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Intermodal Summit: Breaking down information silos

Opening trade data to all parties makes supply chains more efficient

This fireside chat recap is from FreightWaves’ Intermodal Summit.

FIRESIDE CHAT TOPIC: How global trade data silos affect intermodal shipping

DETAILS: Terminal49 co-founder and CEO Akshay Dodeja describes the problem of data silos in global trade and how they negatively impact intermodal carriers. Dodeja explains how international shipping companies can open up this data to provide true visibility and better planning for shippers and carriers who haul those goods once they reach their port of discharge.

SPEAKER: Akshay Dodeja, CEO of Terminal49


BIO: In 2015, Dodeja founded Terminal49 while working with drayage trucking companies to build software tools to track containers in real time, which reduced a lot of manual back-office work. Today, Terminal49 has grown to offer ocean freight visibility data via dashboards and APIs to cargo owners, forwarders, customs brokers and other logistics technology companies.

Prior to Terminal 49, Dodeja led product teams at Live Nation Entertainment and co-founded startups in the music and photo printing industry.

KEY QUOTES:

“To move a shipping container, you need many different parties to collaborate together. … If you move information efficiently [among these parties], you move the cargo efficiently. Up until now, we have been moving cargo fairly efficiently, but I think we can go a step further.”


“[Logistics] service providers need to embrace, and philosophically be open to, sharing their data and also lean into it. We do see Maersk and CMA opening up their API to get access to their data. That’s a really good first step.” 

“Visibility of cargo helps cargo move more efficiently. … I feel like if I get a product faster [as a customer], I tend to buy more. … If we trickle that down to the service layer, I believe you could see more freight activity.”

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Grace Sharkey

Grace Sharkey is a professional in the logistics and transportation industry with experience in journalism, digital content creation and decision-making roles in the third-party logistics space. Prior to joining FreightWaves, Grace led a startup brokerage to more than $80 million in revenue, holding roles of increasing responsibility, including director of sales, vice president of business development and chief strategy officer. She is currently a staff writer, podcast producer and SiriusXM radio host for FreightWaves, a leading provider of news, data and analytics for the logistics industry. She holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Michigan State University. You can contact her at gsharkey@freightwaves.com.