Bringing Order, Visibility and Control to Global Supply Chains
A Gravity Supply Chain Solutions case study for shippers (beneficial cargo owners)
This case study reflects a representative implementation drawn from Gravity's work with clients in this sector. Specific client names and identifying details have been generalised to protect confidentiality under existing non-disclosure agreements; the challenges, solution approach and outcome ranges described are illustrative of typical engagements of this type.
Company Overview
A single source of truth for global supply chains
Gravity Supply Chain Solutions is a supply chain management platform that delivers end-to-end visibility, control and efficiency across cross-border orders and global supply chains. Built for the complexity of modern international trade, Gravity gives businesses a single source of truth for everything moving through their supply chain, from purchase order creation through to destination warehouse.
The platform connects and streamlines collaboration between brand owners, manufacturers, vendors and logistics providers, acting as a central hub for the entire supply chain ecosystem — replacing the fragmented mix of emails, spreadsheets and disconnected systems that characterises most global supply chains.
At its core, Gravity specialises in order management and 4PL (Fourth-Party Logistics) services, with deep expertise in vendor collaboration, first-mile orchestration and near real-time, multi-modal visibility. A built-in risk management framework enables customers to proactively identify, assess and mitigate supply chain disruptions before they impact operations.
Linked messaging and vendor performance comparison, available directly within the Gravity platform.
Company Profile
Built for complex, multi-country vendor bases
Gravity Supply Chain Holdings Pte Ltd is a Singapore-headquartered technology company. Gravity works with brand owners, retailers and manufacturers sourcing across complex, multi-country vendor bases in sectors including apparel, footwear, consumer goods and general merchandise. The platform is built on a modern, cloud-native architecture and integrates with customers' existing ERP systems through pre-built connectors, RESTful APIs and standard file transfer protocols, enabling rapid deployment without displacing systems of record.
Key Challenges
Key challenges facing shippers and beneficial cargo owners
Shippers that source across a global, multi-tier vendor base face a consistent set of challenges in the first mile of their supply chain — the stage where goods are manufactured, consolidated and dispatched.
Fragmented visibility across a global vendor base
Purchase orders, production status and shipment data are scattered across emails, spreadsheets and vendor portals, making it hard to establish one trusted view of cargo from factory to destination.
Slow, manual vendor collaboration
Confirming order details, tracking production milestones and managing quality control relies on time-consuming email and phone communication across time zones and languages.
Limited control over logistics provider selection
Without a structured way to compare and allocate forwarders by lane and mode, shippers often default to a small number of relationships regardless of fit.
Reactive, rather than proactive, risk management
Delays, non-compliant vendors, capacity constraints, or geopolitical and weather events are typically identified only after they've already affected intake plans.
Inventory and stock pipeline blind spots
Without near real-time visibility of goods in transit, planning and merchandising teams struggle to forecast accurately — leading to stockouts, excess inventory or costly markdowns.
Disconnected performance reporting
Vendor, forwarder and shipment KPI data lives across multiple systems, making it hard to hold partners accountable or diagnose the root cause of recurring delays.
The Gravity Solution
Case study: the Gravity solution
A global Fortune 500 consumer goods shipper, managing over 20,000 TEUs annually across 30 vendor locations, engaged Gravity Supply Chain Solutions to bring structure, collaboration and near real-time visibility to its first-mile operations. Gravity was deployed as a single hub connecting the shipper's internal teams, its vendor base and its panel of logistics service providers.
Vendor performance insights reviewed directly within the shipper's workflow.
Order and vendor collaboration
Purchase orders are pushed from the shipper's ERP into Gravity, giving each vendor a single tile to confirm order details, report production progress against key milestones, and manage quality control inspection sign-off — replacing unstructured email threads.
Vendor shipment booking and LSP allocation
The shipper gains the ability to allocate the best-fit forwarder to each shipment by lane and mode, with full visibility and control over booking and authorisation, including auto-authorisation rules configured to the shipper's own tolerances.
