edi need and opportunities in sea cargo industry

2001:244 CIV

MASTER'S THESIS

EDI need and opportunitiesin the sea cargo industry

Erik Pettersson

MSc Programmes in EngineeringDepartment of Business Administration and Social Sciences

Division of Industrial Logistics

2001:244 CIV - ISSN: 1402-1617 - ISRN: LTU-EX--01/244--SE

Master thesis – Department of industrial logistics Luleå University of Technology

Erik Pettersson, May 2001 2

Acknowledgements Global trade is today turning from traditional communication methods to online solutions for freight administration supported by the increasing use of Internet. A growing number of customers today linked to the electronic airfreight community are now requesting similar services for the sea freight industry. This master thesis investigates the issue and tries to resolve what services should be introduced and which approach is suitable for the service provider Tradevision AB. The thesis was conducted at Tradevision AB in Stockholm in the year 2000-2001. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all friendly people that have contributed to this report with their time and knowledge. I would especially like to thank the staff of Tradevision AB for their generous welcome and unbeatable patience. Stockholm, May 14th 2001 _________________________ Erik Pettersson



Abstract The air cargo industry has a rigid background of standardisation and employment of electronic information exchange. Therefore it has been natural for Tradevision, an e-logistics company, to develop electronic message services for the industry and its involved parties through the use of EDI, Electronic Data Interchange. Recent requests for similar services in the sea cargo industry as well have emerged as a new business opportunity for Tradevision. This report maps the current situation in sea freight, makes an operational comparison to airfreight and investigates how this new business area should be approached. The outcome showed that the market still is at an initial stage, why opportunities for major market shares empowers the reasons for Tradevision to get in to this area. Initially, electronic connections to shipping lines should be made through INTTRA, a group of shipping lines joined in their EDI-work. Later, other shipping lines should be added to the system. System functionality should include; booking function, sending shipping instruction to shipping lines and presenting status information on shipped cargo.



Sammanfattning Flygfraktsindustrin har haft och har fortfarande en långt gången tradition av global standardisering av verksamheten. Därför har det varit naturligt för Tradevision, ett företag inom e-logistik, att fokusera på denna industri vid utvecklandet av EDI-tjänster, Electronic Data Interchange. Aktörer på marknaden efterlyser nu dessa tjänster för att hantera sjöfrakt, vilket innebär en möjlighet för Tradevision att utöka sin verksamhet till ett närliggande affärsområde. Denna rapport kartlägger nuvarande struktur inom sjöfraktsindustrin, jämför det operationella arbetet med flygfraktsindustrins, samt undersöker hur detta område bör angripas. Resultatet visade att marknaden för elektronisk kommunikation för sjöfrakt fortfarande är på ett tidigt stadium. Därför har Tradevision möjligheten att initialt tillskansa sig stora marknadsandelar, vilket ytterligare förstärker skälen till att utöka sin verksamhet till detta område. Till en början bör systemet kommunicera med rederier genom INTTRA, en grupp av rederier som samarbetar om datakommunikation med yttervärlden. Senare kan systemet utökas med andra fristående rederier. Lämplig funktionalitet i systemet vore; bokningsfunktion, sändning av skeppningsinstruktion till rederiet och tillhandahålla statusinformation om transporterat gods.



Table of Contents

1 INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................... 7

1.1 BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................................. 7 1.2 AIM AND SCOPE .......................................................................................................................... 7 1.3 OUT OF SCOPE ............................................................................................................................ 7 1.4 DEFINITION OF TERMS ............................................................................................................... 7 1.5 ABBREVIATIONS.......................................................................................................................... 8

2 METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................................................... 10

2.1 METHODS FOR GATHERING INFORMATION ............................................................................ 10 2.1.1 OBSERVATIONS ....................................................................................................................... 10 2.1.2 INTERVIEWS ............................................................................................................................ 10 2.1.3 LITERATURE ............................................................................................................................ 11 2.1.4 INTERNET ................................................................................................................................ 11 2.2 RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY .................................................................................................... 12 2.3 FOCAL POINT WITHIN THE SEA FREIGHT INDUSTRY .............................................................. 12 2.4 QUESTIONS OF RESEARCH........................................................................................................ 13 2.4.1 LOGISTIC AND TRANSPORTATION FLOW, SEA AND AIR FREIGHT ............................................ 13 2.4.2 EDI IN SEA FREIGHT................................................................................................................ 13 2.4.3 ADVANTAGES AND POSSIBILITIES FOR EDI IN THE SEA FREIGHT INDUSTRY.......................... 13 2.4.4 ADAPTATION OF TRADEVISION SYSTEMS FOR THE SEA FREIGHT MARKET............................. 14

3 DESCRIPTION OF PRESENT SITUATION.......................................................................... 15

3.1 TRADEVISION AB...................................................................................................................... 15 3.1.1 HISTORY.................................................................................................................................. 15 3.1.2 BUSINESS DESCRIPTION .......................................................................................................... 15 3.2 SEA FREIGHT INDUSTRY .......................................................................................................... 17 3.2.1 SEA FREIGHT TRANSPORTATION............................................................................................. 17 3.2.2 THE CONTAINER...................................................................................................................... 20 3.2.3 DEFINITION OF PARTICIPANT ROLES IN THE SEA CARGO INDUSTRY ....................................... 21 3.2.4 SEA FREIGHT SCENARIOS........................................................................................................ 23 3.2.5 CARGO AND INFORMATION FLOW IN THE SEA FREIGHT INDUSTRY......................................... 25 3.2.6 MARKET STATUS CONCERNING ELECTRONIC DOCUMENTS..................................................... 27 3.2.7 LETTER OF CREDIT.................................................................................................................. 27 3.3 AIRFREIGHT .............................................................................................................................. 27 3.3.1 AIRFREIGHT MARKET .............................................................................................................. 27 3.3.2 IATA....................................................................................................................................... 27 3.3.3 MARKET STATUS CONCERNING ELECTRONIC DOCUMENTS..................................................... 28 3.3.4 ACTIONS INVOLVED IN AIRFREIGHT TRANSPORTATION.......................................................... 28 3.3.5 CARGO AND INFORMATION FLOW IN THE AIRFREIGHT INDUSTRY .......................................... 29 3.4 EDI – ELECTRONIC DATA INTERCHANGE.............................................................................. 30 3.4.1 EDI’S PLACE IN CORPORATE BUSINESS................................................................................... 30 3.4.2 WHAT IS ELECTRONIC COMMERCE? ........................................................................................ 30 3.4.3 FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTION OF EDI......................................................................................... 31 3.4.4 WHY USE EDI?........................................................................................................................ 31



3.4.5 WHO USES EDI? ...................................................................................................................... 32 3.4.6 EDI-STANDARDS..................................................................................................................... 33

4 THEORY ..................................................................................................................................... 35

4.1 THEORY W AND WIN-WIN....................................................................................................... 35 4.2 REQUIREMENTS AS WIN-WIN CONDITIONS............................................................................. 36

5 ANALYSIS .................................................................................................................................. 37

5.1 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ANALYSIS......................................................................................... 37 5.1.1 INTERESTED PARTIES’ REQUIREMENTS FOR A SEA FREIGHT MESSAGING SYSTEM.................. 37 5.2 IDENTIFY CONFLICTS ............................................................................................................... 38 5.3 ALTERNATIVES TO SOLVE CONFLICTS .................................................................................... 38 5.4 SEA FREIGHT COMPARED TO AIRFREIGHT.............................................................................. 39 5.4.1 DIFFERENCES: ......................................................................................................................... 39 5.4.2 SIMILARITIES:.......................................................................................................................... 41

6 CONCLUSIONS ......................................................................................................................... 43

6.1 SYSTEMS BOUNDARY ................................................................................................................ 43 6.2 GUIDELINES FOR SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS............................................................................. 45 6.3 ISSUES TO RESOLVE WITH INTTRA........................................................................................ 45 6.4 FURTHER WORK........................................................................................................................ 46 6.5 DISCUSSION ............................................................................................................................... 46

7 LITERATURE ............................................................................................................................ 47

8 PERSONAL REFERENCES..................................................................................................... 48

