This startup is bringing new digital technology to the container shipping industry.
Container shipping is a huge business — something like $11 billion/year worldwide. And yet it is largely still managed is a very old-fashioned way. You fill out a bunch of paperwork by hand, put together all the customs paperwork, have your container put on a ship, and hope it gets to its destination eventually.
EasyPorts, a new startup in Mexico City, is developing a new digital platform to bring the container shipping business into the 21st century. Shippers will now be able to compare rates, choose a provider, submit all the paperwork digitally, and track their containers in real-time. If a container is stuck in customs somewhere, a notification is generated and tools are provided to help expedite the process.
Many shipments, of course, require different modes of transport across several different vendors in order to get from origin to destination — trucking company to shipping company to rail company to another trucking company. The EasyPorts platform is a complete freight forwarding service, connecting all the different vendors required to get a container full of goods to its destination smoothly, efficiently, on-time, at a reasonable cost.
I love startups that bring new digital processes to large, well-established industries. EasyPorts is one of those, bringing the digital efficiency modern platforms to the $11 billion container shipping business.
