Guides, blogs and videos for freight and supply chain teams.

8 min read

What is demurrage? A guide for cargo owners

What demurrage and detention are, why the charges build up, and how cargo owners catch them before they land.

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8 min read

The Monthly Freight Briefing · October 2026

Half of container ships arrived late in August while volumes held flat. What it means for US importers in October.

Beacon Insider: September

Freight rates, port congestion and carrier performance, in one monthly read.

What is OTIF, and how do you measure it?

On time in full, explained for importers: how to calculate it and what moves it.

Beacon live overview with a shipment map

9 min read

Supply chain control tower: what it is, and what it needs

Why a control tower needs your costs, not just your containers.

Beacon Insider: August - Reconciling your freight invoices automatically

Beacon Insider August Update: Most freight invoices get approved without verification.

Beacon Beat

24 min

Beacon Beat, episode 1

AJ talks to a supply chain director about running freight from the numbers.

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13 min read

How to check whether you are being overcharged on freight invoices

Where invoice errors hide, and how to check each charge against your contract.

The best supply chain software for food and beverage importers in 2026

Five platforms compared on cash, clarity, performance and compliance.

What is a freight audit?

What a freight audit checks, who does it, and how to run one every month.

Are you overpaying for your ocean freight?

Most businesses can't say if their ocean freight rate is competitive. Three checks to know if you're overpaying on rate, service and demurrage & detention.

Beacon Insider: July - Introducing Network Performance

Beacon Insider July Product Update: Network Performance gives you deeper insights at your finger tips - allowing you to understand how you are performing agains

Global Port Performance: October

October 2025 port performance: The African port performance gap

10 min read

The best software to prevent supply chain disruptions is not a new tool. It is connected data.

Beacon Insider: May

Beacon Insider May Product Update: Your Executive Overview and editable milestones NOW LIVE

The difference between seeing a delay and understanding it

An alert tells you a container is late. It doesn't tell you why, who owns it, or what it costs. Why supply chain leaders need control, not red flags.

Beacon Insider: April

Beacon's latest updates is focused around getting your Supply Chain data into Beacon as quickly as possible.

Where are all the success stories of AI being deployed successfully in supply chain use cases?

Most enterprise AI pilots in supply chain quietly stall. The reason isn't the model. It's the fragmented data underneath.

Supply Chain Performance: The Questions Every Leader Should Be Able to Answer

On-time rate, route performance, ETA volatility. The three questions every supply chain leader should answer -- and why most can't without the right data.

Beacon Insider: March

Beacon's latest updates all making managing your supply chain easier. Your Central Supply Chain Workspace where your data is centralised.

The Hidden Cost of Fragmented Supply Chain Data | Beacon

Insights from 50+ senior supply chain leaders across FMCG, manufacturing and F&B. Why disconnected data is failing operations, and what's working. Free PDF.

14 min read

What is Supply Chain Intelligence?

Supply chain intelligence is the ability to turn fragmented operational data into decisions. Here is how it differs from visibility, and why it matters now.

Product update

Beacon Insider: February

Beacon's latest updates all about data upload. You Central Supply Chain Workspace where your data is centralised.

Beacon Insider: January

Beacon's latest updates all about Table. You Central Supply Chain Workspace where your data is centralised.

Global Port Performance: July 2025

July 2025 port performance data exposes false efficiency gains, validates infrastructure investment returns, and identifies systematic capacity constraints.

Container Numbers Explained: Your Simple Guide

If you've ever looked at a shipping container, you've seen a number painted on the side that looks like random letters and numbers. It's not random.

Global Port Performance: 2025 in Review

2025 Global port performance: Trends and Insight into 2025 Performance

How Long Does It Take to Ship Cargo from Southampton to Los Angeles?

How long does shipping take from Southampton to LA? Complete analysis of 901 shipments shows seasonal variation and carrier performance data.

Global Port Performance: June 2025

June 2025 port performance data exposes false efficiency gains, validates infrastructure investment returns, and identifies systematic capacity constraints.

How Long Does It Take to Ship Cargo from Mundra to New York?

How long does shipping take from Mundra to New York? Complete analysis of 1,247 shipments shows seasonal variation and carrier performance data.

Global Port Performance: August 2025

August 2025 port performance North American Ports Special. January-August Performance Analysis Reveals Regional Efficiency Patterns

Ocean & Air market insights – August 2021

August 2021 - Read Beacon's latest insights from the world of ocean and air....

The ultimate guide to big data in supply chain management

Discover why a robust data infrastructure is foundational to realising the benefits of big data in supply chain management...

From ports to pivots: What recent disruptions are teaching supply chains about agility

Rerouted ships, shifting delays—stay ahead of disruption with Beacon’s port visibility tools for smarter, agile supply chain decisions.

Drowning in emails? It’s time for supply chain collaboration software

Still using emails and spreadsheets to collaborate across your supply chain? It's time to use supply chain collaboration software. Here's how...

5 Key Supply Chain ESG Metrics

With increasing regulation and the need to protect brand reputation, businesses are under pressure to improve ESG performance.

Navigating chaos: building resilience with exception management in supply chains

Discover how exception management transforms supply chain disruptions into opportunities for resilience and efficiency.

8 Confusing Terms in Supply Chain Management

In a profession dominated by abbreviations and jargon, it can be difficult to master the language of supply chain management.

9 Essential Logistics KPIs

We surveyed logistics and supply chain managers for their take on the most important logistics performance metrics and KPIs.

Guide to Lead Time Management in Supply Chain

Learn how to effectively manage lead time in your supply chain with real-time tracking and analytics. Boost reputation whilst reducing costs.

The Busiest Container Ports in the World

Nine of the top 10 container ports in the world are located in Asia, with seven in China. This reflects the region’s dominant role in global manufacturing.

How to Build a Transportation Carrier Scorecard

Carrier scorecards provide a structured and transparent approach for evaluating carrier and freight forwarder performance and reliability.

Seven of the Busiest Cargo Ports in Canada

Key statistics about Canada's largest ports including location, container throughput, annual cargo volumes and more.

The Six Busiest Cargo Ports in France

Learn about France's biggest ports, from Le Havre to Marseille, and their importance in global trade, including cargo volumes and key industries.

The Five Biggest Scandinavian Container Ports

A guide to the biggest Scandinavian container ports, their locations, key cargo stats, and significance in regional and global trade.

Five Major Container Ports in the UK

Get insights into the UK's major ports - where they're located, annual cargo volumes and the role they play in global trade.

Where Are the Largest Ports in Europe?

Europe is home to 16 of the 100 busiest global container ports. Collectively, these 16 European ports had a TEU throughput of over 81M in 2023.

The Seven Busiest Cargo Ports in India

Indian cargo port facts and statistics including container throughput, bulk tonnage, locations and significance in global trade.

The Five Largest Container Ports in Spain

Get the stats behind Spain's largest ports including location, cargo volumes, and their vital roles in global trade.