Visibility. It’s the buzzword that every supply chain and logistics platform throws around. But let’s be real — most “visibility” solutions are just glorified container trackers.

They’ll tell you your shipment left the port. They’ll show you it’s crossing the ocean. They’ll ping you when it reaches a transshipment hub. But is that really visibility?

Knowing where your container is doesn’t tell you what’s inside. It doesn’t tell you if your goods are compliant with regulations. And it certainly doesn’t tell you the true landed cost of your products.

That’s the gap no one’s talking about. And it’s costing your business more than you realize.

The Problem: Container Tracking Isn’t Enough

The basic updates that most visibility solutions provide are nice for some industry professionals. That’s not enough for trade compliance leaders, supply chain executives, and VPs of international transportation. They need answers to these questions:

• What's inside the shipment?
• Is the shipment compliant?
• What’s the total landed cost of the shipment?

The most commonly used supply chain and logistics platforms can’t answer these questions. Here’s a look at where they fall short:

• TMSs (Transportation Management Systems) provide shipment visibility, but they don’t track product-level details.
• SCM (Supply Chain Management Systems) track products but don’t integrate real-time shipment or trade data.
• Customs compliance solutions handle trade and regulatory filings but don’t connect international transportation with trade compliance.

What is the result of leaning solely on these traditional platforms? A fragmented approach that forces you to stitch together data from multiple systems, leaving gaps, inefficiencies, and compliance risks. In many cases, teams use manual actions, spreadsheets, and even physical file folders to get the job done — it’s a mess.

You need a system that brings it all together.

The 3rdwave Difference: True Product-Level Visibility

At 3rdwave, we track containers and what’s inside them. In short, we solve the visibility gap created by platforms that stop at shipment milestones.

We transform containers into product objects that move through your supply chain with full dimensionality:

• Compliance tracking: Know if every product inside your shipment meets regulatory requirements before it arrives.
• Landed cost allocation: Get an accurate, dynamic breakdown of costs at the product level — not just the shipment level.
• Product lifecycle insights: Track every SKU’s movement, from supplier to final destination, with full visibility into delays, compliance status, and costs.

Instead of just showing you a map with a container’s location or status, 3rdwave connects all the dots:

• Shipment data is linked to product-level details, so you always know exactly what’s inside every container.
• Compliance is automated, ensuring your goods meet regulatory requirements before they leave port.
• Costs are allocated in real time, giving you a budgeted and actual total landed cost picture of your supply chain.

With 3rdwave, you know where your shipments are located and what it means for your business. 

Why This Matters

If you’re moving FDA-regulated goods, automotive components under NHTSA oversight, or any product subject to Partner Government Agency (PGA) requirements, container-level visibility is more than just inadequate. It’s a liability.

The risks of incomplete visibility are real:

• Regulatory delays: A non-compliant shipment flagged at customs can disrupt your entire supply chain.
• Unexpected costs: Without product-level cost allocation, you could be hemorrhaging margin without realizing it.
• Operational inefficiencies: Relying on disconnected TMSs, spreadsheets, and manual compliance processes slows you down.

You need to know what’s inside every container, where it is, if it’s compliant, and what it’s really costing you — before problems arise.

With 3rdwave, you’re not stuck patching together siloed systems or chasing down missing data. You get freakin’ control for control freaks — real, product-level visibility that puts you in charge of your global supply chain.

Want to see how we close the visibility gap? Let’s talk.