deliveries are and if you don’t fulfill your customers’ wishes in terms of deliveries, all other positive services can become pointless. For this reason, supply chain transparency plays an important role. We continuously track thousands of shipments every day. Using this information, we have built a database from which we can derive the ETA of new shipments. This intelligent function offers shippers and carriers the best possible prediction given the information available.”
Franziska Damm, Director at 4flow, illustrated: “Many companies struggle with delays, costly disruptions and dissatisfied end customers because they have limited insight into their air freight shipments. Real-time tracking and accurate ETA predictions can therefore provide a real competitive advantage. We use BlueBox Systems to take our 4PL services to a new level for our customers. By using this software, we can optimize logistics processes and provide our customers with better visibility and control over their air freight shipments.”