APPENDIX 1. SEA FREIGHT INDUSTRY GLOSSARY ........................................................... 49

APPENDIX 2. INTERVIEW SUMMARY ..................................................................................... 54

APPENDIX 3. TRADEVISION’S AIRFREIGHT CCS-SWITCH .............................................. 65

APPENDIX 4. MAIN CONTAINER TYPES................................................................................. 66

APPENDIX 5. DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITIES IN FIGURE 3................................................ 67



1 Introduction This introductory chapter presents the problem background, the aim and scope and the out of scope issue. Terms necessary for the understanding is explained in the definition of terms section. 1.1 Background Tradevision has today, as a Cargo Community System (CCS), an extensive EDI network for the airline industry linking together the various participants involved in the handling and transport of airfreight. The airfreight forwarders and the airlines can make use of online EDI, sending Air Waybill data, bookings, routings, status request and other messages. Through Tradevision’s membership within the CCS Operators Group, participants have access to over 2 000 agents worldwide. This system has simplified and speeded up airfreight administration for involved parties, while at the same time offering more control of shipped goods. Tradevision also interacts with actors in the land and sea transportation area, although services available in the sea freight industry are still limited. But requests from freight forwarders combining air and sea freight services have ignited a wish to supply the same level of service for the sea cargo industry. 1.2 Aim and Scope This report aims to investigate what the possibilities are for Tradevision to offer an electronic messaging system for the sea cargo industry and how to approach this issue. 1.3 Out of Scope This investigation will not deal with the implementation of sea freight messaging services, such as pricing and market phasing. Neither are additional features in sea freight information technology such as positioning or hardware related issues investigated. The low-level technical specifications of sea freight electronic messaging will also be left out of the report. Any competitor initiatives will not be analyse due to the nature of that task would be too extensive to be included. 1.4 Definition of terms Regarding the sea freight industry, some fundamental terms need to be clarified before further discussions. Below follow definitions of those terms. A more thorough dictionary of used terms can be found in appendix 1. (Branch, 1995)



Sea freight industry Actors and actions involved in the transportation of goods over sea from shipper to consignee Note: Merriam Webster Online Dictionary defines ‘freight’ as: [1] the compensation paid for the transportation of goods [2] goods to be shipped [3] the ordinary transportation of goods by a common carrier and distinguished from express. Here, definition [2] ‘goods to be shipped’ will be used, whenever nothing else is stated. Sea transportation The act of transporting goods across water Note: Merriam Webster Online Dictionary defines ‘transportation’ as: [1] an act, process, or instance of transporting or being transported [2] public conveyance of passengers or goods especially as a commercial enterprise. Here, definition [1] will be used. Sea cargo Goods transported across water in a vessel Note: The difference between goods and cargo lays in that cargo is a goods currently being transported in e.g. aircrafts, watercrafts, trains, or trucks or in other ways taking part in the transportation procedure. 1.5 Abbreviations Organisations ANSI American National Standards Institute BOLERO Bill Of Lading Electric Research Organization IATA International Air Transport Association IMO International Maritime Organization INTTRA An electronic sea freight community managed by

Shipping Lines ISO International Standard Organisation OAG Electronic airline timetables and rates owned by Reed

Travel group SITA Société Internationale de Télécommunications

Aéronautiques SMDG (Ship planning Message Development Group)



Tradevision CCS Cargo Community System TDV Tradevision AB TDV I/S Tradevision Interface System Freight Industry AWB Air Waybill B/L Bill of Lading DWT Deadweight tons. ETA Estimated Time of Arrival ETD Estimated Time of Departure FCL Full Container Load FCR Forwarder’s Cargo Receipt HWB House Waybill IMDG International Maritime Dangerous Goods L/C Letter of Credit LCL Less than Container Load Lo-Lo Lift On / Lift Off P/A Pre Advice P/L Packing List Ro-Ro Roll On / Roll Off TEU Twenty foot Equivalent Unit ULD Unit Load Device Technical EDI Electronic Data Interchange EDIFACT EDI For Administration, Commerce and Transport TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol VAN Value Added Network WAN Wide Area Network XML EXtensive Markup Language Cargo-IMP Messages FWB Electronic AWB FSR Status Request FSA Status Answer



2 Methodology The investigation involves four areas of knowledge; sea freight industry, airfreight industry, data communication and Tradevision’s products and services. These areas should be mapped and explained how they are and can be related to each other. The tasks to carry out in order to meet the aim are identified as follow; 1. Describing the sea freight industry and its actors. 2. Describing the airfreight industry and its actors. 3. Describing the existing technologies in electronic messaging. 4. Describing the existing Tradevision products and services. 5. Describing competitors in sea messaging area. Are they threats or possible

partners? 6. Investigate what qualities are demanded in a sea messaging system. 7. Compare the sea freight industry to airfreight industry. 8. Give recommendations on how Tradevision should approach a sea freight

information service. 2.1 Methods for gathering information The outline of tasks above are crucial to resolve in order to give reliable recommendations in the matter of a sea messaging system. Relevant information was acquired by a number of means including observations, interviews, literature studies and Internet research. 2.1.1 Observations For the general understanding of sea freight industry, visits were paid at the ports of Stockholm, Gothenburg and Rotterdam, several freight forwarders, liner agencies and shipping lines. Due to the geographic proximity, Stockholm Ports was most frequently visited. Regarding the choice to visit Gothenburg and Rotterdam, they both serve as sea cargo hubs within their operating region and are therefore interesting from a research point of view. Gothenburg Port dominates the sea cargo handling in Sweden and Rotterdam Port is overall the largest port in Europe. In addition, Rotterdam Port is currently among the world’s five largest, counting shipped containers. Observations concerning EDI and systems development have been made while conducting this study at the Tradevision AB locations in Stockholm and Copenhagen. 2.1.2 Interviews The interviews have had two purposes; to gain general knowledge in the interviewee’s area of expertise and also to find out what qualities a sea messaging system would need to have. Interviews has been conducted with



persons representing Tradevision AB, an airfreight company, freight forwarders, liner agencies, EDI message development, a shipping line, a feeder line and a sea freight consulting firm. The most typical and important inputs from the interviews are summarised in appendix 2. 2.1.2.1 Interviewee selection The sea freight business is made up by a large number of participants in a wide range of areas. Therefore, few persons have the overview knowledge of the sea freight business today. No matter how experienced a person is within sea freight, he or she only sees the participants that surround their own tasks and business. It is though important to get an overall picture on how the sea freight market works. The strategy was to interview people from the business, representing different parties in diversified areas, so that they could tell about their view of their part of the industry. Needless to say, the interviewed often implied that the business they described was the whole business and the only truth about it. Since the freight forwarders were considered to be the customers of this electronic messaging system, most persons representing those was interviewed. Also for the freight forwarders, the choice was to interview as diverse companies as possible. The freight forwarding companies ranged from two man companies to large multinational firms. The fact that only Scandinavian based freight forwarders was contacted depended on the geographical location. Mostly, the companies were found and further researched on the Internet before interviewed. The interviews were mainly held in person but some was also contacted on the phone. 2.1.2.2 Interview focus The interview statements was verified by bringing ambiguous issues up for discussion when talking to different people in the same business and by double checking the information in literature and on the Internet. The first interviews were aimed at understanding the different areas airfreight, sea freight and Tradevision’s services. Later interviews turned the focus to the actor’s specific needs for information messaging by investigating their information flows. 2.1.3 Literature Theories and knowledge within the areas of sea freight, electronic messaging and data communication was acquired through literature studies. 2.1.4 Internet Even though information on the Internet many times can be unwise to trust, it has worked as a source for ideas and also as a double check of interview



acquired facts. Freight forwarders’ and shipping lines’ web sites was most frequently visited. 2.2 Reliability and validity As Tradevision has expressed a demand for documentation of present business situation as well as adjacent areas in the transportation industry, all such information presented could be considered valid. Considering the reliability of facts, the information gathered consists of several fields and was acquired in a number of different ways. Therefore, reliability is uneven for all this information. As for the requirements for the recommended system, these need to be looked upon with critical eyes, since there has been no customer or speaking partner specifying requirements. 2.3 Focal point within the sea freight industry The sea freight industry of today comprises of several different cargo carrying modes and market segments. To decide which area of sea freight industry would be of interest the segments was mapped. Referring to Tradevision’s pricing strategy in the airfreight industry of charging a small fee per electronic message, it was clear to focus on a similar market in the sea freight industry. The appropriate market would be characterised by a large number of shipments with needs of automated cargo documents administration. In other words, where could most electronic documents be exchanged? In chapter 3.2.1, this issue is discussed and resolved. Neither of tanker, bulk transports, ferries or combined passenger and cargo transports meet these criteria and are therefore out of scope. The reasons are that tanker and bulk transports both have very few shipments per vessel, ferry transports travel only short distances and therefore use less documentation and also, have no need for cargo status information. Passenger vessels do not carry enough cargo for Tradevision to offer electronic document administration. In scope is however the general cargo section, which are dealing with a substantial number of shipments on board and also are in need of automated processes in administration. General cargo shipped over seas seldom has a transportation leg by other transportation modes than sea and truck. Therefore, sea cargo messaging will be focused on the general cargo section and will not have to be compatible with today’s airfreight messaging system. Hence, the system will not have to provide functionality for administrating the same shipment for both sea and air transportation.



