A government effort to clear cargo backlogs by sharing more data between supply chain partners gained steam Wednesday when the chassis pool provider Consolidated Chassis Management (CCM) said it had joined the U.S. Department of Transportation’s data-sharing program, Freight Logistics Optimization Works (FLOW).
White House planners launched FLOW in March as a proof-of-concept information exchange supported by some 20 major retailers and logistics providers. The Biden Administration called the initiative its latest effort to break up stubborn logjams that have clogged seaports with shipping containers and slowed the flow of imports and exports.
Sharing logistics data to make ports, trucks, and rails more efficient is a perennial effort in the industry, with recent examples include Maersk and IBM’s joint TradeLens platform, the Supply Chain Optimization and Resilience (SCORe) Coalition’s national freight data portal, and a push by the Coalition for Reimagined Mobility (ReMo) and the International Transport Forum (ITF) to streamline—and slash carbon emissions—from global freight flows.
Toward that end, the U.S. DOT is working at add more partners to its FLOW initiative, joining organizations such as port authorities, terminal operators, private businesses, distributors, logistics, ocean carriers, and warehousing firms.
Budd Lake, New Jersey-based CCM is now throwing its weight behind that push for better collaboration. "We at CCM endorse the establishment of a uniform and interoperable digital infrastructure across the container shipping sector and are honored to contribute to the conversation at this early stage. This project will unquestionably lay the foundation for a smooth, end-to-end information sharing process that is necessary to improve supply chain efficiency, security, and resiliency,” Ken Tock, Vice President, Product Development for CCM, said in a release.
