Port of Long Beach announces new software to share data with businesses

The Port of Long Beach announced Thursday a new software, expected to soft launch in February, that will share cargo data with businesses amid supply chain disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The “Supply Chain Information Highway” will be free for stakeholders, and officials say it will help shippers make better operational decisions by providing the data to integrate their systems and track their cargo as it moves through the supply chain. The software is made by the technology consulting firm UNCOMN.

“This tool will put actionable data into the hands of supply chain participants, to enable them to make better plans and decisions,” Port of Long Beach Executive Director Mario Cordero said.

“It will be free, and the data collected will work with existing systems,” he added.

The port is launching the software following meetings with industry partners and stakeholders to determine what services would help support their businesses. The port said it received overwhelming feedback that the best solution would be a platform that securely collected, curated and published data across all modes of transportation.

“In an era of e-commerce and overnight delivery, it’s more important than ever to have full visibility and transparency for shipments,” Long Beach Harbor Commission President Steven Neal said. “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.”

UNCOMN is based in St. Louis and was selected after the port held a competitive request for proposals. The company has worked for over a decade supporting the Department of Defense’s U.S. Transportation Command, U.S. Army Surface Deployment and Distribution Command and the U.S. Air Force Air Mobility Command with data analytics, cloud application development and cloud data environment development.

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