Dive Brief:
- Chainalytics, a supply chain consulting and analytics firm, announced a partnership with Drewry, a maritime research consulting firm, to launch an ocean shipping procurement platform to help smaller shippers get more competitive rates.
- The platform will also help increase cost and rate transparency for smaller shippers.
- The new platform comes as the ocean shipping industry adjusts to massive carrier consolidation and struggles with rate transparency as rates start to rise.
Dive Insight:
After all the industry consolidation and bankruptcies over the past few years, shippers knew ocean rates would end up rising. For a small shipper with now-limited carrier options, that can be a bad sign.
Just last week, Target Freight Management's Vice President of North American Sales David Greathouse told Supply Chain Dive that sometimes it can be difficult for smaller shippers to find favorable trucking rates without a 3PL. Essentially, that's what Chainalytics and Drewry are seeking to provide for ocean shippers: a middleman that can help small shippers find more favorable rates.
But the ocean shipping industry has farther to go than the trucking industry. Rising rates can leave small shippers struggling in the wake of larger shippers snapping up the best deals, especially because the industry has been slow to digitize.
Technology and the internet democratize industries, which is why Zvi Schreiber — CEO of ocean shipping 3PL Freightos, which provides an online marketplace to compare rates — thinks ocean rates should be completely transparent, because that's how little shippers will survive.
Furthermore, if smaller shippers are unable to compete, that stunts industry growth. Working with smaller shippers to help them succeed could help accelerate the industry and facilitate overall growth.
