Scan Global Logistics Uses Windward to Improve Milestone Coverage and the Customer Experience  

• Incomplete ocean milestone visibility
• Unreliable carrier ETAs
• Non-existing AIS visibility including various enhanced shipment details

• By enriching its freight management and customer portal, my SGL, Scan Global Logistics managed to increase customer satisfaction and operational efficiencies.
• SGL integrated AI-based ETAs that beat carriers’ ETAs at all stages of the shipping cycle. Twelve days before ATA, SGL predicted ETA is 15% more accurate than the carrier ETA.
• Built technological readiness to effectively handle disruptive and geopolitical events, such as Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.

The supply chain and logistics ecosystem is complicated. Massive global disruptions – and the accompanying changes in trade flows, freight prices, limited capacity, and the estimated time of arrival (ETA) of freight – seem to be occurring more frequently. 

Then there are complex issues such as transshipments, milestone tracking, inaccurate carrier data, and much more. 

Scan Global Logistics (SGL), a global full-service logistics provider with a rapid growth rate, strives to proactively solve logistics problems and simplify matters for its customers. “We are here to uncomplicate the world for our customers,” says Thomas Sandkvist Andersen, Global Head of Operations at SGL. A part of that is giving full transparency to the customers of the current market, navigating with improved milestone accuracy and shipment exceptions – also known as insights.

The company, which handles 400,000 containers annually (2023), sought to overcome challenges, such as missing ocean milestone visibility, unreliable carrier ETAs, limited visibility, and the lack of simple, dedicated shipment details that customers can see. 

SGL chose to partner with Windward, the leading Maritime AI™ company. Windward’s Ocean Freight Visibility (OFV) solution was integrated into SGL’s platform, mySGL, and its transportation management system (TMS), serving the forwarding company’s large array of customers and its own operations teams. 

Windward’s technology provides first-of-its-kind, real-time visibility with predictive insights into ocean freight through automated updates and Maritime AI™ Predicted ETAs.

By receiving accurate and freshly cleaned insights on shipment activities, such as actual time of arrival and gate-in, accompanied by an interactive map, SGL has significantly enhanced its operational capabilities. The integration of Windward’s capabilities managed to significantly increase milestone coverage.

SGL has benefited from additional exception alerts integrated into their portal, obtaining actionable insights that go beyond traditional visibility this past year. The exception alerts include changes to the port of destination, plus changes and additions of transshipment ports (TSP), and alerts on other transshipment issues, rollovers, and route deviation from the Red Sea.

These enhancements have empowered SGL and their customers to effectively deal with disruptions, especially mega events, such as Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.

“Not more than 10 days after the first Houthi attack, Windward released insights for the vessels and route deviated from the Red Sea. That saved us time, as our colleagues didn’t need to monitor where exactly the vessels were based and heading towards, as this was done automatically by Windward in mySGL. That was really powerful, especially during December and January, when the situation was very new,” said Thomas.

SGL has greatly benefited from a user interface that combines both aesthetic appeal and functionality.

Customer satisfaction has increased with the enhanced visibility provided by SGL’s platform. Thomas shares, “The customers of SGL are very close to our heart. I can surely say that from the talks we had with our customers, they are very happy with the visibility provided. The Predicted ETA gives them more timely and accurate ETAs than what we could offer before.”

“Scan Global Logistics works in a partnership manner, and we also like our vendors to work the same way… The sense of partnership was something particularly appealing to us,” explains Thomas, “We really liked that Windward listens and provides products we need.”

Andersen continues, “With any integration that you do, there are always hiccups and things you need to adjust for. Having Windward stay close to you as a partner is really key.”

Looking to the future, Thomas added, “I can safely say that we are looking at other products together with Windward to release in the near future. That is also something we value very highly: that Windward is listening to what we need.”