Even in today's world, with advanced shipment tracking and promises of visibility, we still refer to the Last Mile as the "Black Hole" of container transit. This is true for LCL (Less than Container Load) shipments too.
When a ship is just a few days away from the destination port, the carrier is supposed to send you or your agent an Arrival Notice (AN) to update you on the expected port arrival. This notice might come from your carrier or NVOCC, especially if the ship is being operated by another carrier under a Vessel Sharing Agreement or slot charter deal.
But if that AN isn’t sent, or if you or your agent miss the email, things can get delayed. The ship arrives, the container is unloaded, but your broker doesn’t start the customs entry process on time. You can’t pick up the container until Customs approves the entry, and your dray carrier also gets short notice to assign a driver and truck for pickup. As a result, everything starts falling behind.
This chart shows the 14 basic steps that must happen during the Last Mile for a successful delivery. Each step depends on the previous one, so everyone involved has to do their part to make sure the customer's needs and timing are met. Any failure or mistake along the way causes delays, and someone—either the customer or another person in the process—has to step in to fix it.
These delays can add days to the delivery process, which affects the customer’s ability to get inventory in time. This has a ripple effect: orders are filled late or incomplete, sales might be lost, and the customer’s overall performance suffers.
Failures in tracking or updating the data can create even more issues and delays. In fact, it’s said that the accuracy rate for data tracking in the Last Mile is only 90%. That means 10% of shipments are missing some critical data, have late updates, or receive wrong information.
Who controls all this information? Usually, each party controls their own data but must share it with the others—or at least with the next person down the line. Everyone needs accurate, timely data to do their job.
The old, traditional way of managing the Last Mile reminds me of the "over the wall" approach. After completing a task, each party throws it to the next, without knowing if the other side received it. The receiver often doesn’t confirm receipt and moves forward, but if they don’t actually get the information, nothing happens. The message is missed!
We all know this old way of managing the Last Mile has a high failure rate. Although things eventually get resolved, the shipment ends up taking longer to move and deliver. If the container doesn’t leave the port on time or isn’t returned fast enough, the customer has to pay detention or demurrage fees.
But WOWL offers a Last Mile solution. They take control of the data, manage the timing of events, and act as the "eyes" for the customer while the shipment moves through the process. WOWL combines a platform for data management with shipment specialists who can solve problems before they cause delays.
