How is Ship Container Tracking Done?

Every day, hundreds of thousands of ship containers are shipped worldwide through cargo ships, road transport, and other means of transport.  Have you ever wondered how is ship container tracking done? How is this complex process managed so seamlessly across the world with minimal losses?

So let’s get down to understand this modern-day marvel.

Ships are currently the most economical form of transportation and hence are used by companies worldwide to transport goods from one place to another. With such huge quantities of shipments being moved from one place to another, it becomes mandatory to keep track of them.

Everyone from the sender to the receiver wants to know reg exact location and status of the package. From Multi-billion businesses to a single individual, everyone is eager to know when their shipment will land at their doorsteps.

While just a few decades back real-time ship container tracking was impossible, now due to advancement in technology the scenario has changed.

Read more: Who Is A Shipping Agent?

Ship Container Tracking Methods

The basic idea of ship container tracking is that you need to be informed about or at least be updated on the location of the ship that is carrying your container or on a smaller scale, your package. You can use satellite systems to achieve this. The job of these satellites is to pull up the location of a shipping container at any particular time and relay it back to the base station. This simple form of tracking shipment with the help of satellite is a popular practice and easily accessible.

Another popular method of tracking cargo container is something that I am sure that you are very familiar with. This is the GPS tracking system. You must have used Google maps to go to a new place or even if you yourself have not used it personally, you might have seen your uber driver use it for navigation.

Such a GPS system can easily be attached to the cargo container. Then tracking the entire ship that is carrying it, through the use of bundled software becomes a child’s play.

Nowadays you no longer have to install the systems yourself as the providers themselves come equipped with such ship container tracking systems. They can make use of satellite imaging or GPS as they see fit. The entire process of ship container tracking and notifying has now been made completely automatic.

Thus, when your amazon package reaches from one place to another you get an SMS on your phone as well as an email, giving you details regarding the same.

The inquiry about the status of the shipments can be done using three main methods.

1) Tracking Shipments

This includes customer service inquiries as well as the current status of the shipment. This is what we usually get in online shopping stores. It usually works with the help of SMS.

2) Shipment reference numbers

These are the unique numbers given to each shipment so as to make it easier for the clients to access the tracking system. These are used by online shopping stores, courier services, and even for other government processes.

3) Carrier Provided Tracking Functions

These include the World Wide Web that is based on the Internet.

Whenever we track any shipment in any way, the information provided to us is the date and time of placing the order, the confirmation of the order, the date and time of shipment, the status of the parcel mid-way, and the estimated date and time of arrival. Other information can include things like the changed date of arrival of the package if it is arriving earlier or later than stated.

Now the service and ease of use vary from company to company and one of them might choose not to automate the entire process because they don’t want to spend as much money. Even then they will provide you with a web portal where you can enter your shipment ID and get detailed information regarding the location of your container shipment or shipment package.

The competition seems to be getting tougher and tougher every day and companies are being forced to focus on the user experience of their customers so that they keep coming back. One of the best ways to retain a customer is to make sure that his experience is top-notch and to give the assurance that his product will reach him on time. Hence, it becomes an important feature for companies to implement in their user experience.

Also read: Top 10 Ship Tracking Websites