Container Locator is a web tool designed to improve the efficiency of the intermodal freight transportation network, lower costs of shipping by intermodal container, and ultimately benefit the end consumer by lowering the costs of delivering goods.

Container Locator tracks relevant information about intermodal containers, including their origin, capacity, destination, and shipping company. This information is beneficial to shippers and the industries they serve, such as retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers. The information is especially valuable in places that import more goods than they export – where many containers come in full but leave empty.

For example, let’s say a company has a shipment ready to be delivered. Rather than paying to haul in an empty container, the company could use Container Tracker to find an empty container that is already nearby. The company could then negotiate with the shipper to utilize the container that would otherwise return empty.

This has the potential to be a win-win-win. The companies shipping goods can negotiate lower shipping costs. The shipper can increase revenue by filling containers that would otherwise be transported empty. And the end consumer stands to benefit from the overall lower cost of goods delivery.