2.4 Questions of research During the course of this investigation, there are a number of questions of special interest. Answering these questions, the aim should be achieved as planned. However, the aim could be met without having answered all these questions. 2.4.1 Logistic and transportation flow, sea and air freight To fully understand the EDI needs, the logistic and transportation flow of the air and sea-freight has to be investigated.

• Describe the logistic and transportation flows for the air and sea freight industries.

• What participants are involved and what are their roles? • What are the main differences between air and sea freight?

2.4.2 EDI in sea freight The airfreight forwarding industry has a long and strong background in standardisation. The sea freight industry uses a more differentiated structure with several branch and specific standards. There are quite a few EDI initiatives in the industry that has to be investigated.

• What various EDI standards exist and where and how are they intended to be used?

• Explain and describe existing message flows and the difference between air and sea freight.

• How has and how could the Internet change the existing structures? • Future initiatives (XML) • Possible communication interfaces and WAN connections.

2.4.3 Advantages and possibilities for EDI in the sea freight industry

• What would the industry gain in using EDI more extensively? • What other Tradevision system functions could be applicable to sea

freight, i.e. LogiMan and ResLink. • What would the industry gain in using EDI? (compare with what the

airfreight industry has gained) • What are the possibilities for EDI and what obstacles exist for an EDI

sea network? • What impact has the longer transportation timeframe for sea compared to

airfreight? • Possible message volumes



• How has Internet changed the structures and possibilities for EDI? • What “gaps” could be closed by new invented Tradevision functions?

2.4.4 Adaptation of Tradevision systems for the sea freight market The Tradevision systems, LogiMan, PC Pro etc. has to be described and what changes should be done to successfully support EDI for the industry.

• Explain and describe the Tradevision systems. What can they do today in general and for the sea freight industry specifically?

• What changes should be done to successfully support EDI in the industry?



3 Description of present situation 3.1 Tradevision AB 3.1.1 History Tradevision AB first started in 1991 as a project within Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), that was set to implement an EDI-network for the various participants involved in the airfreight industry. The international airline association registered the system as operational from October 1992.The EDI-network is connecting airlines and freight forwarders from all over the world through an EDI switch operated by Tradevision. This Cargo Community System (CCS) is connected to the other existing CCS:s in the world, thereby accessing a very large portion of the airfreight industry. This world-wide network is well-regulated and standardised by IATA. It partly uses SITA-lines and the IATA EDI standard Cargo-Imp for messages. (International Air Transport Association, 1996) A graphic description of the Tradevision CCS-structure can be found in appendix 3. To facilitate access to the CCS, standard interface software packages were developed to operate on IBM A/S 400 and UNIX based computers. After completion of the project, Tradevision was sold to SMART AB, an electronic travel-booking administrator. Today Nocom AB, a developer of e-commerce and wireless communication, owns 70 % of Tradevision, while SAS still holds a 30 % share. Tradevision still has full access to the EDI-network that was established for the airfreight industry, as it administrates the EDI-flow between the participants. New participants is continuously connecting to the network, which today includes over 100 airlines, hundreds of freight forwarders around the world and trucking companies. In a three-year plan, Tradevision will be expanding its business in the air, road and sea freight area. 3.1.2 Business Description Not long after leaving the project phase, Tradevision began offering value-added services to participants interested in benefiting from having freight information online. The passing EDI messages can now, in a way that the customer desires, be downloaded and structured in a database controlled by Tradevision. Services offered are among other things online bookings, routings, sending air waybills (AWB), shipment track and tracing, automatic status updates and statistics follow-up. To facilitate these functions, Tradevision has developed a number of tools, listed below. (Tradevision interviews)



3.1.2.1 LogiMan Together with the CCS-switch, LogiMan constitutes to the core product of Tradevision, as it is the program managing the EDI-information database. It can be summarised as an Internet tool for supply chain management that automatically updates statuses, facilitates shipment track and trace and automatically distributes information to participating parties. This is facilitated in the system by exchanging electronic messages with transportation providers and agent offices. Users can access LogiMan in two ways; either by using an Internet browser or through the local freight forwarding computer system. For the latter, the Tradevision interface module, TDV I/S, is required. It manages the outgoing and incoming EDI messages from and to the freight forwarding system. This allows direct access to freight documentation exchanged between involved parties. 3.1.2.2 PC Pro PC Pro is a Windows based software which is installed on the local PC. With this software it is possible to check the routings and schedules for available flights, send an airline-booking request, receive a confirmation and send the AWB to the airline. At the same time an AWB is printed locally. The physical AWB serves as an address-label for the shipment and is also a legal document for transportation. The shipment history is stored which enables you to later come back and check the status. 3.1.2.3 ResLink ResLink is a web based booking system that can be used by any organisation in need of keeping track of freight bookings. This is a product for airlines as well as for freight forwarders looking to get an Internet integrated freight forwarding system. 3.1.2.4 CargoMatch CargoMatch matches the specific incoming cargo to their receiving freight forwarder. Not always is the consignee specified on the AWB the party which will pick the parcel up from the airport. Most of the times a freight forwarding company administrates this pick up. The service, which is available on the web, is specifically developed for Scandinavia and lists companies and addresses that often receive airfreight shipments. This list is linked to the freight forwarding company associated with the particular customer or address, as companies often use only one freight forwarding company. This way, the airline knows whom to notify when shipments to these addresses arrive.



3.2 Sea Freight Industry The sea freight industry has always been and still is a highly knowledge intense industry due to the complexity of involved actors and the fluctuating markets they act in. In addition, the industry is equipped with a relative low level of world standardisation. This chapter aims to create a structured and general overview of the subject, by describing the different transportation modes, markets, actors and the information flow involved in the sea freight industry. Main contributors to the information in this section is Sandevärn and Markill. 3.2.1 Sea Freight Transportation Sea freight transportation of today can be divided into different type of freight segments. Figure 1a illustrates this structure.

Figure 1a. Segmentation of sea freight industry – cargo vessels. (Interview with Sandevärn, 2000)

Open Market

Roll on-Roll offVessels (Ro-Ro)

Container Vessels (Lo-Lo)

Vessels carryingtrucks only. (Trailer ferries)

Vessels carrying both cargo with and without wheels.

Sea Freight Industry

Dry Cargo

Bulk Homogenous goodsi.e. crops, powder

General Cargo Shipments i.e. inboxes, cartons, bagsetc

Tanker Gas, Oil, Chemicals,Offshore supply ops



Sea freight industry is divided into tanker shipments and dry cargo, the latter further subdivided into bulk and general cargo. Tanker, bulk and general cargo are the three main types of cargo transported over sea in the world today. In addition to the transportation modes shown in figure 1a, some cargo is also transported on board passenger ferries, figure 1b.

