Many shipper's international supply chain processes are manual intensive and rely on phone, fax or email to arrange ocean bookings.  International logistics automation has not been a priority for most companies with many relying on freight forwarders and brokers to handle it for them.

In order to eliminate errors and reduce costs, companies like retail giant Lowe's (100K annual container moves) are automating their ocean booking process by utilizing a global technology solution. Shippers without the budget for a technology solution can utilize INTTRA's booking portal which is free for shippers. INTTRA has relationships with most of the major ocean carriers (but not all) and charges them a transaction fee for the bookings. INTTRA also has a related portal called oceanschedules.com, which offers shippers the ability to search for ocean voyages for no charge.

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