Even in today's world, with advanced shipment tracking and promises of visibility, we still refer to the Last Mile as the "Black Hole" of container transit. This is true for LCL (Less than Container Load) shipments too.

When a ship is just a few days away from the destination port, the carrier is supposed to send you or your agent an Arrival Notice (AN) to update you on the expected port arrival. This notice might come from your carrier or NVOCC, especially if the ship is being operated by another carrier under a Vessel Sharing Agreement or slot charter deal.

But if that AN isn’t sent, or if you or your agent miss the email, things can get delayed. The ship arrives, the container is unloaded, but your broker doesn’t start the customs entry process on time. You can’t pick up the container until Customs approves the entry, and your dray carrier also gets short notice to assign a driver and truck for pickup. As a result, everything starts falling behind.

This chart shows the 14 basic steps that must happen during the Last Mile for a successful delivery. Each step depends on the previous one, so everyone involved has to do their part to make sure the customer's needs and timing are met. Any failure or mistake along the way causes delays, and someone—either the customer or another person in the process—has to step in to fix it.