Figure 1b. Segmentation of sea freight industry. Combined passenger and cargo ships. 3.2.1.1 Tanker The tank segment includes transportation of fluid goods such as crude oil, refined oil, gas, chemicals and the like. The trend of building tankers larger than before has resulted in a world fleet of fewer but larger tankers. Today there are tankers in sizes of 560 000 DWT measuring over 450 meters in length. The tank transports are employed in the open market. 3.2.1.2 Bulk Bulk cargo is transported in a homogeneous form and is measured in weight and volume rather than numbers. Examples of bulk are: coal, grain, ores and concentrates, scrap, steel, cement, phosphate and fertiliser, etc. The bulk transports uses vessels especially equipped to handle these types of goods, which just as tankers are employed in the open market. (Gorton et al, 1979) 3.2.1.3 General Cargo General cargo is anything that is transported as manageable units and can be transported either in containers, on pallets or sometimes, but seldom in cartons. Large shipments of general cargo that do not fit into a container are placed on the vessel’s weather deck, usually on flat racks to facilitate handling. The market for general cargo transportation is characterised by vessels carrying many individual shipments associated with many different shippers and consignees. The ISO standardised container, TEU, is nowadays the dominating cargo holder in general cargo transportation. The TEU standard is well spread in sea freight industry allowing it to fit in container vessel’s cargo hatches, wharf cranes lifting devices and container lift trucks. The standard is also applied to the trucking and railway industry, which lets cargo to be taken off

Passenger traffic

Cruise Liners (Passengers only)

Ferries (Passengers and cargo)



the vessel and loaded onto the next mode of conveyance. Containers can be transported on container vessels as well as on Ro-Ro vessels. Whereas container vessels only carry containers, Ro-Ro vessels can also carry trucks and freight trains loaded with cargo. Loading and unloading is done by using a loading ramp which allows cargo to be rolled on and rolled off, hence the name Ro-Ro. Non wheeled cargo is moved using small fork lift trucks or other wheeled cargo movers. Mostly, general cargo is transported in liner traffic on vessels operated by Shipping Lines or liner conferences. A liner conference is a voluntary organisation whereby a number of ship owners offer their regulatory services to a series of ports. The trend of recent years has shown an increase in capacity size of newly ship building. The reason for that is the low marginal cost of carrying one more container on board compared to the loss of contribution when leaving containers behind because of capacity shortage. Today, numerous vessels can carry more than 6 000 TEU-containers, measuring over 340 meters in length. Most of these ships are owned by sea freight dominant Maersk - SeaLand. 3.2.1.4 The Open Market The open market is extremely fluctuating, where bringing trade deals to a closure at the right time is very important. This calls for a good portion of flair and sea transportation experience. (Gorton et al, 1979) At the moment a cargo load is ready to be shipped, it is advertised to the market and the carriers leave an offer on the freight amount. These deals are carried out through a freight broker, whose major responsibility is to bring cargo owners and suitable carriers together in trade deals. Price as well as quality of the transportation service is taken into consideration when choosing transporter, but also reputation is an important factor. Freight brokers monitoring the market pick up any wrong doing from transport service providers and soon this is the knowledge of the whole market. Sea transportation has been carried out long before modern time and in those days when goods owner and transporting party might not meet for months, sometimes years, mutual trust was essential and this tradition lives on today. Usually, only one shipper’s goods occupies the transporting ship at a time. This can also be done on a time-based deal, called a charter party. The charterer rents the ship for a period of time and can do all the transportation that is needed under a specific period of time. The care of the boat is regulated in the agreement. The chartering party either also charters the personnel or uses its own. Another solution is an agreement of continuing routes. The agreement ties the shipper and the vessel operator for a specified time or number of voyages.



This market is called open since it is open to all participators in sea transportation. 3.2.1.5. Liner Traffic A Shipping Line is a party that sails predestined travels between ports on a regular basis, at least once a month. This means a vessel or an association of these travels between specific ports on a fix schedule and loads whatever unitised goods are available for the moment in the particular harbour. Only about 10-15 % of the world’s total gross sea cargo weight are transported in liner traffic, much depending on the large number of high capacity tankers and dry bulk vessels operating on the world sea freight market taking a large share in the weight statistics. However, the number of shipments is widely dominating in liner traffic. 3.2.1.6 Long Term Contracting This sort of agreement between vessel operator and cargo owner is used when a large company continuously needs to make use of large-scale sea transportation. Forest products are often transported this way. Tanker Bulk General Cargo Liner traffic - - X Open market X X - Long term contract X X X Table 1. Types of cargo in different markets. An X marks relationship. 3.2.2 The Container The standardised container was developed in the 1960’s and has since then played an important role in the sea freight industry. The freight container is standardised by ISO in terms of length, width and fastening devices. The height may vary but 8´6´´ is normally referred to as the standard height and a 9´6´´ is called “high cube”. Thanks to the shape and size of the floor and standard measurements for points of attachments, the containers can easily be stacked on top of each other or moved around using cranes, container lifting trucks and road trucks. The length standard is divided into units of twenty feet, called TEU, short for Twenty foot Equivalent Unit. A container can therefore measure 20 or 40 feet long but lengths of 45 feet do also exist. Appendix 4 shows the main container types that are used.



3.2.3 Definition of participant roles in the sea cargo industry The defined participants below are all involved in the administration or transportation of containerised cargo shipped overseas. Their place in the logistic flow is illustrated in figure 4. 3.2.3.1 Shipper The sender of goods. The shipper can be any company, person or organisation sending goods for transportation, regardless transportation mode. 3.2.3.2 Consignee The receiver of goods. Any of Consignee or Shipper can be instigator of a transport, but most commonly the Consignee orders goods to be shipped. 3.2.3.3 Shipping Line A Shipping Line constitutes of one or several companies joined together operating one or several vessels in liner traffic. 3.2.3.4 Freight Forwarder A company responsible for undertaking export and import cargo arrangements on Shipper’s behalf. At a seaport it would include collection of freight; collection of Bills of Lading; notification of arrival and loading of goods; customs, import, and export documentation; payment of duties as necessary; issuing of certificates of shipment; arranging sorting of cargo, cold storage, warehousing, transport to destination; cargo or damage surveys and so on. Freight Forwarder is sometimes termed Forwarding Agent. 3.2.3.5 Trucker The Trucker hauls Shipper’s cargo to the port of departure’s Container Terminal or from the port of destination to the end Consignee. The Trucker works on commission by any of Freight Forwarder, Shipping Line, Shipper or Consignee. Either of these can also conduct the road hauling themselves by own means. The Trucker also carries the empty containers to and from the loading and stripping sites. 3.2.3.6 Container Terminal The container terminal is a storage area for containers in the transition between sea and road transportation. It also serves as a depot for containers currently not in use and a site for inspection and repair work. Empty containers are transported from the Container Terminal to the loading site for stuffing before shipping over sea. Depending on whether the cargo should be consolidated with other cargo or not, the loading site could be either at Shipper’s location or a



place arranged by the freight forwarder. Consolidated cargo in LCLs, is always stuffed at the latter, while FCLs can be loaded at either location. The Container Terminal is operated by stevedores who perform; loading and unloading containers from vessels, providing Truckers with incoming import containers for delivery or empty ones for stuffing, receiving stuffed export containers for dispatch or empty ones for inspection and inspecting and repairing containers. 3.2.3.7 Feeder Line The Feeder Line vessels travel between out ports in the region and the main port where containers are loaded on to the mother vessel. Shipping Lines buy this transportation service in order to reach customers far from the main ports. Feeder Lines are independent actors, but rely to a great extent on Shipping Lines.

Figure 2. The Feeder Line network in relation to the Shipping Line network 3.2.3.8 Liner Agent Major Shipping Lines operating on a world-wide market rely on local representatives when doing business locally. The representative serves as the interface between the Shipping Line and their local customers. Preferably, the representative is a local Liner Office, but having an office in every single seaport served would mean large investments and less flexibility. Instead, many times a Liner Agent fulfils the task of representation. The tasks include booking cargo on board the feeder and mother vessel and communicating with the local Container Terminal and harbour authorities. Liner Agents have the authority to book cargo on board the mother vessel in accordance to their TEU and weight allotment. The role of the Liner Agent is played by a company that may have one or more Shipping Line agencies. Shipping Line customers reached through



a Liner Agent only communicate with the Liner Agent in their business with the Shipping Line. Therefore, Liner Agent and Shipping Line appear to be the same actor in the eyes of the customer. 3.2.4 Sea Freight Scenarios The number of ways a sea freight shipment can be shipped is vast. Table 2 is a decision table that presents 17 varying factors from which every shipment needs to have either or. A shipment can only have qualities lined up directly below each other. The two main scenarios interesting for this investigation is when the Shipper employs a Freight Forwarder to administrate the shipment and the other when the Shipper handles all that work by himself. The general flow of information and goods for these are shown in figure 3 and 4. These figures were constructed from empirical interviews with persons having active operational roles in the industry.