Near real-time, multi-modal visibility
The Goods in Transit tile combines vessel, flight and container tracking data on a single map, automatically flagging delayed shipments so operations teams can work by exception rather than checking every shipment manually.
The Goods-in-Transit (GIT) tile provides near real-time, multi-modal shipment tracking on a single map.
Advice of Departure (AOD) auto recreate leg feature
Enables automatic application of tracking-based route updates, streamlining AOD processing and minimising user intervention.
Document management and messaging
Centralises shipping and commercial documentation with configurable document checklists, automated tracking of mandatory document receipt, and proactive management of missing documents. Combined with in-platform messaging, the solution provides a complete audit trail across shippers, vendors and freight forwarders.
Reporting and analytics
KPI, Stock Pipeline and Shipment Insights dashboards give merchandising, logistics and leadership teams a shared, near real-time view of on-time performance, stock position, and top-performing vendors and carriers. All data can be extracted from the platform or delivered via API to downstream endpoints.
The Stock Pipeline dashboard gives near real-time BI analytical reporting across the order-to-delivery lifecycle.
The Results
Typical outcomes for shippers implementing Gravity
Based on Gravity's benefit modelling and outcomes reported across comparable shipper deployments, typical results include:
On-time delivery status and shipment/vendor overview.
Speed to value
Live and operational within 12 weeks of project kickoff, delivered through a phased vendor onboarding programme.
Fewer delivery failures
Delivery failure rates falling from around 5% to as low as 3.5% of shipped volume as exceptions are caught earlier.
Inventory efficiency
Inventory cover reduced by 15% to 25%, improving working capital and cash conversion cycle.
Reduced markdown exposure
Improved full-price sell-through and a 5% to 10% reduction in markdown from late or misaligned stock arrivals.
See what Gravity could do for your supply chain
Talk to us about bringing order, visibility and control to your first-mile operations.
For years, container tracking has been the default way to monitor ocean shipments, and it remains a dependable part of how Gravity tracks freight today. What's changing is choice: Gravity customers can now trigger tracking registration using a Container Number, a Carrier Booking Reference (CBR), or a Bill of Lading (BL / Master Bill of Lading), whichever reference is available and best fits how they manage bookings. These additions sit alongside container tracking, not in place of it, giving shippers and forwarders more flexibility and, in many cases, an earlier window into shipment visibility.
Understanding the Three Tracking References
Each of the three references reflects a different point in the shipment lifecycle, which is exactly why offering all three matters:
Container Number
The physical equipment reference that most supply chain teams already use and recognise across the industry.
Carrier Booking Reference (CBR)
The reference issued when a carrier confirms a shipment booking, often available before a container has been assigned.
Bill of Lading (BL / Master Bill of Lading)
The legal contract issued by a carrier confirming the transportation of cargo. Each BL carries a unique reference number, such as ONEY1234576 or CMDU1234567, and, unlike a container, which is reused across multiple voyages, is tied to one specific shipment movement.
Why Offer Three Ways to Track?
Every organisation manages bookings a little differently, and the reference data on hand can vary by shipment, trade lane, or operational process. Offering container, CBR, and BL tracking side by side means tracking can begin using whatever reference is confirmed first, rather than waiting on a single data point.
We've also seen that BL and CBR references can offer practical advantages in certain scenarios. Because containers are reused across voyages, milestone data can occasionally be associated with a previous or subsequent journey. And because CBR and BL data is often available before a container is assigned, tracking can sometimes be registered earlier in the process, improving visibility during the booking and planning stages. This isn't the case for every shipment, and container tracking continues to perform reliably for the large majority of freight movements, which is exactly why Gravity offers all three as options, so customers can choose the reference, or combination of references, that best matches how they work.
