Curating In-Transit Visibility for Fine Art Clients with Tive

THE CHALLENGE

Masterpiece International is a provider of premier logistics solutions that serves museums, collectors, galleries, and private clients, shipping priceless works of art worldwide. From coordination to packing to transport, Masterpiece utilizes a massive global network to ensure shipments arrive on time and in full.

In fine art shipping, the logistics are complex and the risks are high: Shipments tend to be fragile and often have immense cultural significance. As such, temperature, humidity, light, shock, and security must be actively managed, alongside precise arrival times for highly coordinated installations.

Masterpiece International has long provided best-in-class customer service to clients, with exceptional hands-on attention paid to protecting each high-value, often fragile, shipment. According to Tina Sullivan, vice president of fine arts for Masterpiece International, "Normally, a fine art shipment travels with a courier from each museum—a dedicated person stays with the piece through every step of its transport from point A to point B."

However, when the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted both the art and logistics worlds, Masterpiece faced serious challenges to uphold this level of service. Sullivan explained, "The pandemic complicated this practice with travel bans, import and export restrictions, and an overwhelming hesitancy from museums to put their people at risk."

Determined to maintain full shipment visibility without a courier during these unprecedented times, the company took immediate action to meet clients’ changing needs.

THE SOLUTION

With the availability of high-tech solutions capable of providing location and condition insights in real-time, the company saw an opportunity to keep high-value art moving without human accompaniment and continue to meet client expectations.

Masterpiece’s hunt for an in-transit visibility solution brought them to Tive. After testing trackers from multiple companies, they determined Tive—as well as the Tive belief that "every shipment matters"—was a great fit for both their company and their clients.

In late spring of 2020, Masterpiece began using Tive trackers to accompany fine art shipments instead of couriers. Tive’s hyper-accurate location tracking capabilities (enabled by cellular, GPS, and WiFi) and real-time condition monitoring (including temperature, humidity, shock, and light) allow Masterpiece to actively manage these high-value shipments, while providing their clients with superior service and peace of mind.

"We love Tive. We looked at others, we’ve used others, and we much prefer Tive. And the disposable aspect of the trackers is really appealing—you can spend weeks trying to get devices back, and with other companies, it gets costly," explained Sullivan.

The instant alerts and real-time visibility provided by Tive’s cloud-based software also allow the Masterpiece team to address in-transit issues and collaborate with carriers to prevent costly delays and damage.

The benefits of the Tive solution don’t stop there, however. Sullivan noted, "With courier costs among the most expensive aspects of shipping fine art, Tive provides significant cost savings. It’s a value-added service that our clients really like."

---

To learn more:
email: [email protected]
phone: 617-631-8483
web: tive.com