Table 2. Overview of the possible scenarios for a sea cargo shipment, regarding factors listed in the left column. The table is read vertically from the top and down, presenting the different possibilities and constraints.

Through Freight Forwarder

Freight Forwarder No Freight Forwarder

Container Transportation Mode

FCL LCL FCL

House B/L H B/L No H B/L H B/L No H B/L

Road Transport Organiser Shipper Freight Forwarder Shipper Freight Forwarder Shipping Line Shipper Freight Forwarder Shipper Shipping Line

Truck Owner Shipper Local Trucker Freight Forwarder Shipper Local

TruckerFreight

Forwarder Local Trucker Shipping Line Shipper Local Trucker Freight

Forwarder Shipper Local Trucker Shipping Line

Stuffing Site Shipper / Loading Site Loading Site Shipper / Loading Site

Stripping Site Consignee / Loading Site Loading Site Consignee / Loading Site

Forwarder’s Cargo Receipt FCR / No FCR No FCR

Feeder Line Connection First Sea Leg / Last Sea Leg / First and Last Sea Leg / No Feeder Line Connection

Charging Prepaid charges / Collect Charges

Certificate of Origin Certificate of Origin / No Certificate of Origin

Booking Conditions Allotment / Booking when needed

Container Size 20’ / 40’ / 45’ / 53’

Letter of Credit Letter of Credit / No Letter of Credit

Express Bill of Lading Express Bill of Lading / Regular Bill of Lading

Container Type Standard / Open Top / High Cube / Platform / Flat Rack / Tank / Reefer / Bulk / Gas

Shipping Line Representative Local Office / Liner Agent

Depicted in Figure 4. Depicted in Figure 5.



3.2.5 Cargo and information flow in the sea freight industry 3.2.5.1 With assistance of a Freight Forwarder

Booking

Booking

Container

Term

inal

Out port

Container

Term

inal

Out port

Feeder Line

feeder vessel

Feeder Line

feeder vessel

Shipper

stuffing ofvendorsloadsFC

L

Trucker

unstuffingLCL

Trucker

stuffingFC

L & LC

L

ShippingL

ine

mother vessel

Container

Term

inal

Main port

Container

Term

inal

Main port

Consignee

unstuffingLCL

Liner A

gent /L

iner Office

Liner A

gent /L

iner Office

Importing Freight Forw

arder

Empty

Container

Empty

Container

Empty

Container

Empty

Container

CA

RG

OC

AR

GO

CA

RG

OC

AR

GO

CA

RG

OC

AR

GO

EmptyContainer

CARGO

EmptyContainer

CARGO

CA

RG

OC

AR

GO

CARGO

CARGO

Bookin Request

Shipping Instruction

House B/L

Instructions

Instructions

Status Query

Booking Confirmation

FCR

Freight Invoice

Freight Invoice

Freight Invoice

Status

G3

G2

G1

D3

D1

D2 A

B

CD

EF

GH I

J

A1

J1

3

1411

5

78

17

209

18a

d16

4

Container

no.10

House B

/L, P/A,

P/L, B/L

13 Invoice to splitprofit

21

Booking

Freight Invoice19

1

B/L12

Booking Confirmation2

Statusc

Status Query b

Notice of Arrival15


arder

Shipping Instructions 6

Figure 3. General cargo and information flow for a general sea cargo shipment. In this case the Shipper is assisted by a Freight Forwarder. A description of involved activities is found in Appendix 5.



3.2.5.2 Without assistance of a Freight Forwarder

Booking

Booking

Container

Term

inal

Out port

Feeder Line

feeder vessel

Shipper

stuffing ofvendor's load

FCL

Trucker

Trucker

ShippingL

ine

mother vessel

Container

Term

inal

Main port

Container

Term

inal

Main port

Consignee

unstuffingFC

L

Liner A

gent /L

iner Office

Liner A

gent /L

iner Office

Empty

Container

Empty

Container

Empty

Container

CA

RG

OC

AR

GO

CA

RG

OC

AR

GO

CA

RG

O

EmptyContainer

CARGO

CA

RG

O

CARGO

D3

D1

D2

B

C

EF

GH I

J

A1

3

78

2018

a16

9

19

6

15

Container

no.

Booking R

equest

Allocation

Shipping Instructions

1

B/L

3

Freight Invoice

3

Shipping Instructions

Freight Invoice

B/L

Notice of A

rrival

3

Status Query

Freight Invoice

3

Status InformationInstructions

Figure 4. General cargo and information flow in sea freight without Freight Forwarder assistance.



3.2.6 Market status concerning electronic documents Sea freight has as stated above always had a wide variety and complexity. This can also be said for electronic communication involved in sea messaging. Not only is the standard hard to set, but also different systems operate in different areas. There is two or three different kind of flows in shipping industry. First there is the flow of goods from shipper to consignee in a wide perspective. The involved parties are shipper, agent, shipping line, and consignee. In this community EDI is not used very much. Then there is the feeder traffic, which facilitates goods shipping to the major Shipping Lines. 3.2.7 Letter of Credit In addition to the information flows related to cargo transportation there is also a document flow for the payment process in case the reimbursement method is used. This flow involves a Letter of Credit, which specifies the goods and delivery terms and takes place between the Shipper, the Consignee and their respective banks. Shortly this means that the Consignee’s bank promise to pay the Shipper’s bank for goods agreed on in the trade contract. This way, the Consignee will be legally liable to pay his bank, while the Shipper can be sure of getting paid from his bank. Mainly this method is employed in trades with Africa and Asia, but could of course be used anywhere 3.3 Airfreight Air transportation is today the fastest mode of transportation over longer distances. Airfreight also differs from other modes of transport in that sense that the cargo mostly is not transported in aircrafts especially constructed for cargo. Instead, cargo is transported on board passenger planes in the belly of the airplane. (Lumsden, 1998) 3.3.1 Airfreight market In the last decades, the average annual growth for air transportation has been around 12-15%. This growth curve is expected to flatten out but the market will continue to expand, but with a more modest 7%. In the world air transportation market, there are hundreds of airlines having many thousands of aircrafts, which daily flies to more than 3 000 airports. Together these aircrafts combines for a total of more than 12 milllions tons of goods in 8 billions consignments. 3.3.2 IATA IATA, International Air Transport Association is an organisation for co-operation between the airlines of the western world. It has had and still has a big impact on the air transport industry with its regulation framework regulating all areas of the industry. As for example, the EDI messages that are



exchanged between airlines and their agents are of the IATA standardised cargo-IMP format on the SITA-network, also related to IATA. (Tradevision interviews) 3.3.3 Market status concerning electronic documents As described above, the cargo-IMP format is used to send EDI messages for cargo in the airfreight industry. The extensive SITA-network facilitates global use for this technology. Nevertheless, the usage rate for booking cargo through EDI is mainly used in Scandinavia, where around 40-45% of the bookings are sent by EDI. Combined with the rest of the world, the total percentage becomes considerable lower. (Air Cargo Interviews) 3.3.4 Actions involved in airfreight transportation Airlines use accepts bookings either directly to the office or through by IATA approved agents worldwide. These agents usually have the function of a freight forwarder and can therefore book larger quantities on board the airlines planes. The forwarding agent issues consignment notes – Air Waybills, but also have an own consignment note – House Air waybill for internal processes. See figure 5 for illustration of involved information and cargo flow in the airfreight industry. This figure was constructed from empirical interviews with persons having active operational roles in the industry. (Tradevision interviews)