Built for Automatic, Earlier Registration
Once CBR or BL tracking is enabled, Gravity automatically sends a tracking registration request as soon as a 3PL shipment booking is submitted or updated with a valid reference, with no extra manual steps. Automated registration is supported for shipment bookings created or updated through 3PL import integrations for both reference types, extending the existing container-based tracking model rather than replacing it.
Turning More Tracking Data into Predictive Insight and Automation
Regardless of which reference triggers tracking, the milestone data Gravity collects feeds the same downstream capabilities. Richer, earlier tracking data strengthens predictive ETA calculations, giving supply chain teams a clearer forward view of when shipments will actually arrive rather than relying solely on carrier-published estimates. That same data also powers automation updates, keeping downstream milestones current and supporting timely exception handling without manual intervention. The more complete and timely the tracking data, the sharper the predictive signal and the more teams can automate rather than chase.
Handling Complex Shipment Relationships
Ocean freight rarely follows a simple one-container, one-shipment model. A single BL may cover multiple containers, while multiple BLs may be associated with one container. By offering tracking via container, CBR, or BL, Gravity lets organisations align visibility to whichever level, the physical equipment or the transportation contract, best matches the shipment in question.
Goods in Transit: No Change to How You Work
However tracking is triggered, updates continue to appear in the existing Goods in Transit experience. Milestones and statuses map to the same shipment and container tracking views, the visual experience stays consistent with current tracking behaviour, and no end-user process change is required once a configuration is enabled.
The Gravity Advantage
Gravity's tracking capability now spans container, Carrier Booking Reference, and Bill of Lading data, giving customers the flexibility to register tracking using whichever reference suits their operation. Customers benefit from earlier insights where available, more accurate milestone data, improved exception management, and greater confidence in operational decision-making. This enhanced visibility enables supply chain teams to identify delays sooner, improve customer communication, and proactively manage risk across global logistics networks.
Conclusion
Visibility shouldn't be limited by which reference happens to be available first. With container, Carrier Booking Reference, and Bill of Lading tracking all supported, Gravity gives customers the flexibility to register tracking the way that suits their operation, and turns that data into earlier visibility, sharper predictive ETAs, and more automation across the shipment journey.
Gravity Insight | Order Management | Risk and Resilience
Chokepoint Whiplash: Planning Purchase Orders When the Route Keeps Changing
Ocean routes are shifting week by week. The cost lands at the purchase order, and so does the fix.
7 min read | Ocean Freight, Order Management
Teams work from one shared view of orders and vendor performance. Platform screens shown throughout are illustrative.
For most of the past two years, ocean freight planners have worked around a single question: which way will the ship go? In 2026 that question has become a moving target. Services are returning to shorter routing through key maritime chokepoints, then turning back when regional tension rises. Other canals impose their own limits. Schedules are being rebuilt week by week rather than committed to for a year.
Transit time has stopped being a number and become a range. A range is very hard to plan a purchase order against.
This article looks at how route volatility ripples from the water back to the factory gate, why the response has to start at the PO rather than the vessel, and how Gravity gives teams the visibility to act before disruption reaches their intake plan.
Since late 2023, most container capacity on the longest east-west trade lanes has sailed around the Cape of Good Hope instead of through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. The detour adds roughly 10 to 14 days to a typical voyage and absorbs a large share of global fleet capacity.
In 2026 carriers have started moving selected services back. It is a partial and reversible return. A major carrier alliance moved several more services back through the canal in mid-September, yet earlier this year regional escalation had already sent carriers back around the Cape mid-rotation. Insurers still treat the corridor as a listed war-risk area, and carriers describe their moves as service-by-service decisions, not a network-wide switch.
29%of container vessels arrived on time globally in AugustXeneta, Aug 2026
5.1 daysaverage delay, up from 4.2 days in JulyXeneta, Aug 2026
6-8%of global container ship capacity could be freed up if carriers return to Suez at scaleXeneta estimate, Sept 2026 (scenario, not a forecast)
Route choice is not the only source of friction. Draft limits on another major canal were cut in early September, with a further reduction postponed to October, and carriers may respond with lower vessel utilisation, surcharges or restrictions on heavy containers. Back-to-back storms left around 1.1 million TEU waiting at anchorage at major origin ports. Sea-Intelligence has advised shippers to treat mid-to-late October schedules as volatile placeholders.
