LONG BEACH, Calif.--Companies that ship and handle goods moving through supply chains have a problem: they don't often know where their shipments are in far-flung freight networks or when they will arrive.

GE Transportation, a division of General Electric Co., said this week it will work with California's Port of Long Beach, the nation's second largest container port, to collect information on inbound cargo and share it with transport and logistics operators that now have only a murky view of when shipments will land at docks and distribution centers.

At least two Long Beach terminals will participate in a two- to three-month pilot of a program aimed at speeding up the flow of goods from import gateways to warehouses, stores and factories by giving companies a better idea of when and where to place the trucks, railcars and other equipment that carry shipments through distribution channels.

The program follows a similar test-run at the neighboring Port of Los Angeles, the nation's top container port, which launched in late 2016. Los Angeles expanded that pilot last summer and said it expects an 8% to 12% improvement in overall supply chain efficiency once the program rolls out across the entire port.

GE Transportation's Port Optimizer software brings together data from shipping companies, port terminal operators, freight railroads and other supply chain players into a single portal, and makes the information available two weeks before a cargo ship arrives. GE Transportation also said it's now working with software provider project44 to make all the data available in real time.

"Until everyone is getting that information, you're going to run into a friction point," said Jennifer Schopfer, vice president of transport logistics at GE Transportation.

Without the software, many of the firms involved may not know what's coming until as little as two days before it arrives; even when shipping information is provided to the cargo owner, it doesn't always reach the freight haulers that pull containers from the port.

With all the information in one place, Ms. Schopfer said, carriers and service providers will have time to line up the right equipment and labor, make appointments for container pickup and drop-off, plan where containers will be stowed on the docks and make other arrangements. "Those people all have to work together to move the cargo and they can't work together if they're not sharing the information," she said.

"Tools like this will help us track our inventory more closely," said Deborah Ryan, vice president of global transportation and logistics at Ascena Retail Group Inc., which owns Ann Taylor, Lane Bryant and other women's apparel brands.

"The ability to know exactly where cargo is at any given time will help us make better decisions about how to deploy inventory," Ms. Ryan said. "The ability to analyze historical performance will enable us to choose the most reliable providers as well as pinpoint where bottlenecks may occur and take proactive measures."

Last year, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach handled a combined 16.9 million 20-foot equivalent units, a standard measure for container cargo.

Write to Erica E. Phillips at erica.phillips@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 06, 2018 12:46 ET (17:46 GMT)

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