Abstract: A system is described for colleting and monitoring shipment data, wherein one or more service providers can enter into the system shipment data that is indicative of the attributes of a plurality of customer shipments as one or more customers forwards at least one customer shipment through a shipment-cycle. The shipment data reflects the attributes of each customer shipment and/or events occurring to at least one customer shipment during its shipment cycle. The collecting and monitoring system comprises a plurality of customer terminals, a web server, a central computer and a plurality of disparate shipment data input terminals, a plurality of customer terminals, a web server, a central computer and a plurality of disparate shipment data input terminals.