2. Three ripples from one route change
Ripple 1: need dates and ex-factory dates drift apart
A purchase order is released against a lead time. If a route change adds ten days, or takes them away, the ex-factory date, the booking cut-off and the need date stop lining up. The supplier keeps producing to the original plan, and nobody sees the gap until cargo is ready with nowhere to go.
Ripple 2: arrivals bunch up
When services swap routes mid-stream, vessels that took the long way and vessels that took the short way can arrive together. Analysts have warned of two to three weeks of congestion at destination terminals when a large-scale return happens. Warehouse slots, haulage and customs teams absorb the surge, and late cargo queues behind early cargo.
Ripple 3: inventory cover misfires
Intake plans built on a single lead time either run short or overshoot. Run short and the fix is expensive: expedited freight or lost sales. Overshoot and stock lands early, tying up working capital and adding markdown pressure. Either way, the commercial commitment was at risk before the signal reached anyone who could act on it.
3. Why the fix starts at the PO, not the vessel
Rerouting decisions are usually framed as logistics decisions: which service, which carrier, which port. But the right answer depends on things only the order knows. Which POs are time-critical, and which can absorb delay? Which supplier is cargo-ready today, and which is still in production? Which bookings are already confirmed, and which have been rolled?
The first mile is also where flexibility is greatest. Before cargo is ready, a plan can change at almost no cost. After departure, options narrow and costs climb. Teams that can see order, supplier and booking together can decide early: hold, split, prioritise or switch, instead of reacting once the vessel is already on the water.
The principle
Route risk is measured in vessels, but it is paid for in purchase orders. Manage the exposure where it is created, at the PO and the first mile.
4. How Gravity turns route volatility into managed exposure
Gravity brings orders, vendors, carriers and logistics partners onto one platform, and its built-in risk management framework works in four steps.
1 IdentifySurface risk signals from every node: orders, vendors, carriers and lanes.
2 AssessScore impact and probability against your live intake plan.
3 MitigateTrigger contingency workflows and reroute before the chain breaks.
4 ExecuteCoordinate the change across all partners in real time.
Identify and assess. Risk signals from orders, vendors, carriers and lanes are scored against your live intake plan, so you can see which POs are exposed and how time-critical they are.
Mitigate. Allocate the best-fit forwarder to each shipment by lane and mode, with full control over booking and authorisation, including auto-authorisation rules set to your own tolerances.
Execute. Coordinate the change with vendors and logistics providers in one shared workspace, with messages linked to the order and an audit trail of what was agreed.
Visibility feeds every step. The Goods in Transit view combines vessel, flight and container tracking on a single map and flags delayed shipments automatically, so teams work by exception instead of checking every shipment by hand. First-mile visibility, from cargo-ready confirmation at origin through consolidation to booking-to-vessel-departure, means exceptions are managed before the vessel leaves. Gravity is carrier-agnostic and plugs into existing carrier APIs, EDI feeds and partner systems.
5. Five questions to ask before the next route change
A quick test of how ready your PO planning is for the next shift in routing:
Which open POs are most exposed to a service or lane change, and which of them are time-critical?
Which suppliers will be cargo-ready in the next two weeks, and which are still in production?
What is the status of each booking: confirmed sailing, rolled, or rerouted?
If arrival dates move ten days either way, which intake plans and commercial commitments break first?
Who authorises a change of forwarder or booking, and how quickly can they do it?
If the answers live in email threads and spreadsheets, the ripple will reach you before the signal does.
6. Frequently asked questions
What is a maritime chokepoint?
A narrow passage, such as a strait or canal, through which a large share of world trade passes. Disruption at one can change the route, cost and timing of shipments across many trade lanes at once.
