Chemicals: Reusable Containers

This global company employs tens of thousands of people in dozens of countries around the world, providing liquid and gaseous chemicals. It delivers advanced chemicals to customers by truck, rail and sea, to customers using state-of-the art ISO intermodal tanks, valued at more than $600,000 each.

Challenge: Managing Reusable Shipping Containers

This chemicals manufacturer maintained an inventory of over 200 reusable intermodal ISO tanks to fulfill customer orders. These containers, each valued at $600,000-$700,000, were heavily used assets, and were often critical path items when evaluating shipping and supply chain issues.

Utilization rates of these containers drive profitability. Company executives knew that to achieve the best results, they needed real-time understanding of container idle times and deviations from movement plans. Knowing container location was essential for business success.

Solution: Real-Time Tracking & Alerts

Savi delivered a complete visibility platform, designed to meet the specific tracking and reporting requirements of the company. The solution collected and consolidated real-time tracking data for the customer’s entire inventory of reusable containers. Also, the solution enabled complete route management and monitoring of containers to and from customer locations.

Savi presented the information to the company via dynamic real-time mapping reports and through tight integration with legacy reporting systems, providing an enterprise-wide understanding of overall shipping and business dynamics.

The platform also generates real-time alerts to inform decision-makers when containers experience any deviations from the shipment or movement plan. In addition, the Savi solution facilitates the presentation of cargo and shipment data to the company’s clients through externally facing reporting.

Results: Better Utilization & Lower Costs

With access to actionable sensor data and reports in real time, the company was able to achieve many business improvements, including:

• Better load balancing and container utilization
• Reduced costs
• Better understanding of shipment status
• Less exposure to costly expedited shipments and demurrage fees
• More accurate predictions of future container needs

The combined effect of these improvements also meant the company was able reduce how often it needed expensive short-term rentals of additional container capacity.

Externally facing reports helped customers make better decision and use of reserve stocks while waiting for deliveries, improving customer satisfaction. By implementing the Savi solution, the customer achieved greater profitability.