Semex, a world leader in bovine genetics founded in 1974, ships frozen bull semen and frozen bovine embryos to more than 100 countries. Each shipment is highly sensitive, time-critical, and worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Yet before Tive, Semex was unable to track shipments in real time.
Without real-time insight into the location and condition of shipments, “we would lose one or two shipments a year, sometimes worth up to a million dollars, and they would just go missing forever,” recalls Don MacKenzie, Warehouse Manager at Semex. “I couldn’t sleep at night not knowing where things were.”
Semex shipping containers can maintain correct temperatures for roughly a 20-day window, but that wiggle room didn’t erase MacKenzie’s stress every time he sent out a new shipment. “Before we found Tive, I would give shipments to an airline, and I was always nervous about losing that ability to control it once it left my building,” said MacKenzie. “But I never worry about that with Tive.”
In March 2025, Semex started using Tive Solo 5G non-lithium trackers on their 50+ monthly shipments headed to Western Europe. Unlike other shipment visibility devices, the Solo 5G is approved on more than 170 airlines worldwide, and surpasses even Canada’s tough requirements.
“When I found out that Tive had non-lithium trackers, that’s what really attracted me,” says MacKenzie. “It makes my life a lot easier, because Canadian airlines make it extremely difficult to deal with lithium.” With those 170+ global airline approvals already secured by Tive, Semex is able to deploy trackers seamlessly across multiple carriers and destinations, ensuring compliance without added paperwork or delays.
Tive also changed how Semex handles airline mishandling issues. Previously, Semex was unable to challenge airlines because they had no concrete proof that it was the airline’s fault. If a shipment got damaged, and the product was rendered unusable, the airline would basically say, "prove to me where it happened." MacKenzie knew the damage had occurred somewhere along the route, but he couldn't prove where it actually happened.
“Now, I can 100% prove where the damage took place, and can hold the airline accountable. Tive gives me that capability, and some of the airlines are starting to treat my shipments a little bit more carefully because of that chain of evidence,” says MacKenzie.
The benefits of switching to Tive were immediate. Soon after implementing Tive on their Western European shipments, a $750,000 shipment went missing in Germany. The airline claimed they couldn’t locate it, but MacKenzie opened the Tive dashboard and pinpointed its exact location inside the warehouse—to within 20 meters. “I was able to give them a GPS location, and they quickly found the shipment. Without Tive, we would have lost it. It would have been lost forever—but I have never lost a signal with Tive.”
Semex used to lose 1-2 shipments per year. Cargo would just go missing—and MacKenzie could never find it. Now, real-time alerts empower Semex to act proactively, so instead of reacting when shipments go missing, MacKenzie can monitor his cargo’s every move. This enables him to spot issues early on and quickly intervene… before the product is at risk.
MacKenzie also appreciates that it is easy to change a shipment's tracking parameters while the cargo is in motion, which helps preserve tracker battery life and ensures that the tracker will continue recording until the shipment is delivered.
Semex customers had long been requesting live visibility into the location and condition of their cargo, and using Tive has paid off in spades. “Our customers see the value of Tive almost instantly,” says MacKenzie. Semex also shares live tracking links with customers, distributors, and brokers, improving transparency, collaboration, and satisfaction.
Tive helped one Semex customer in Finland locate a lost truck. MacKenzie had added a tracker inside one of her shipments, and this customer was told the truck would arrive on a Monday—but it didn't show up. She headed straight into the Tive platform, and what did she discover? According to MacKenzie, “She found out that her shipment was at the driver’s house. He decided to take a day off, figuring no one would notice.”
She called the transport company and told them where her truck was, and because the transport company didn't know there was a tracker in her shipment, they were like “how do you know that?” And then she told them she could see their driver in the Tive platform—and the shipment got delivered within four hours.
Semex hasn’t made a single insurance claim since they started using Tive, which is a huge benefit. For Mackenzie, the second biggest benefit is that he knows the minute a shipment leaves his building, he can follow it throughout its journey, and he can see when it gets delivered—in real time. “If it gets lost—and the airlines are notorious for losing my cargo—I now have the capability to track it down in a timely manner,” stated MacKenzie.
Beyond the benefits of the technology, Semex highlights the exceptional customer service provided by the Tive team. “It doesn’t matter when I contact my team at Tive—I usually get a response within 20 minutes. That kind of support is rare these days, and it makes a huge difference.”
With Tive, Semex has reduced risk, prevented revenue loss, improved efficiency, and gained tremendous peace of mind—in a business where one lost shipment can mean enormous financial and reputational loss.
MacKenzie sums it up like this: “I love that I can set up a shipment in less than one minute. The customer service is phenomenal, the trackers and platform are easy to use, and the solution works very, very well. For me, Tive takes one major stressor off my plate: I always know where my shipments are, and I can actually sleep at night.”
