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Guide: Resolve Tracking Issues
Guide: Resolve Tracking Issues

Learn how to resolve tracking issues sent to you via email

Bethany Morrill avatar
Written by Bethany Morrill
Updated over 10 months ago

OpenTrack provides visibility on your containers through the ocean carrier master bill of lading. When master bills are uploaded for tracking, the OpenTrack system will identify all the containers on the master bill and continually track each individual container until termination at EMPTY RETURNED.

Let's first review how containers can be added to your account for tracking:

  1. Single MBL Tracking: This method involves tracking a single master bill of lading (MBL) value on the Start Tracking page. Upon adding a single MBL, the OpenTrack system will find all the containers on this MBL and return all the milestones + important data fields on these containers.

  2. Bulk Upload: If you have multiple containers you'd like to track, the easiest way is to format an excel file with three columns: Master Bill, Container, and Carrier SCAC. Upon upload, OpenTrack will track each container against its associated MBL. Please note that OpenTrack will automatically add containers on MBL's that aren't already added to your account.

    1. Example: Say you upload container TXCU123456 on MBL CDMU123456789. Upon tracking, OpenTrack identifies TXCU123456 but also another container CAIU123456. Even though the second container was not included in the bulk upload file, it will be added for tracking to your account automatically.

  3. API: You can also /POST containers for tracking through the OpenTrack API (please reference the API documentation here). The functionality is similar to the bulk upload experience where OpenTrack will find and add all containers on a particular MBL to your account.

Now that you understand how we track containers, let's focus on how you can resolve issues that the system reports to you.

There are two categories of alerts you might receive that indicate tracking issues:

Could Not Initiate Tracking

This category encompasses two scenarios where OpenTrack is unable to initiate tracking on a container of master bill reference number:

  1. No data received from ocean carrier for the MBL

  2. Container not found on MBL

No data received from ocean carrier

Since OpenTrack "discovers" all the containers through the MBL at the ocean carrier it is important that the uploaded MBL be valid and the Ocean Carrier able to provide information about it. When an MBL is added for tracking, OpenTrack will continually retry tracking until it can get results. We will retry up to 200 times spread out over two weeks. After 24 hours of attempts, OpenTrack will send you an email of all the MBLs that are not receiving any tracking data.

Here are a couple reasons why tracking might fail:

  1. The Master Bill of Lading (MBL) is invalid (most likely, please verify)

  2. The Steamship line has yet to provide any tracking information (MBL was added too early and carrier isn't reporting tracking information yet). This is common with MSC shipments in particular

  3. Connections to our underlying data sources are temporarily down

Resolving this issue

You have two options for resolving this case:

  1. Edit the MBL number: If you determine that the MBL was added with a typo, you can edit the MBL number. You can do this by navigating to the Start Tracking Page > Locating category.

    1. Here, you can edit the MBL number and save which will re-initiate tracking:

      1. Here is a short video:

    1. Remove the MBL: Alternatively, if you find that the MBL is invalid, you can remove the MBL number from tracking. This means that the MBL is removed from your account and OpenTrack will no longer track this MBL.

      1. Here is a short video:

Container not found on Master Bill

In this scenario, you request tracking of a particular container on a MBL, and OpenTrack receives data from the carrier for the MBL, but the container is not present on the MBL.

Resolving this issue

You have two options for resolution:

  1. If the container is associated to the wrong MBL, you can edit the MBL of the container.

  2. You can click Stop Tracking and the container will be removed from your account.

Tracking Stopped

Once tracking has been initiated, generally it's smooth sailing. However there can be some scenarios where OpenTrack has to stop tracking a container:

  1. No longer receiving data for a container on a given MBL

  2. Container is determined to be not a US Import

  3. Container is lost or damaged

If any of these scenarios arise, we will send an e-mail listing the containers grouped by reason:

No longer receiving data for a container on a given MBL

It is possible that containers move from one MBL to another early in the voyage. In these cases, a container that was successfully identified on a MBL initially, subsequently becomes unidentifiable.

Example: Say you upload container TXCU123456 on MBL CDMU123456789. Upon tracking, OpenTrack identifies TXCU123456 as EMPTY OUTGATED to shipper at origin. But, the container then moves to a new MBL CDMU9499516237. Since the TXCU123456 is still associated with the old MBL, OpenTrack is unable to continue tracking this container. After multiple attempts, OpenTrack gives up and send an email with container with suspected data issues associated with the MBL.

You have two options to resolve these issues:

  1. Stop Tracking: If the container is invalid or you determine that you want to stop tracking for this container, you can choose to do so by simply selecting the "Stop Tracking" button in the header of the container detail view:

2. Edit the MBL: If you see an issue with the Master Bill number, you can edit this value directly in the container detail.

Container is determined to be not a US Import

This issue applies only if your account is set to imports only. If you have exports or international shipments enabled, this won't apply to you.

In this case, the resolution is simply to acknowledge the alert by clicking Stop Tracking, or report an error if you believe this is a mistake.

If you want to track Exports or International shipments in OpenTrack, contact us.

Container is lost or damaged

Same as above, the resolution is to acknowledge the alert by clicking Stop Tracking, same as above, or report an error if you believe this is a mistake.

Container is outdated

Sometimes you may accidentally track a container that is very old. In these cases, we will stop tracking and let you know about the issue. You can acknowledge the alert by clicking Stop Tracking, just the same as above.

Viewing Issues in Explore

You can easily find containers requiring your review by going to Explore, selecting the filter Tracking Status, and selecting Not Tracking (All) or any of the more specific reasons below.

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