CargoSmart releases new free sailing schedule database

The shipment management software provider’s “Big Schedule” platform is intended to let shippers visualize their planned routes and better understand potential reliability and delay concerns.    Global shipment management software provider CargoSmart has launched a new sailing schedule search platform that helps shippers and logistics service providers manage and visualize their ocean routes.
   The free platform, called Big Schedules, sources ocean carriers’ published sailing schedules and live vessel location data to provide personalized search results and is intended to help with shipment planning. CargoSmart said more than five million sailing schedule changes occurred globally in May 2015 alone, necessitating a tool to manage that uncertainty.
   “Not having the latest schedules can have a costly impact including inaccurate bookings, increased demurrage charges, and missed container cut-off times,” CargoSmart said in a statement.
   The search engine’s scope includes 30 ocean carriers, more than 46,000 port pairs, and nearly 5,000 vessel services that cover 90 percent of global container capacity.
   Search results within Big Schedules display the vessel’s current location on a map for users to see if a vessel is on track to meet its schedule and to improve planning. Users can also look up schedule reliability percentages and average delay deviations by carrier for five popular port-pairs to gauge the chances of on-time arrivals.