Page 32: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (October 2020)

Feature | Mercado Labs 2020 SHIPPING & PORT ANNUAL

When it Comes to Supply Chain: “The First Mile is

Everything”

Shippers who fail to plan are planning to fail.

By Joseph Keefe ommercial marine paint contractors tell us that According to Rob Garrison, CEO and Founder of Merca- coatings involve 99% preparation and 1% paint. do Labs, the ‘? rst mile’ encompasses planning and buying

That same tenet applies to global shipping markets. products. On average it takes one month to plan purchases

CWith this in mind, Mercado Labs is quietly trans- and another 90 days to execute. He explains, “Introducing forming a mature intermodal transportation market by tack- work? ow, automation, and process during that ? rst mile pro- ling its ? nal frontier with a disruptive platform that focuses on vides the highest point of leverage throughout the Interna- the most important shipment details in a manner that’s never tional Supply Chain.” been attempted before. The Mercado platform is fully threaded into the shipping

What you won’t hear coming out of Dallas-based Mercado contract, married to the PO and all communications. That’s

Labs are words like blockchain and other mysteriously ab- because once a product is loaded onto a boxship, problems stract buzz words. Instead, this young ? rm focuses tightly on with the order will also sail with it. If shippers don’t get the the ? rst mile of every deal, with controls on virtually every as- ? rst part right, nothing that follows will make much of a dif- pect of those critical days that de? ne everything that follows. ference to the bottom line.

32 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • October 2020

MR #10 (18-33).indd 32 10/6/2020 8:53:08 AM