Global News Visibility providers aim to create air-ocean link

Two freight visibility providers targeting different modes have created a commercial partnership intended to help shippers link tracking across air and ocean freight shipments.

The partnership between Germany-based BlueBox Systems and California-based Vizion is aimed at aligning BlueBox’s airfreight visibility data with Vizion’s container shipping data.

BlueBox is connected to 130 airlines and 1,600 airports, while Vizion has access to 98 percent of container shipments, the companies said in a blog announcing the partnership.

A Vizion spokesperson described the relationship as more than just a sales channel partnership, but rather two data-oriented companies with complementary products tapping into one another’s customer networks to broaden the scope of their respective offerings.

Both companies take an application programming interface (API)-first approach to customers and partners, preferring that mechanism for system-to-system communication over traditional message formats such as electronic data interchange (EDI) or email.

Vizion in particular has highlighted in numerous briefings with JOC.com its intent to infuse more accurate ocean freight data into existing planning and transportation management systems (TMSs), as opposed to expecting customers to use its platform as a backbone logistics system.

The two companies’ partnership involves a mutual third-party logistics provider (3PL) customer, which the companies didn't name. About half of Vizion’s customers are cargo owners, another 35 percent are forwarders or 3PLs, and the remainder are software companies.

“The demand landscape has changed since COVID,” Vizion CEO Kyle Henderson told JOC.com in July in announcing a $14 million funding round. “Providing visibility is primarily the domain of top shippers and [third-party logistics providers], but the world has changed. Anyone of any size is feeling the need for better software, and that means better data.”

While Vizion competes in a crowded market for ocean freight visibility, one which includes specialist providers such as Terminal49 and Portcast along with broader platforms such as project44, FourKites, Overhaul, and Wakeo, BlueBox is targeting a largely underserved airfreight visibility market.

“The impact of offering visibility across multiple modes of freight elevates business and supply chain performance in the fulfillment of consumer needs,” Henderson said in the blog, dated Sept. 9.