Why Ocean Import Optimization Matters More Than Ever

Supply chain disruptions aren’t just random events — they’re an unavoidable part of running a global business, and teams must be equipped to handle them. The difficulty, however, is that the specific challenges you might face can vary significantly.

Right now, supply chain teams are staring down a mix of potential threats. The ILA-USMX labor contract expiration on January 15 has put anyone who ships through East and Gulf Coast ports on high alert. The outcome could play out in several ways: a new agreement, another extension, or potential strikes, with cargo rerouted accordingly. The timing adds another layer of pressure, with the Lunar New Year in January, many factories in Asia shut down for 2-3 weeks during this period, creating a pre-holiday rush that strains port capacity and equipment availability. Meanwhile, there’s the threat of new tariffs when the new administration takes office.

Companies aren’t just waiting to see what happens — they’re actively splitting shipments between ports and building safety stock where possible. This shift in strategy is already visible in the mix of cargo volumes at ports as businesses try to protect their supply lines.

The Hidden Costs of Reactive Import Management

While major disruptions grab headlines, coordinating hundreds of shipments and effectively managing exceptions has always been challenging. But when chaos unfolds, teams are even more vulnerable as they navigate the details of day-to-day operations.

Picture this: You’re managing 300+ active shipments across 12 vessels when an urgent email arrives from a customer asking about their purchase orders. Their shipment is split across several containers and vessels. You can see where each container is, but matching that information to specific POs means jumping between carrier websites, freight forwarder updates (who often split POs across containers), and various spreadsheets. While you’re piecing this together, two more urgent requests land in your inbox:

• Your production team is asking about the status of critical raw materials needed next week
• The inventory team shares a list of POs and requests ETAs to update customer promise dates

Without a unified system connecting ocean shipments to purchase orders, you become the bottleneck. You spend hours each day:

• Manually cross-referencing purchase orders, SKUs, vessels, and containers
• Sending one-off email updates to different departments
• Creating custom reports for various stakeholders
• Trying to piece together the broader impact of delays on your organization
• Struggling to prioritize containers and avoid detention & demurrage fees

Meanwhile, your teammates struggle with their own challenges:

• Transportation planners scramble with bookings due to delayed updates about upcoming order volumes
• Production teams build in buffer inventory because they struggle to link inbound freight to purchase orders and only see their ETAs after freight is ocean-bound
• Inventory managers pad delivery promises to customers, limiting their ability to optimize downstream operations and make stock transfer orders with incomplete information
• Procurement lacks timely data to intervene in contract violations and address supplier performance issues

The ripple effects of this reactive approach extend far beyond shipping delays. Your organization faces higher costs, strained customer relationships, and frustrated internal teams — all because critical supply chain data isn’t flowing to the right people at the right time.

Moving from Reactive to Proactive Import Management

Import optimization transforms how cross-functional teams make decisions, providing actionable insights at every level of the supply chain. By connecting ocean shipments directly to purchase orders, teams can move from reactive management to proactive strategy. Here’s how:

• Transportation Planners gain extended lead time for route and capacity planning, even without direct ERP system access
• Production Teams can trace inbound shipments and receive early warnings at the PO and SKU level, improving scheduling accuracy, mitigating material shortages, and optimizing just-in-time inventory
• Inventory Managers can provide ETAs to customers with confidence, and make stock transfer decisions that balance stock-on-hand with precise inbound inventory ETAs
• Procurement Teams can monitor supplier performance against contract terms from the moment of PO creation, enabling earlier interventions and better supplier management.

Strong Systems Make Import Problems Manageable

Experience has taught us that you can’t dodge every supply chain problem, but you can get better at handling them. The key isn’t just tracking shipments — it’s building an import process that helps your team spot issues early and solve problems faster.

Whether you’re dealing with labor negotiations, shifting trade policies, or just a maze of spreadsheets, the key to success lies in having the right tools and processes in place before disruptions occur. Import optimization provides that foundation, ensuring your team can respond to challenges with confidence and precision.

Take the first step toward proactive import management. Get our Ocean Exception Management Guide to learn how better visibility and exception handling can help you identify and resolve shipping disruptions faster.