Shipment Tracking & ETAs

info

This guide covers

• Real-time Shipment Visibility & Tracking
• Tracking Shipment in the MineHub Platform
• Tracking Troubleshooting
• Types of ETAs
• Predictive ETAs by MineHub
• How Predictive ETAs are Calculated
• Using Predictive ETAS
• Predictive ETAs Troubleshooting

Real-time shipment Visibility & Tracking

MineHub integrates with a variety of third-party services to deliver real-time shipment visibility across shipping modes. When tracking is available for your shipments, you will receive real-time location tracking and a history of timeline events on the shipment’s journey.

Tracking Shipments in the MineHub platform

• When your shipment is tracking, you will see the MineHub tracking timeline and map which give you a comprehensive overview of your shipment’s journey.
• The tracking timeline shows Origin, Destination, and all tracking events in between that are made available from our visibility partners. This includes Stops, Interchanges, and Transshipments.
• Your forecasted arrival at the Final Destination will be shown with the ETA provided by the Carrier or the Tracking provider.
• The tracking map will show the Origin and Destination for your shipment, along with a dot showing every location update we’ve received and the last known location for the shipment.
• For Container Shipments, any known future transshipment ports will be shown on the timeline, along with expected arrival date and time at each port.

Tracking Troubleshooting

Why isn’t my shipment tracking?

There are a few reasons why your shipment might not be providing live tracking updates. Here’s how you can troubleshoot.

Missing data is the most common tracking issue. To enable tracking, the shipment must have:

• Origin Location

• Destination Location

• Ship/ Departure Date

• Shipment ID: BOL number

  and/or

• Vehicle/ Vessel details: Truck/Trailer number, Railcar number, Vessel Name

Truck

• The most common issues with tracking trucks are Transportation Providers NOT being Connected and Incorrect Tracking Data.

  • Truck tracking is dependent on connectivity between the broker/carrier and our visibility partner. If the broker or carrier is not connected to our data service for tracking, shipments may not track.
  • Even if your Broker/Carrier is connected, we may still have issues tracking if the BOL number or Truck/Trailer number are Incorrect.
    • Double check these values for accuracy.
    • Sometimes, the devices that enable truck tracking, called ELDs have connectivity issues that prevent tracking even when all other data is correct.

note

We work with our customers to onboard relevant carriers. If they are not already connected to our visibility partners OR if you notice there is a new transportation provider who needs to be onboarded, reach out to us at support@minehub.com to get started.

Rail

• A common issue we see with tracking railcars is that tracking can fail because your Organization is NOT listed as a Party on the Waybill.

  • Because we get Authorization from our customers to track their shipments, the Tracking Provider will NOT share the data if the waybill is NOT set up correctly.

  • This can happen if you are Receiving Consigned Material or Purchasing through a Financing Intermediary like a Trader.

note

The MineHub team can help you troubleshoot and provide guidance on how to ensure your waybills are set up correctly. Contact support@minehub.com for assistance.

Vessel

• Incorrect Bill of Lading number or Vessel Names can cause issues with tracking Containers and Break-Bulk vessels.
• Sometimes Incomplete or Revised BOLs are issued. If the WRONG BOL number or Vessel name is used to initiate tracking, we may not be able to get data back from the provider.

note

Double check your shipment details, and reach out to support@minehub.com if you need any assistance.

Why has my tracked shipment not updated recently?

MineHub polls Tracking Data Providers every 15 minutes for Updated Location and Timeline Event data for your shipments.

• In some cases, the Shipment’s Location and GPS coordinates may be updated without any new Timeline Data. This can make it look like you haven’t gotten any updates.
• Similarly, data from the tracking provider might not update as frequently as we request for updates. This doesn’t mean that anything is broken with your tracking, just that we’ve not gotten any recent updates from our tracking partner.

note

If you have questions about the status of your shipment, please reach out to support@minehub.com

Types of ETAs

1. ETA

• The standard ETA is the Estimate Arrival Date provided by the Carrier or predicted by our 3rd party real-time visibility Partners.
• MineHub is integrated with many carriers and partnered with industry-leading data providers to track your shipments along their journey.
• The ETA is provided through these integrations and is updated when data is available.

2. Predictive ETA by MineHub

• Using Machine Learning Algorithms and the Vast History of Shipping Data in our platform, MineHub calculates a Predictive ETA for your shipments.
• The Predictive ETA gives you coverage when tracking is unavailable and can give you another data point to better understand when your material will arrive.
• As you track and manage more of your shipments in the platform, the Predictive ETA improves over time.

Predictive ETAs by MineHub

The MineHub platform leverages historical shipment data and proprietary machine learning algorithms to calculate a Predictive ETA on shipments. Our Predictive ETA gives you another estimation to enhance your visibility, especially when tracking isn’t available on your shipment.

How Predictive ETAs are calculated

MineHub has developed proprietary machine learning algorithms to predict the Transit Time and Estimated Arrival Date of shipments along the hundreds of routes our customers ship along. As we track and monitor more shipments for our customers, our algorithms become more accurate.

There are two ways we calculate ETAs:

1. Tracking-based

• Tracking-based Predictive ETAs are available when your shipment is also being tracked by a third-party tracking provider.
• With the tracking-based ETAs, we are constantly re-calculating the Predictive ETA based on the movements of your shipment and its most recent location.
• Because we have the extra data around where your shipment is currently with the historical data around how long previous shipments have taken to arrive from that location, the Tracking-based Predictive ETA is our most accurate calculation.

2. Route-based

• Route-based Predictive ETAs are available when your shipment is not being tracked by a third-party tracking provider.
• In this case, we are using historical data for transit times along this route and predicting the transit time for the entire journey.
• The Route-based Predictive ETAs are helpful for giving you an idea of when you can expect your shipment to arrive even if it is not being tracked.

Using Predictive ETAs

When a Predictive ETA is available on your shipment, you’ll be able to see it in the shipment list report and on your Tracking Timeline.

• From the Tracking Timeline, MineHub will compare our Predictive ETA to the ETA from the Carrier or Tracking Provider if its available.

• We’ll tell you if the ETAs match

OR

• Tell you how far off they are if ETAs don’t match.

Predictive ETAs - Troubleshooting

Why I can’t see the Predictive ETAs in the Shipment List Report?

• Check your column preferences, the Predictive ETA column may be hidden.
• Select the customization icon and ensure that Predictive ETA is selected.
• Use the 3 dot icon to Drag and Drop the column to be in your preferred order.

Why doesn’t my shipment have a Predictive ETA?

Our algorithms can predict ETAs even when tracking is not available, but some data points are required. Here are some common scenarios where we cannot calculate a Predictive ETA:

• Missing Data - shipments must have an Origin, Destination, and Ship/ Departure Date to predict an ETA.

• This is a New Route - because we rely on historical data, if we see a NEW shipping lane, we might not be able to calculate an ETA yet. As more shipments are tracked along this route, we can begin to predict when shipments will arrive.

tip

For more details on Shipments, check out - Creating a Shipment user guide.