3.3.5 Cargo and information flow in the airfreight industry

Export

Custom

sC

learance

Export

Custom

sC

learance

ShipperT

ruckerT

ruckerA

irline

Main carrier

Import

Custom

sC

learance

Export

Custom

sC

learance

Consignee


arder / Airline A

gent

CA

RG

OC

AR

GO

CA

RG

OC

AR

GO

CA

RG

O

CARGO

CARGO

CA

RG

OC

AR

GO

Bookin Request

AWB

Instructions

Instructions

Status Query


Freight Invoice

Freight Invoice

Freight Invoice

Status

BookingBooking Confirmation

Status

Status Query


arder / Airline A

gent

AWB

FeederA

irlineFeederA

irline

CARGO

CARGO

B ooking

CA

RG

O

Hou se A

WB

,M

anifes t

Documents

Documents

Figure 5. General cargo and information flow in airfreight



3.4 EDI – Electronic Data Interchange EDI, Electronic Data Interchange is a way of indicating what type of information a transmitted data packet contains. This can be done in a number of different ways, called standards or formats. A summary of the most commonly used EDI-standards is found later on in this chapter. 3.4.1 EDI’s place in corporate business In order to understand the function of EDI better, it is important to know its place in corporate strategy. First of all, EDI is not an end in it self, only a means to achieve improved trade procedures. By the Swedish Trade Procedures Council’s definition, trade procedures are all the administrative actions needed to support the trading of goods and services. One of several subsets in trade procedures is electronic commerce, where EDI is only one of the components included. In this perspective, EDI becomes a more important part of the function in the whole trade procedure. Hence, EDI should not be treated as a separate activity, but be placed in a larger perspective. As a result, issues concerning EDI will be more focused on corporate strategy than on systems development. (Fredholm, 1997)

Trade Procedures Electronic Commerce EDIXML

ANSIX12

Otherstandards

EDIFACT

ODETTE

Cargo-Imp

Figure 6. EDI’s place in corporate strategy 3.4.2 What is electronic commerce? Electronic commerce involves the replacement of paper documents, and the common methods of transferring them from company to company, such as fax and e-mail, with the electronic communication of information otherwise known as EDI (Electronic Data Interchange). Using structured electronic messages, data about business transactions can be transferred directly from one computer to another, thereby allowing that transaction to be completed solely by means of a computer. EDI solves many of the problems of hardware and software incompatibility that have hindered the advancement of computer development in the industry for some time. Because it automates the transfer of business information from one computer to another, EDI is particularly applicable to industries which make repeated use of documents containing data on the same



subjects in the course of day-to-day operations. The transportation industry uses many such documents: Equipment Interchange Receipts, repair estimates, survey reports, etc., are all examples. (Fredholm, 1997) 3.4.3 Functional description of EDI EDI can be described as a structured way of sending electronic information. The information is sent between two parties in a form of a data file. Just like any other data file, the information part of the file is embedded in a number of parameters telling the system how to send and read the file, allowing it to pass through the different layers of data communication. The embedded information part in an EDI file is a string of characters with identifiers indicating which kind of data that follows before the next identifier in the string. These identifiers are predefined in what is called a standard, that is a nomenclature for an agreed data format. Therefore, two parties communicating via EDI do only need to agree on which standard to use. Fortunately, there is no need to define the standard oneself, since there exist a few wide spread EDI standards in the world today. These will be further described in chapter 3.4.6. 3.4.4 Why use EDI? The most common reasons for implementing EDI or other forms of electronic commerce in business contacts is the potential competitive advantage or pressure from the surroundings. When an important and large business partner strongly requests EDI-communication, small companies have no choice than to accept this new way of doing business. Sometimes EDI-implementation can also be part of a wide restructuring of internal processes and thus be one of several actions to achieve improved business procedures. An interesting point of view is that a firm not paying enough attention to the EDI development, does probably neither pay enough attention to their own product development. This supplier would therefore not be considered to be a good choice in the long run anyway. (Fredholm, 1997) Some truth may be in that. Fredholm lists possible advantages of an EDI-implementation: Cost reduction The extensive paperwork especially in international business takes a lot of time to administrate. By using EDI instead of paper copies for information exchange, the registration will occur automatically and can be reused in further processing. Compared to manual registration this provides possibilities for extensive rationalising.



Quality improvement Fewer manual operations minimise risks for errors. That means less costly resources has to be put on tracing errors. This contributes to a win-win situation for the involved parties. Time saving An EDI message may not arrive any faster to the company than a fax message. But since the EDI message is processed in the system automatically right away without waiting for an administrator to deal with it, considerably timesavings are done. More frequent information This automatic course of events means that information can be updated more frequent, maybe even continuously. Orders can be sent incomplete and updated later on and as often as desired, in difference to for example gathering all the orders once a week. This way, suppliers can better plan transports and production, which in the end also benefits the customer. More information Valuable yet not required information may not fit on a paper document, like an order document. It may be not worth adding an extra sheet for that information. In an EDI message there is practically unlimited space. The marginal cost of letting your supplier know that additional information is close to nothing when using an EDI message. Shorter lead times The minimisation of administration tasks cuts the response times to a minimum between two enterprises. The flow of material is therefore easier to manage and can be run more efficient. The processes of ordering, delivery, invoicing and paying can all be shortened. Capital rationalising Shorter lead times means decreased stock needs for both seller and buyer. Warehouse assets are possible to lower and stock turn over rate will increase. This is one of the main reasons companies state when asked why they have implemented EDI. 3.4.5 Who uses EDI? Earlier, usage of EDI involved direct connections between companies’ computer systems on for example an X25 connection. Such a direct link meant large investments, which made this mainly attainable to bigger companies that



could justify the investment with many cost rationalising data transactions. The alternative of using a dial-up link via modem was also costly in the long run. Today EDI can be used by practically anyone. The newly developed technique of sending EDI-messages on the Internet over the TCP/IP protocol makes it also accessible to small firms. The instances having most use of the application is companies having to deal with physical industrial flows between different locations. (Fredholm, 1997) In these processes information about the goods is trivial regardless of whether sender and receiver is within the company organisation or not. 3.4.6 EDI-standards 3.4.6.1 Description of different EDI standards

3.4.6.1.1 EDIFACT

In the 1980’s electronically sent documents existed in several different standards for different regions or business areas. In order to create a common standard, the United Nations initiated an agreement in 1987, called EDIFACT. (Fredholm, 1997) EDIFACT stands for “EDI For Administration, Commerce and Transport”, thus covering all areas in need of electronic messaging today. As every decision within the UN must be unanimous, the outcome was destined to become a compromise. By taking half of the American and half of the European regulations EDIFACT was created. Even though the solution was not optimal to the end user, a common standard had been established to facilitate electronic business communication between the continents. EDIFACT is a framework of regulations for how to outline the information in a data file. On this basis, appointed work groups in regional EDIFACT boards create business specific message types. In the group for finance, there are bank people, in trade, businessmen and logisticians and so on. The development of new and improved message types continues as we speak.

3.4.6.1.2 Cargo-IMP

IATA has developed an EDI standard for use in the airline industry. This standard has a similar structure as EDIFACT. Cargo-IMP is the prevailing standard in the airline community today, but is not used at all outside this area.

3.4.6.1.3 ANSI X12

This American standard was set by ANSI, American National Standard Institute, before the introduction of EDIFACT. (The Computer Desktop



Encyclopedia) In 1997 X12 merged with EDIFACT, but is still widely spread in Northern America. It needs therefore to be taken into consideration for a period time when dealing with EDI issues. Businesses already using the X12 standard have no reason to implement a new EDI-standard as it is costly and gives no added value as long as the old standard fulfils the task. In 1994 a decision was taken to continue the maintenance of the X12 standard as long as there is need for it. The maintenance need is believed to persist at least 20 more years. (Fredholm, 1997) North American businesses with primarily national interests like retail and transportation are the main group of X12-users. They represent large commercial interests, which means that the standard will continue to be extensive and significant. The companies acting on the international market use EDIFACT since this is what they meet on the global scene and also from the American government.

3.4.6.1.4 XML

Technically, XML can not be compared to other EDI standards even though it can be used as a substitute for EDI messages. The Computer Desktop Encyclopedia describes XML, EXtensive Markup Language, as an open standard for describing data. It can be used for defining data elements on business-to-business documents, as well as on a Web page. It uses a similar tag structure as HTML; however, whereas HTML defines how elements are displayed, XML defines what those elements contain. HTML uses predefined tags, but XML allows tags to be defined by the developer. Thus, virtually any data items, such as product, sales representative and amount due, can be identified. By providing a common method for identifying data, XML supports business-to-business transactions and is expected to become the dominant format for electronic data interchange. Since its introduction, XML has been hyped as the panacea to e-commerce, but it's only a first step. The human-readable XML tags provide a simple data format, but the intelligent defining of these tags and common adherence to their usage will determine their value. Unlike HTML, which uses a rather loose coding style tolerant of coding errors, XML pages have to be "well formed," which means they must comply with rigid rules. 3.4.6.2 EDI usage in the sea freight industry The sea freight industry has always been heavily depending on traditional methods and rules. With this in mind, it is not surprising that any EDI network for cargo administration not yet exists in the industry. However, there are scattered networks for managing cargo loading and unloading at the ports. These networks are though not as extensive to be called an industry spanning network.



