Getting Supply Chain Visibility in Good Times and Bad
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Key Takeaways
⇨ The shipping and logistics sector in North America is experiencing significant growth, with US ports surpassing 2.4 million TEUs monthly and Mexico strengthening its cross-border trade through nearshoring efforts.
⇨ Key Texan border ports such as Port Laredo and Port of Brownsville are benefiting from increased trade, with significant investments being made to expand shipping channels and enhance logistics capabilities.
⇨ As cross-border trade intensifies, the importance of supply chain visibility is highlighted, with platforms like Descartes' MacroPoint offering advanced solutions to improve efficiency, customer service, and collaboration across the shipping and logistics networks.
The shipping and logistics business in North America is booming. The latest figures from Descartes Systems Group show that Q3 2024 was a strong one for US ports, with container volumes surpassing the 2.4 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) mark every month between July and September.
Mexico is another North American region that has quietly strengthened its shipping business this year, benefiting from its booming cross-border trade with the USA, thanks to a keen focus on nearshoring by both nations.
Texan border ports like Port Laredo, Port of Corpus Christi, and Port of Brownsville, and the Port of Nuevo Laredo in Tamaulipas, Mexico, are reaping the benefits of this growth. For example, the Port of Brownsville secured a $43 million loan to expand its shipping channels, while the Port of Corpus Christi recently became a global crude oil supplier.
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The Port of Nuevo Laredo has experienced brisk business owing to the numerous foreign-owned manufacturing plants in the region that use it as their entry and exit point. Its counterpart in Texas was reportedly the No.1 US trade gateway in August, with the trade here totaling around $30.7 billion during the month.
The need for supply chain visibility
As an increasing number of US automakers and steel and aluminum manufacturers begin to look at their southern neighbor to expand their operations, cross-border trade between the US and Mexico will only strengthen, calling for robust supply chain management. Geopolitical factors elsewhere in the world, which are affecting shipping and delivery times, can also have a long-lasting effect.
As a result, logistics and shipping companies globally are seeking ways to gain better visibility into their supply chains so that they can make educated predictions about their shipping and delivery times.
Descartes’ MacroPoint is one such multimodal visibility platform designed to help manufacturers, retailers, distributors, and logistics services providers better control their shipments.
The platform connects road, air, and ocean carriers using telematics or electronic logging devices, transportation management systems, a mobile driver application, APIs, and Descartes’ proprietary multimodal messaging network, the Descartes Global Logistics Network.
Moreover, MacroPoint integrates with transportation management systems like SAP Transportation Management (SAP TM) and leverages SAP Integration Suite or SAP Extension Suite to deliver real-time supply chain visibility to customers. Users who integrate their SAP TM with MacroPoint can gain from:
- Improved customer service
- Higher distribution efficiency
- Better collaboration with customers, suppliers and carriers
- Minimal impact of disruptions and late delivery penalties
Finally, as the emphasis on supply chain health grows in North America, given the rising trade between the US and Mexico, effective multimodal transportation tracking helps optimize costs, improves transit times and enhances customer satisfaction by leveraging advanced technologies to improve efficiency and visibility.
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