WASHINGTON: CargoSmart Limited, a global shipment management software provider, recently announced that the Port of Rotterdam Authority is using its sailing schedule data to provide shippers with greater visibility to the available route options through its gateway. Lionel Louie, Chief Commercial Officer, CargoSmart Limited, told LM in an interview that he expects that carriers and terminals will make frequent schedule adjustments as the new services rollout.“Our sailing schedule data offers visibility to the latest schedules and route options,” he adds. “The data not only helps shippers and logistics service providers, it also helps ports see the ports that the alliance carriers are visiting to improve planning.”
Rotterdam remains the largest port in Europe in terms of container throughput, handling over 12.4 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2016. The port’s new route planning tool, Navigate, integrates CargoSmart’s deep-sea vessel schedule data with barge, rail, and truck schedules for shippers to find and compare routes. Spokesmen said CargoSmart is helping the port to “digitize” its business and connect its “ecosystem” of shippers, transportation providers, and depots to improve the efficiencies of planning and shipping through the port.
The Port of Rotterdam launched Navigate on May 10, 2017. The online tool incorporates the deep sea and short sea schedules of 550 ports worldwide as well as the rail and barge connections between Rotterdam and over 150 European inland terminals. Navigate also contains a business directory with over 1,500 companies that are active in and around the Port of Rotterdam, as well as an empty depot tool. Users can find and compare the best connections through Rotterdam based on modes and expected transit times in order to make more informed decisions.
Incorporating CargoSmart’s ocean schedules with the port’s intermodal schedules allows the Port of Rotterdam to may provide a complete picture of its logistics coverage for shippers. CargoSmart may also save the port time from obtaining and continuously updating the schedule data from ocean carriers. Currently in beta release, Navigate displays multi-modal routes by total transit time and the carrier options for each route. The Port of Rotterdam will expand its operational data, including vessel estimated times of arrival and departure (ETAs and ETDs), in future releases. “We were impressed by the data coverage and quality of CargoSmart’s sailing schedule data,” said Chantal Gouka, product owner of Navigate and senior advisor of the Port of Rotterdam.