4 Theory 4.1 Theory W and Win-Win In development of IT-systems there are quite a few interested parties, as for example users, customers, upper management, administrators and project members. For the IT-system to be successful, it has to meet the requirements of each and one of these parties. This can be troublesome since the parties win-conditions often contradict, which calls for a careful approach to the unavoidable compromises. The parties’ win-conditions usually differ in characteristics. Users want reliable and usable systems, while customers give priority to a system that meet expectations on time and budget. Upper management often has ambitious project objectives, but still wanting it on time and budget. Administrators want the system to be well documented, bug-free and easy to maintain. Some project members may have ideas for technical solutions that they want to realise. Theory W and Win-win (Karlsson, 1998) deal with the issue of parties having contradictory requirements and give guidelines on how to solve this problem in an effective way. The general purpose is to make all parties winners. This is carried out by identifying all interested parties for the system and their specific requirements in a systematic way. After that, win-win conditions will be created. This is done in three steps. 1) Find out how the interested parties want to win

This step is divided in two parts; a) Identify all the interested parties in the project b) Find out and analyse the different parties win-conditions

2) Create reasonable expectations Parties like customers and developers have difficulties to make realistic estimates of other parties. E.g. customers overrate the project manager’s ability to make time and cost estimates, while developers overrates the users’ computer skills and understanding of the developed system.

3) Individually adjust statements to interested parties’ win-conditions This step consist of two parts: a) Identify win-win conditions b) Balance the contradictory objectives to find maximised win-win

conditions. An example of this would be to come up with an argument for someone that doesn’t like to document work progress, like: “quality assurance may seem less stimulating right now, but it is a very good career booster.”



4.2 Requirements as Win-win conditions A party’s explicit requirement directly corresponds to a win-condition. The process of creating win-win conditions from these, consists of four steps:

Win-condition

Conflict

Alternative

Agreementsatifies

could contain

is solved by

leads to

Figur 8. To create win-win conditions (Karlsson, 1998) 1. Identify interested parties’ win conditions

A win condition is usually stated in three ways; as a "win", "satisfactory" and "lose" condition. "Win" describes the most desirable scenario, "satisfactory" a satisfactory and "lose" the least desirable.

2. Identify conflicts between win conditions Critical conflicts arise where at least one party’s win condition grades “lose”.

3. Identify alternatives to solve conflicts The conflicting requirement can be broken down in smaller parts and reshaped for a compromise that still meets the main requirement of the two parties.

4. Reach an agreement between parties Make sure the interested parties both are satisfied with the solved conflict. This should result in a win-win situation.



5 Analysis 5.1 System requirements analysis When using theory W and win-win, interested parties and their requirements should be listed. Since there has been no customers or speaking partners involved in the requirements stating process, the requirements below are taken from parties interviewed during the course of this thesis. Interview summary can be found in appendix 2. The sources of the requirements have neither been approached for verification. This will mean that the analysis result should be considered as a general guideline rather than statements of requirements for this system. Also, theory W and win-win divide each found requirement in “win”, “satisfactory” and “lose”, indicating three different levels of fulfilment. Needless to say, such grading is not possible to make with available material. 5.1.1 Interested parties’ requirements for a sea freight messaging system Freight Forwarders

• The customer booking should include container type • EDI bookings of cargo on vessels should be possible in the system • Receive instant booking confirmation • Ability to identify item whereabouts when shipment are split in more

than one container • Possible to send status queries and receive an answer from the system • Send shipping instructions to the Shipping Line • Receive issued B/L electronically from the Shipping Line based on the

previously sent shipping instruction. • Exchange cargo information with feeder traffic • Wilson wants to receive EDIFACT messages into their own tracking

engine Wiltrack • Bookings should be possible to do from within the in-house freight

forwarding system • Access services from the system in the in-house system • Access information on when import containers are ready for pick up

from the container terminal • Automatically be notified of delays and other events affecting the

shipment delivery • Receive B/L electronically • Access status information on both import and export goods

INTTRA • INTTRA would like Tradevision to generate EDI traffic to INTTRA

EDI Message Developer



• No gain in merging the EDI network of seaports with this system. Product Development Department, Tradevision

• Separate air and sea transportation services in the system • A shipment should be able to identify using the customers own product

purchase order number • There has to be an FSR functionality for sea freight • The best solution from development point of view would be a web site

with connections to other portals Marketing and Sales Department, Tradevision

• Services offered in the system should be the same as for airfreight. No sea freight specific modifications have to be made.

• Electronic L/C should be left out of the system • A co-operation with INTTRA is crucial for success • Tradevision should not limit their business to only one portal, INTTRA. • At a later stage exchange messages with the NOL portal • A one minute waiting time for a status query is acceptable

5.2 Identify conflicts In the requirements above, five conflicts can be found 1) The freight forwarders want to access the system through their own in-house

freight forwarding system while the development department thinks a web site interface would be the best solution.

2) Freight forwarders want to incorporate container terminals in the system, while the EDI message developer did not think anyone would benefit from that.

3) Marketing department thinks no services should be modified from airfreight, while Freight forwarders wants to receive B/L, not issue as in airfreight.

4) Freight Forwarders like s to exchange cargo information with feeder lines, while Tradevision focuses on connecting to INTTRA.

5) Freight forwarders like to have an instant booking confirmation while Tradevision estimates a one minute waiting time to be acceptable.

5.3 Alternatives to solve conflicts 1) Important customers e.g. Wilson having their own in-house system for

tracking shipment should be able to access the shipment database through EDI exchange, while others employ a web site interface for the system. The customer should pay for any extra development for in-house modifications.

2) Apparently, the EDI message developer didn’t know that Freight Forwarders would benefit from accessing container terminals in the system. This could be a future development.



3) The system needs to be modified to receive the consignment note instead of issue it.

4) Information about shipments onboard feeder lines can be obtained through the main carriers freight system. This will probably mean that this information could be reached through INTTRA.

5) “Instant” confirmation for a freight forwarder is probably measured in minutes, since the confirmation now returns around an hour after the booking request. Also, Tradevision should have the ability to provide shorter answering times than one minute.

5.4 Sea freight compared to airfreight 5.4.1 Differences: Longer transportation time: A voyage from Gothenburg to Hong Kong takes around 29 days. Knowing that, one day delay may not be of any harm. This calls for good planning of shipments but also less demand for precision. A container needs to be booked in advance, further prolonging the lead-time for sea transportation. In airfreight, no container has to be booked, only the cargo, and travel time counts in hours rather than days and weeks, meaning a delay of a couple of hours can be crucial. Transport volume: One of the largest commercial jet freighters today, Boeing 747 Freighter 400, amount to 31 % of the world’s freighter fleet capability and can hold up to 735 m3. In comparison to the containerships, which can range from 200 to 6 600 TEU, that is a small volume. A standard TEU holds 33 m3, which means that the largest containership can carry up to 220 000 m3, around 300 times of a Boeing 747. The trend in containership building is also pointing to a world fleet of even larger vessels. Consignment Note: The well-regulated and standardised airfreight industry uses an Air Waybill when transporting shipments. The sea freight industry has yet not come to that same level of standardisation with the corresponding Bill of Lading. Even though the same information is submitted on every B/L, each Shipping Line uses a company specific form layout, which complicates a print out from a common computer system. Standardised regulation framework: IATA has developed a range of standards used in the airline industry. The airfreight industry uses the SITA-network to access airlines to communicate



electronic messages for cargo administration operations. Any such network do not exists in the sea freight industry, meaning the issue of connecting to the Shipping Lines needs to be resolved before commencing a sea cargo messaging system.Preferably, the Internet will be used, both for web browser operations and EDI-exchange. Possible connection solutions are either to a single Shipping Line or multiple in one interface through a Shipping Line portal, e.g INTTRA. More extensive container usage: General cargo in the airfreight industry can be sent as regular small packages. For the sea freight industry, the smallest manageable unit is the TEU container. Although parcels are stuffed into a container before taken on board the airplane, a ULD – Unit Load Device, these mostly serves as lifting and sorting devices while travelling inside the airplane. The ULDs are loaded at the airport in connection to take off from the port of departure and unloaded after landing at the port of arrival The ULD can be transferred between different airlines if it needs to use several flight legs. A ULD do have specific reference numbers, but are only used by the airlines as opposed to a sea cargo TEU where the container number should be traceable the whole way of transportation. The sea freight container is an ISO standardised TEU container which carry a unique reference number. The container is used along the whole way of transport since the standardised measurements also have been deployed on cranes, road transportation vehicles and train wagons. Earlier closing time: For sea shipment, new cargo entries on the manifest normally closes around 48 hours before departure. Cargo can be loaded onboard a ship until one hour before departure, but customer drop off closes several hours before that. Air cargo closes entries generally three hour before departure for the air freighters and one and a half hours for passenger aircraft. Cargo can be dropped off till that time too. Different roles for involved parties: Freight forwarders that are IATA approved agents, has the authority to issue and print an Air Waybill. The sea consignment note Bill of Lading can very seldom be issued by any other party than the Shipping Line or its dedicated agencies. Mostly the B/L is issued centrally and later sent by mail to respective receiving parties. This means that for ocean cargo, there is Liner Agents having the job of booking cargo onboard the ship and also handle the cargo paperwork for the Shipping Line.



