FourKites Adds New Customers, Improves Time to Value for Real-Time Ocean Visibility
Supply chain visibility leader adds industry veteran as adoption of its international shipping solution accelerates
Leading real-time supply chain visibility platform FourKites announced the appointment of Philippe Salles as VP Strategic Solutions, Ocean, bringing more than 25 years of experience to the company’s International Solutions division, which has seen 79% growth in the number of customers year-over-year. Additionally, new customers can now expect to be operational on FourKites’ Dynamic OceanSM platform in five days or less, allowing them to see value almost immediately.
“Supply chain visibility has been ocean shippers’ top priority for decades,” says Salles, who brings experience from CMA CGM, INTTRA and maritime research and consultancy firm Drewry. “Technology can solve many of the data quality issues fundamentally embedded in the siloed systems of container logistics. I have been working directly with international ocean shippers for over 25 years. Now, I’m excited to join FourKites because I’ve seen firsthand how real-time visibility can significantly improve shippers’ operations by providing actionable intelligence.”
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Salles will work closely with FourKites shippers and carriers to support change management efforts required to improve their end-to-end supply chain visibility. Moreover, he will accelerate time to value for FourKites users as part of the company’s “Live in Five” commitment, helping remove operational pain points and maximizing the effectiveness of their systems.
FourKites sees unprecedented ocean momentum
Salles’ appointment is the latest leap forward in FourKites’ momentum in supply chain visibility for seagoing container traffic. FourKites now tracks 98% of global ocean container traffic across more than 270 lanes and 120 carriers and covers every container port in North America and all major ports in Europe. In the past year, the company has seen:
- 79% growth in the number of customers using supply chain visibility for international shipments, with a 23% jump in Q1 2022 alone
- A 215% increase in the volume of seagoing freight that it tracks across the globe
- 16% growth in the number of global ports tracked, now totaling 804 ports around the world, or 95% of the world’s container ports
In addition, FourKites saw 23% growth in new ocean customers in Q1 2022, including Cardinal Health, Arizona Tile, LyondellBasell, McCain Foods, Roehm, Rove Concepts and Yamaha Motors, among many others.
To take one example, LyondellBasell is a top-10 global chemicals producer with operations around the world. The company has been a FourKites customer since 2018 when it began tracking shipments across all modes of transport in North America. In Q1 2022, the company extended its contract with FourKites to cover European multimodal shipments.
Tackling the challenges of international shipping
Booming demand for consumer goods, labor shortages, lockdowns, weather events and more have caused delays and fees to snowball for shippers. The Federal Maritime Commission estimates that from July to September of 2021, eight of the largest carriers charged customers fees totaling $2.2 billion – a 50% increase on the previous three-month period. Meanwhile, according to a FourKites survey, 50% of ocean shippers use a completely manual track and trace process for ocean freight management.
“The challenges ocean shippers face are unprecedented. In response, we’ve committed to getting customers up and running within five days. We’ve also made significant investments in our Dynamic Ocean platform – including the addition of FourKites’ proprietary Dynamic ETA® technology, with estimated times of arrival that are 20% to 40% more accurate than carrier-generated figures,” said Mathew Elenjickal, FourKites Founder and CEO. “Customer feedback has been positive, evident by our growing customer base. With the addition of Philippe, we will continue to deliver value at an accelerated pace.”
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FourKites’ Dynamic Ocean platform helps shippers tackle international document management, trading partner collaboration, booking support and industry-leading tracking that catches late arrivals 2.5 times sooner than carriers. In February, the company introduced new capabilities aimed at helping international shippers identify and mitigate the risks and costs associated with runaway demurrage and detention (D&D) fees. These include new exception dashboards, notifications and alerts; analytics dashboards; the ability to monetize the potential and actual financial impact; and a digital document hub.
