You Don't Need Flexport to Get Flexport-Style Ocean Tracking
Flexport's tracking portal is excellent. But you have to use Flexport as your forwarder to access it. FreightPane gives Epicor manufacturers the same container-level visibility with any forwarder.
Flexport set the bar. Then they locked the door.
Flexport built an excellent ocean freight visibility product. Containers on a live map. Milestone events from port to port. Clean timeline showing where your freight is and when it arrives. If you have used it, you know it is good.
The catch: you must use Flexport as your freight forwarder to access their portal. The visibility is bundled with the forwarding. If you have existing forwarder relationships you want to keep, or you have negotiated rates you do not want to give up, switching to Flexport for the tracking alone does not make sense.
How most manufacturers track ocean freight today
If you are not on Flexport, you are probably doing some combination of:
- Typing container numbers into carrier websites or platforms like Searates and MarineTraffic
- Email updates from your forwarder with ETAs that may or may not be current
- Spreadsheets mapping POs to container numbers, vessel names, and port ETAs
- A separate system from your domestic tracking, so you have two disconnected views of your supply chain
Three data sources, one map
FreightPane combines three data sources to deliver Flexport-style ocean visibility without touching your forwarder relationship:
- Container numbers read directly from your Epicor purchase orders. No manual entry.
- Milestone events from FindTEU: loaded, departed, transhipped, arrived. Timestamps and locations for each.
- Real-time vessel positions from AIS Stream: actual ship coordinates on the globe, updated continuously via satellite and terrestrial receivers.
Antimeridian-correct routes on a 3D globe
Ocean containers show up on the same interactive map as your domestic pack slips. Port-to-port route arcs trace great-circle paths. Ship icons show the carrying vessel in real time.
The routes render correctly for transpacific shipments. Arcs split at the antimeridian so they never cut through land. This is a detail most tracking tools get wrong. We did not.
Works with any forwarder
FreightPane tracks containers by number, not by forwarder account. Local NVOCC, Kuehne+Nagel, DHL Global Forwarding, whoever. As long as the container number is in your Epicor PO, FreightPane tracks it.
That is the fundamental difference from Flexport: FreightPane is a standalone visibility layer, not a forwarding platform. You keep your logistics partners and add tracking on top.
Share ocean tracking with your customers
FreightPane share links work for ocean shipments. Generate a URL for any container and send it to your customer. They see the vessel on the map, the route, milestones, and the ETA.
For manufacturers who import from Asia and sell domestically, this changes the customer conversation. Instead of "your container is somewhere on the water," your customer watches it cross the Pacific in real time.