OOCL Logistics Launches Innovative Shipping Route to Solve Shipper’s Bottleneck Woes

Imagine the outcomes if your logistics provider revealed that every shipping window from Asia for the foreseeable future would be pushed back to more than double its “normal” duration. Unfortunately, these times are upon all of us, from retailers to consumers, every industry and person in between is affected. As a solution, OOCL Logistics, an innovative supply chain provider and leader in the industry, has launched an alternate and innovative new shipping route for North American customers. As supply chain disruptions amplify with no relief in sight, OOCL Logistics developed in partnership with sister company OOCL (Orient Overseas Container Line), a new service to bring stability and reliability back for their customers with this shipment alternative.

For U.S. importers sourcing from China, these supply chains have seen significant and disruptive challenges since 2019. It is estimated, transit times to ship an ocean container from China base ports to the U.S. West Coast now takes between 12 and 13 weeks. Rising demand and the Coronavirus pandemic have conspired not only to make booking ocean freight slots more expensive but thanks to global port congestion and backlog at the Panama Canal, those higher costs and longer wait times are an unavoidable reality.

As an innovator in the supply chain industry and a reputation for end to end logistics expertise, OOCL Logistics knew they had to develop an “out of the (container) box” solution…a container routing that could move goods from China to the U.S. in five to six weeks — pre-COVID transits and at similar cost structures.

Instead of shipping containers from Chinese ports over the ocean to only tread water off the U.S. West Coast, awaiting terminal berthing and on-dock rail connections to inland destination points, OOCL Logistics is utilizing a railway link from China to Germany, and then connects to the less populated Trans-Atlantic shipping routes. Containers now reach Eastern Seaboard destinations in five to six weeks.

Readers of these pages will know OOCL Logistics as a leader in the supply chain provider industry offering customizable, smart technology in a platform that unifies complex supply chains for companies operating their own logistics.

In normal times, the OOCL Logistics can-do attitude means the company responds to changes in circumstances by adding and customizing software features or ensuring interoperable systems with intelligent API bridges between operators.

Source: Shutterstock

But to solve the immediate problem caused by high demand, overextended supply, and infrastructure limitations, OOCL Logistics proactively implemented a solution.

With this new service, goods will travel on the Chang An Railway from China to Russia and onto the German port of Bremerhaven. From the European hub, containers are shipped across the Atlantic into New York, Charleston, and Savannah, ready for delivery across North America.

That solution neatly bypasses the bottlenecks of Los Angeles, the Panama and Suez Canals. As you’d expect from OOCL Logistics, and their Supply Chain Management Services, goods can be tracked from Purchase Order creation to vendor manufacturing and factory out gate to the customer’s ultimate delivery doorstep in near-real time by smart technology.

In a few weeks, we’ll be looking at OOCL Logistics’ proprietary technology platform in some detail. If this pioneering action is indicative of the company’s intelligent approach, expect more impressive supply chain knowledge and innovation on these pages to come.

In the meantime, you can read more about the land-ocean bridge between China and the US here or head over to the OOCL Logistics website to learn what the company offers businesses demanding world-class supply chain services. And watch this space for our in-depth focus on the company’s tech platform.