The departure and arrival times of seagoing vessels are at the heart of organising hinterland transportation. The more precise the information, the easier it is to plan the containers in upstream and downstream operations. With the newly developed “Sea Vessel Optimiser” IT platform, Haeger & Schmidt Logistics (HSL) dispatchers always know which ships, relevant to the customers, are docking and setting sail in Antwerp and Rotterdam, and when the respective time windows are open for delivering/collecting the containers.
Cargo Opening Time (COT) is the status information most searched by HSL dispatchers when organising intermodal transport. COT specifies the time window during which the containers can be delivered to/collected from the respective terminal. This information is subject to numerous changes at short notice and is often not available to the customer in an updated form. This new tool enables dispatchers to access the status themselves and to inform those involved of any changes.
When HSL arranges for intermodal transport by rail or barge, the containers are often destined for four to six seagoing vessels. Or vice versa: on average, containers are are collected from four to six container carriers from Antwerp and Rotterdam and loaded onto barges or intermodal trains. A ship’s COT therefore determines when containers are available or ready for pick-up.
Complicated status searches
“The relevant ship information is published on the various websites of the seaports’ terminal operators. In order to obtain updated information our dispatchers have so far had to log on to the relevant websites every day. This involves a considerable effort and always involves the risk of missing some updates,” says Jens Möller, General Manager of HSL’s Intermodal Division. Particularly against the backdrop of current delays in delivery and the ongoing impact of the coronavirus pandemic in Far East trade, planning now takes up considerably more time. “The data recorded for the ships often change at short notice as do processing times because of congestion at the seaports,” explains Möller, citing examples.
Terminals in Rotterdam and Antwerp linked up
This was the trigger for the HSL project team consisting of Jens Möller, René Kohlhause and Torben Radtke to develop the “Sea Vessel Optimiser” IT platform with a view to combining the data centrally. “We have meanwhile linked up our system with more than ten terminals in Rotterdam and Antwerp,” Radtke confirms. Achieving this involved holding meetings with the handling companies to engage in direct discussion about which data are available and how they can be provided. The technical implementation of the project was realised in a joint cooperation between Kohlhause and IT development partner COCUS based in Düsseldorf.
Both the customers and the employees enjoy the advantages. “Our clients benefit especially from better planability and from keeping their supply chains running smoothly without having to actively perform extensive searches on ship data themselves. Our employees will find it a great deal easier to access the relevant data for planning. Particularly at the moment when constant change in the market situation place a huge burden on our planning teams the new tool delivers huge value added,” Möller reports. Furthermore, warehouse costs and additional transport costs can be reduced. These costs are incurred when cargo cannot be admitted to the terminal because processing the ship in question has not yet commenced.
Image source: HSL
Infobox: transmitting orders via an interface
At HSL, the customer has the option of transmitting order data via the EDI interface. This automated channel will be offered in future as an alternative to sending orders via email, PDF or other formats. The first generic EDI interface was recently taken into operation with a pilot customer with a high volume of incoming orders. The feedback was resoundingly positive: fewer errors, quick feedback, less time required and the respective link to status reports ease the burden on the operative.