How does a route change affect a purchase order?
It changes transit time, which moves the ex-factory date, booking cut-off and expected arrival for every order on that lane. Without order-level visibility, the impact is discovered late, at the booking or at the port.
What is PO-level risk exposure?
The value and volume of open purchase orders that a specific disruption would affect, weighted by how time-critical each order is. It turns a general risk headline into a ranked list of orders to act on.
Does Gravity replace my carrier or forwarder tracking?
No. Gravity is carrier-agnostic. It connects to existing carrier APIs, EDI feeds and partner systems, and brings that data together with orders and supplier updates in one place.
The Gravity advantage
Route volatility is unlikely to settle soon. What can change is how early you see it, and how precisely you respond. Gravity ties risk signals to purchase orders, suppliers and bookings, so teams can identify exposure, assess it against the intake plan, mitigate it and execute the change with every partner at once.
See your PO exposure before the next route change
Talk to our team about bringing order, visibility and control to your first mile.
Xeneta, August 2026 Schedule Reliability Scorecard, via Sourcing Journal and Trans-Border Global Freight Systems (24 September 2026)
Sea-Intelligence, Global Liner Performance report and commentary (August and September 2026)
Carra Globe, Red Sea Shipping 2026: Carriers Return as the Risk Rises (September 2026)
Seatrade Maritime (August 2026); Zencargo, Red Sea Shipping 2026 (11 August 2026)
C.H. Robinson, September 2026 Ocean Freight Market Update
Market figures were compiled on 29 September 2026. Re-check reliability and route status on the day of publication.
Gravity Insight | Vendor Collaboration | Peak Season Planning
The Peak Squeeze Starts at the Factory Gate
When everyone books at once, shipping space goes to the best-prepared suppliers. Here is how to make sure yours are first in line.
6 min read | Ocean Freight, Vendor Management
Keeping one step ahead of risks and delays starts upstream, long before cargo reaches the port.
Every year the story repeats itself. Peak season arrives, demand surges, and suddenly everyone wants the same thing at the same time: space on a vessel. Rates climb, carriers tighten up, and the conversation inside most buying teams turns to ports, sailings and freight forwarders, and 4PLs who serve them.
But by the time the squeeze is visible at the port, the outcome has often already been decided, and it was decided at the factory gate. When every shipper is booking at once, space does not go to whoever asks the loudest. It tends to go to cargo that is ready, documented and accurately booked. In other words, it goes to the best-prepared suppliers.
For brand owners, retailers, and manufacturers, that is both a risk and an opportunity. The risk is that your orders are only as ready as your least-prepared vendor. The opportunity is that the factory is the one part of the journey where you can still influence the outcome, if you can see what is happening there early enough.
When booking demand outstrips available space, every unknown becomes expensive. A cargo-ready date that slips by a few days, a carton count that changes after the booking is made, or a missing document at cut-off might be a minor irritation in a quiet month. In peak, any one of them can mean a rolled booking or a missed intake window, and the ripple that follows is a familiar one: later arrivals, gaps in stock, and expensive expedites to recover the time.
The suppliers who avoid this are rarely the biggest or the closest. They are the ones who confirm readiness early, keep their production status current, and have the paperwork in order before anyone has to ask.
Four pressure points hiding at the factory gate
Most peak-season disruption that appears to start at the port actually starts upstream, in one of four places:
Production running behind, unseen. Orders slip quietly, and the buyer finds out when the goods fail to appear, not when the delay first occurred.
Cargo-ready dates that drift. A booking is made against a date that is already out of date, so space is held for cargo that is not ready to fill it.
Documents that are incomplete or late. Cargo can be finished and packed, yet still unable to move because something is missing from the file.
Bookings that do not match reality. Quantities, volumes and dates in the booking differ from what is actually packed, which creates problems at the very moment carriers are least forgiving.
