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Terminal49 Data Sources

Terminal49 aggregates data from multiple sources to provide comprehensive visibility into container shipments. This overview introduces our data sources and helps you understand data availability and quality considerations.

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Our Data Ecosystem

Ocean Carriers

Data from major steamship lines including bills of lading, bookings, vessel ETAs, containers, and milestones.

Terminal Operators

Container availability, last free day, holds, fees, and other terminal-specific information.

Rail Carriers

Container milestones for rail transport including rail loading, departure, arrival, and unloading events.

AIS Vessel Tracking

Vessel details and real-time location tracking through Automatic Identification System data.

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Data Integration Approach

Terminal49 takes raw data from various sources and transforms it into a standardized format to provide a consistent experience across carriers and terminals. Our approach includes:
  1. Normalization - Converting different formats and terms into a consistent schema
  2. Enrichment - Adding context and relationships between data points
  3. Validation - Checking for errors and inconsistencies
  4. Standardization - Using common formats for dates, locations, and status information

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Coverage and Limitations

While Terminal49 strives to provide comprehensive data, availability varies by source:
We support all major ocean carriers including Maersk, MSC, CMA CGM, COSCO, Hapag-Lloyd, ONE, Evergreen, and many more. Each carrier provides different data points with varying quality and timeliness.View detailed carrier coverage
Terminal49 integrates with terminals at major ports across North America, Europe, and Asia. Terminal data quality varies significantly by location.View detailed terminal coverage
We support all Class 1 North American railroads, including BNSF, CN, CP, CSX, NS, and UP. Rail data is standardized across carriers but certain event types may only be available from specific rail providers.View detailed rail coverage

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Data Quality Considerations

When building applications with Terminal49 data, consider these data quality factors:
  • Timeliness - Data latency varies by source; carrier updates might take several hours while terminal data is typically more real-time
  • Completeness - Not all data fields are available from all sources (see Known Issues)
  • Accuracy - ETAs and availability predictions are based on carrier and terminal inputs and can change
  • Consistency - Terminal49 normalizes data, but underlying source inconsistencies may occasionally surface

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Getting Started with Terminal49 Data

1

Understand Data Sources

Review the detailed data sources documentation to understand which data points are consistently available.
2

Build with Resilience

Design your integration to handle missing or delayed data from certain sources.
3

Use Terminal49's Normalization

Leverage our standardized data formats rather than trying to parse raw carrier or terminal data.
4

Implement Webhooks

Use webhooks to receive real-time updates when data changes rather than frequent polling.
For a detailed breakdown of supported data fields and their availability, see our API Data Sources and Availability documentation.