Ulm, Germany, 15 April 2024 — Transporeon, a Trimble Company, has joined the Virtual Watch Tower Network (VWTnet). A digital platform delivering collective intelligence from multiple industry players, VWTnet improves collaboration and visibility in global supply chains and modernises disruption management.
Backed by the expertise of research institutions such as RISE, VTT, A*STAR IHPC and more, VWTnet benefits all transportation stakeholders. By combining public and private data with advanced analytics, it aims to give shippers, carriers and terminal operators a clearer picture of their cargo's journey across ocean and road. VWTnet aims to enhance disruption management, improving ETA accuracy and minimising carbon emissions.
VWTnet is currently under development with a pilot scheduled for Singapore Maritime Week (15-19 April, 2024). At the event, Transporeon and other partners will preview a future solution, based on a minimum viable product (MVP), that provides frictionless visibility between multiple supply chain actors and watch towers.
Transporeon’s Role in VWTnet
VWTnet’s architecture prioritises network efficiency over individual nodes. This streamlined approach makes public data and services available through APIs and enables strong data privacy, as users can set up precise controls on data sharing.
Transporeon’s visibility and data exchange solution will underpin the VWTnet tech stack. Uniting data from multiple sources (private, public and solution providers/intermediaries), Transporeon will be the VWTnet go-between to help enable data interaction, data consumption, messaging systems and customised watch towers.
Bernhard Schmaldienst, director of visibility products at Transporeon, said: “Transporeon is convinced that cross-industry data governance and collaboration — powered by digital tools — are the future of transportation management. For this reason, we’re very proud that our tracking and visibility engines have been chosen to support the VWTnet tech stack. We’re excited to work with our partners to accelerate progress and create more adaptable, scalable and reliable global supply chains.”
Wolfgang Lehmacher, RISE advisor and member of the Virtual Watch Tower Network coordinating team, added: “Modern supply chains are more volatile and complex than ever. This requires new initiatives like the Virtual Watch Tower Network. We’re pleased to have found a partner like Transporeon who can help us deliver on our vision of creating a network-based and distributed solution for managing supply chain disruptions. We also look forward to potential collaborations with Transporeon’s parent company, Trimble.”
Mikael Lind, adjunct professor of maritime informatics at Chalmer and RISE, said: “Since launching VWTnet, our mission has been to attract as many top-tier tech providers as possible to join the project. I’m delighted that Transporeon has come on board.”
Anders Rystedt, logistic manager, Americas at Alleima, said: “We’re delighted that Transporeon is joining VWTnet. As a global shipper of metals, we’re acutely aware of the need to improve communication with our customers, other supply chain stakeholders and even within our intra-group. VWTnet will be essential to achieving this, and we’re excited to work with all partners — including Transporeon — to become more collaborative, efficient and sustainable.”
The Virtual Watch Tower Network will debut a minimum viable product at Singapore Maritime Week (15-19 April 2024). Learn more here: www.smw.sg
About the Virtual Watch Tower Network
The Virtual Watch Tower (VWT) project fills a gap in cross-industry collaboration for improved visibility and supply chain risk management, initiated to better tackle disruptions along cargo owners’ end-to-end transport corridors, and greenhouse gas emissions calculation. The VWT Community co-creates VWTnet and pilots a digital solution applied on member level, which enables individual VWTs arranged in a distributed system-of-systems setup to share, aggregate, and analyse data, helping companies build collective intelligence and collaborate globally along cargo owners’ multi-modal transport chains. For more information, visit: https://virtualwatchtower.org/
About Transporeon
At Transporeon, a Trimble Company, our mission is to bring transportation in sync with the world. We power the largest global freight network of more than 1,400 shippers and retailers and more than 150,000 carriers and logistics service providers. Every day they execute more than 110,000 transports on our platform and book more than 100,000 dock-appointments for loading and unloading. In the course of one year, roughly €55bn in freight is being processed on our platform.
Our leading transportation management platform connects all actors along the supply chain. It facilitates collaboration between the different parties, helps to automate manual processes and provides valuable real-time insights. The modular Application Hubs solve specific logistics challenges and range from freight sourcing over transport execution and dock and yard management to freight audit and payment. Data hubs provide insights into logistics operations, market developments and carbon emissions, next to ensuring transparency in the supply chain through visibility. Our platform works across all geographies and all modes of transportation, empowering logistics teams to move, manage and monitor freight.
Transporeon is headquartered in Ulm, Germany, and maintains 18 offices around the globe with over 1,400 employees across 27 countries. For more information, visit: www.transporeon.com.