None of these is a logistics problem at heart. They are visibility and collaboration problems, and they can be spotted weeks before the cut-off if buyers and vendors are working from the same information.
The earlier a risk is seen, the more options you have. Found at the factory, it is a conversation. Found at the port, it is a cost.
Step 1: Bring your vendors into one shared view
Email threads and personal spreadsheets do not scale in peak season. When dozens or hundreds of purchase orders are moving at once, the buyer needs the same version of the truth as the supplier, and the supplier needs to know exactly what is expected of them and by when.
Gravity’s vendor collaboration gives buyers and their suppliers a single place to work from the same order information. Questions, confirmations and changes are tied to the PO they relate to, rather than lost in an inbox. That shared view is the foundation for everything else, because early warning only works if vendors are part of the process.
Step 2: Replace production surprises with production updates
A delay reported at cargo-ready is a fact. A delay reported while the order is still in production is a decision waiting to be made. With regular production updates from the factory, the buyer can see which orders are on track and which are at risk while there is still time to act.
That time is valuable. It lets the team re-prioritise lines, split an order, adjust the booking, or look at an alternative mode, rather than accepting a missed sailing as the only option. It also means the booking that is eventually made is based on current readiness rather than the date written on the PO weeks earlier.
Tracking on-time performance across key milestones, such as Raised, Vendor Booked and Arrived at Destination. Illustrative data.
Step 3: Make the paperwork a checklist, not a chase
Missing documents are one of the most avoidable reasons for cargo to stall, and one of the most common in a crowded peak. The documents needed depend on the lane, the commodity and the customs requirements, but the principle is the same: everyone should know what is required, who owes it and what is still outstanding.
Gravity’s document checklists make that status visible at the order level. Instead of chasing suppliers by email on the day of cut-off, buyers can see which documents are in and which are not well ahead of time, and follow up while there is still room to fix the gap.
Step 4: Know who is best prepared, and plan around it
Peak season is the ultimate test of a supplier base, but you do not want to learn who passed and who failed after the fact. Vendor scorecards turn day-to-day behaviour into evidence: how reliably suppliers book on time, how accurate those bookings are, how consistently goods leave on schedule, and how factories perform when they are audited.
Used well, that evidence helps you decide where to place volume when space is tight, which vendors need a conversation before the rush begins, and which suppliers deserve recognition for making your own planning easier. It also feeds directly into next season’s sourcing decisions.
Vendor performance, booking accuracy and factory audit insight in one view. Illustrative data.
A pre-peak checklist for buyers
A few habits, started well ahead of peak, make a real difference:
Agree peak-season cargo-ready expectations with your vendors early, and confirm them again as production progresses.
Ask for production updates at a regular, agreed rhythm, and act on orders that are flagged as at risk.
Confirm document requirements for each lane before production completes, and track what is still outstanding.
Review last season’s vendor performance and identify the suppliers who need support before the rush.
Check that booking details match what is actually being packed before the booking is confirmed.
Agree how at-risk orders will be escalated, and who decides what happens next.
The Gravity advantage: spot the squeeze before it spots you
Gravity brings vendor collaboration, production updates, document checklists and vendor scorecards together around the same purchase orders and shipments. That means the signals that matter at the factory gate are visible to the people who have to act on them, and they are visible early enough to change the outcome.
It also fits naturally with how Gravity approaches risk more broadly: identify the issue, assess its impact, mitigate it, and execute. In peak season, the cheapest place to do the first of those steps is at the factory.
Conclusion
Peak season will always be crowded, and carriers will always be selective. What buyers can control is how prepared their own cargo is when the squeeze arrives. The suppliers who are ready, documented and accurately booked will secure the space, and the buyers who can see that readiness early will be the ones who keep their shelves stocked and their costs under control.
If you would like to see how Gravity can help you keep one step ahead of peak-season risk, starting with your vendors, get in touch with our team.
Spot the squeeze before it spots you
Talk to our team about bringing order, visibility and control to your first mile.
