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Chainomics pulls 12 real-time logistics signals from authoritative public sources and fuses them into a single workspace. Instead of toggling between EIA dashboards, CBP feeds, and port trackers, you see every signal in one place—and each shipment in your portfolio receives a 0–100 disruption probability score derived from the signals that intersect its route. This page explains what each signal category covers, how to navigate to them, and how to interrogate any signal page with Ask Ms. Z, Chainomics’ natural-language AI copilot.

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How AI-powered shipment risk scoring works

Every shipment you import is scored on a scale of 0 to 100 (disruption probability). The score is a weighted fusion of whichever live signals overlap the shipment’s origin, destination, and planned transit window. The primary risk driver is identified in plain English—for example: “High border congestion at Laredo expected to delay delivery by 4–6 hours.”
Risk scores refresh continuously as underlying signals update. A shipment scored Low in the morning can reach Critical by afternoon if a weather system moves into its corridor or a crossing spikes. Re-run analysis after any major signal event.

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Signal categories

Chainomics monitors twelve signal categories. Each category is continuously updated from its cited source and contributes to the AI-powered shipment risk score.

Border Wait Times

Monitors 25 US-Mexico and US-Canada commercial crossings with minute-by-minute updates direct from CBP feeds. Laredo, El Paso, Otay Mesa, and all other major commercial corridors are covered. Wait-time spikes feed directly into the risk score for cross-border loads.AI agent action: Re-route freight when crossing wait times exceed thresholds.

Diesel Prices

Ingests EIA-sourced regional retail diesel pricing across 50+ US regions, updated weekly. Significant week-over-week price swings affect fuel surcharge calculations and can indicate broader supply disruptions.AI agent action: Adjust fuel surcharges and re-price lane bids.

Port Congestion

Tracks vessel queue depth, berth utilization, dwell time, and TEU throughput across major US ports. Data is sourced from the Marine Exchange and updated hourly. A rising vessel queue at Long Beach or Houston directly elevates the risk score of any shipment touching that port.AI agent action: Push ETAs and trigger demurrage alerts when congestion spikes.

Weather Disruptions

Displays live RainViewer precipitation radar overlaid on your shipment routes. Sourced from NWS and RainViewer, updating every 15 minutes. Critical and High-severity weather events that intersect active routes are flagged automatically.AI agent action: Flag shipments crossing active storm cells.

Political Events

Monitors political disruption events scored for severity and freight-corridor impact (GDELT feed). Each event carries a severity rating: Critical, High, Medium, or Low.AI agent action: Score political risk along each lane.

Labor Strikes

Tracks active and forecasted labor strikes across maritime, rail, and trucking sectors (Wikipedia and BLS). Each strike carries a severity rating and is mapped to the freight corridors it affects.AI agent action: Pre-empt port and rail shutdowns.

Carrier Compliance

Surfaces FMCSA safety score trends for carriers in your network. Declining CSA percentiles are flagged so you can re-tender loads before a compliance issue becomes a service failure.AI agent action: Re-tender loads on declining FMCSA scores.

Tariff & Duties

Monitors trade policy changes, HTS code updates, and tariff announcements from USITC and WTO sources. Landed-cost impacts are recalculated automatically when policy changes affect your shipment corridors.AI agent action: Recompute landed cost on policy changes.

Truckload Spot Index

Tracks the US Truckload Spot Index (TSI) and related capacity indicators from DAT and FreightWaves, updated daily. Rising TSI signals tightening capacity and informs spot-versus-contract decisions.AI agent action: Time spot versus contract tendering.

Maritime Port Activity (MPAI)

Streams Chainomics’ proprietary Maritime Port Activity Index (MPAI)—a 0–100 composite of 9 BTS indicators: vessel calls, container throughput, dwell time, berth utilization, and rail-dray volumes. A score above 70 signals congestion risk.AI agent action: Forecast US import surge windows.

Cross-Border Produce (CBPSI)

Monitors Chainomics’ proprietary Cross-Border Produce Surge Index (CBPSI)—a 0–100 score for US-Mexico produce gateway intensity at Nogales, Pharr, and Otay Mesa. High CBPSI correlates with longer commercial wait times.AI agent action: Predict reefer capacity tightening.

Logistics Hiring

Tracks BLS logistics hiring and employment trends monthly. Hiring slowdowns can precede capacity shifts, while surges indicate upstream expansion pressure.AI agent action: Gauge upstream capacity health.
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Open the Disruptions section from the sidebar

From any authenticated page, expand Disruptions in the left sidebar. You’ll see sub-items for each signal type: Border Wait Times, Weather, Port Congestion, Labor Strikes, and the Disruptions Dashboard.Alternatively, navigate directly to /platform/risksignals for a full overview of all active signals.
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Select a signal page

Click the signal you want to inspect—for example, Border Wait Times. Each page shows:
  • A live data feed or map for that signal type
  • Severity badges (Critical / High / Medium / Low) color-coded in red, orange, yellow, and green
  • Source attribution and refresh cadence
  • A sparkline or trend chart showing the signal over recent periods
3

Review severity and source

Each signal card identifies:
  • Current value or event description
  • Data source (e.g., CBP, EIA, Marine Exchange, NWS)
  • Refresh interval (ranging from 5 minutes for border waits to weekly for diesel prices)
Use the severity color to triage quickly. Red (Critical) and orange (High) items warrant immediate action or re-routing review.
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Cross-reference against your shipments

Navigate to Shipment Management or the Shipment Operations Dashboard to see how active signals intersect your loaded shipments. Critical-risk loads are surfaced at the top of the triage list. See Shipment Management for details.

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Ask Ms. Z about any signal

Every signal page includes the Ask Ms. Z button in the top-right corner. Ms. Z is context-aware: when you open it on the Border Wait Times page, it knows you’re looking at crossing data and answers accordingly. Example questions you can ask on any signal page:
  • “Which crossings are most likely to cause delays for loads out of Laredo this week?”
  • “How does today’s diesel price compare to the 52-week average?”
  • “Which ports are showing Critical congestion right now?”
  • “Summarize any active labor actions that affect rail freight.”
Ask Ms. Z consumes 1 credit per question on the free tier. Free-tier users receive a monthly credit allowance. Earn additional credits by uploading shipment data (CSV, PDF, or TMS sync).