The move follows meetings with industry partners and stakeholders who said they wanted access to a platform that “securely collected, curated and published data across all modes of transportation, and allowed users to analyze the data using their own systems,” according to the Port of Long Beach.

“Shippers have two basic questions: Where’s my cargo? How do I get more visibility?” Port of Long Beach Executive Director Mario Cordero said. “We’re developing a system of systems that complements existing data-tracking platforms by giving supply chain participants real-time updates at each transfer point in the intermodal network.”

The Port is investing $400,000 to jumpstart the program, dubbed the “Supply Chain Information Highway.”

Port of Long Beach Deputy Executive Director Dr. Noel Hacegaba explained it this way: “Think of all the individual [tracking] platforms in the marketplace today as cars. The Supply Chain Information Highway is the freeway that enables all of these cars and their data to travel on one common system.”

After a competitive request for proposals, St. Louis-based UNCOMN was selected to develop the program, which will be free to supply chain participants. The St. Louis, Mo.-based company has worked for more than 10 years supporting the Department of Defense’s U.S. Transportation Command, U.S. Army Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, and U.S. Air Force Air Mobility Command in areas such as data analytics, cloud application development and cloud data environment development, according to the Port.

“Our goal in working with UNCOMN is to make a tool that will enable our partners to schedule and plan prior to cargo arrival and reduce delays during each handoff between modes of transportation,” Long Beach Harbor Commission President Steven Neal said.

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