Carrier business advantage: Freight Forwarders generally do business having small margins of cost. Freight Forwarders in the sea freight industry have even less margins compared to an airfreight forwarder. This means that Freight Forwarders in sea freight has to comply stricter with the wills and wishes of Shipping Lines than their colleagues working towards airlines. Fewer, more dominating actors: In the general air cargo industry of today, there exists around 400 airlines that are competing on the international freight market, more or less having equal market shares. In the sea freight industry the five biggest Shipping Lines control around 95 % of the market. These are Maersk Sea-Land, Evergreen, APL, P&O NedLloyd and Hapaq-Lloyd. Greater consolidation needs: Sea cargo needs to be consolidated whenever a shipment is too small to fill a whole TEU. Air cargo does not have these physical restrictions for what must and what can be consolidated. This means that small shipments can be sent without the demand for consolidation. Different dangerous code classifications: Standards for classifying dangerous goods is used for both air and sea cargo. IATA regulates also this in airfreight through their Dangerous Goods Regulations, DGR. The authority in charge on the sea cargo side is IMO, International Maritime Organization, which uses an own standard called IMDG. These two standards may correspond quite a bit, but it is unwise to presume that they are fully compatible. 5.4.2 Similarities: Own consignment notes: Freight Forwarders often use own consignment notes in both air and sea freight. A House Waybill, HWB, that are used for air cargo corresponds to a House Bill of Lading, H B/L, in sea transportation. Allotment booking: Both industries facilitate allotment bookings - that is a scheduled booking on board a plane or ship. A Freight Forwarder referring to such a space when submitting consignment details through Tradevision’s system to an airline, has to specify the allotment ID in a free text remark. Normally, airlines can not automatically identify an allotment booking and those who do uses it only



rarely. Preferably, this should be facilitated in an electronic sea freight messaging system. Reimburse payment: The reimburse payment method can be used in both means of transportation. This fact points towards a possible solution for providing electronic B/L since AWBs connected to a Letter of Credit can be processed in Tradevision’s systems. Manifest of cargo: A manifest lists all cargo onboard a plane or ship or all cargo onboard having the same sender, usually a Freight Forwarder. Freight forwarding: Freight Forwarders consolidates cargo from several Shippers both in air and sea freight. Chain of status information: The original Shipper or end Consignee asks his Freight Forwarder for status on shipped cargo. The Freight Forwarder then turns to applicable carrier, who answers back after checking their cargo status system. Finally, the Shipper or Consignee receives an answer to the query.



6 Conclusions Tradevision has the full capability to develop an electronic messaging system for the sea freight industry. This chapter concludes findings about development of this system. 6.1 Systems boundary Initially, the parties interacting with the system will be Shipping Lines and Freight Forwarders sending shipments overseas. Shipping Lines that can be reached through INTTRA, the group for electronic sea messaging, should preferably be accessed through the same. This will benefit Tradevision in two ways: 1) Several Shipping Lines can be reached using only one interface, meaning

lower developing cost. 2) Having INTTRA as an information provider for the system will attract many

customers from the Freight Forwarding segment, which is Tradevision’s main area of interest for business.

Tradevision should work actively to connect those Shipping Lines not members of INTTRA to the Tradevision systems. Either by contacting other electronic sea messaging groups of Shipping Lines now emerging in the global sea freight market or approaching the Shipping Lines directly. The functions available should include

• booking request • shipping instruction for the Bill of Lading information • cargo status information, both requested and unsolicited automatic

messages Figure 7 illustrates the proposed system boundary and events taken care of in this electronic sea messaging system.



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The grey area in figure 7 illustrates the system boundary in Tradevision’s ocean cargo messaging system. This system does not interact with Liner Agencies, even though they might get access it through Shipping Lines. Events included in the area are functions in focus for development. The information flow of interest in figure 7 is simplified in figure 8.

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Figure 8. Tradevision’s focus of events processed in the electronic sea messaging system. 6.2 Guidelines for system requirements Requirements found out in informal interviews have resulted in a set of wishes that should be considered as a wish list rather than actual requirements.

• Important customers e.g. Wilson having their own in-house system for tracking shipment should be able to access the shipment database through EDI exchange, while others employ a web site interface for the system. The customer should pay for any extra development for in-house modifications.

• The system needs to be modified to receive the consignment note instead of issue it.

• Include container terminals in the system in the future development plan. 6.3 Issues to resolve with INTTRA. Initially, there are few issues of interest to resolve with INTTRA.

• What EDI format is desirable to use? • Will Tradevision connect to all INTTRAs members through a common

interface? • Will status be reported on container, shipment or item level?

Of course there are numerous additional questions that needs to be answered before a fully functional co-operation with INTTRA is a reality. These initial questions are intended to point the following questions in the right direction.



6.4 Further work Interesting additional functionality would be to incorporate other parties as well in the sea freight industry like container terminals and depots. This way the container number can be reported directly into the system instead of being faxed to the Shipping Line, resulting in shorter time until the container is traceable in the system. Yet another party bringing added value to the system would be the customs if they would be able to offer an electronic service for exchanging goods clearing documents. Further analysis would here be needed to resolve what kind of document exchange would be needed and the readiness each and every respective country has in this issue. Two suitable pilot areas would be the Swedish and the British customs. The Swedish customs has advanced a long way in this issue with their Tulldata system. As for the British, Tradevision management and sales have earlier had ideas and talks on how to approach the customs authority. 6.5 Discussion Within the scope of this investigation, several final theses could have been carried out to a deeper level. As this report was a high-level overview, deeper investigations would have revealed more detailed information. For one thing, investigating detailed requirements of functionality in the new system would have been one suitable work task. The usability of the existing airfreight system could be investigated to find out how to design the interface for sea freight system users. Also, possible marketing issues to investigate includes market phasing, pricing strategy, competition analysis and strategic alliances with different shipping lines and sea freight Internet portals. On the technical side, there are still many questions on how to implement this in terms of internal system structure and software usage. These deeper analyses are now though out of effect, since the development of the system already has begun as well as sales activities for sea freight. One major setback in this report is that contacts with the crucial actor INTTRA was not as extensive as needed. Since they were considered a key factor for success more energy could have been spent investigating INTTRA requirements and business plan. This report investigates sea freight more thorough than airfreight. A more thorough mapping of the airfreight industry would not have contributed much to the conclusions of the report though.



7 Literature Branch, Alan E.; Dictionary of shipping international business trade terms and abbreviations 4th edition. (1995) Witherby. London. ISBN 1 85609 086 8. Fredholm, Peter; Elektroniska affärer. (1997) Studentlitteratur. Lund. ISBN 91-44-00404-4 Gorton, Lars; Ihre, Rolf; Sandevärn, J. Arne; Befraktning. (1979) Liber Tryck. Stockholm. ISBN 91-23-92231-1. International Air Transport Association; Cargo community systems directory and guidelines 5th edition. (1996) ISBN 92-9035-905-6. Karlsson, Joachim; Framgångsrik kravhantering – vid utveckling av programvarusystem – 2nd edition. (1998) Industrilitteratur. Stockholm. ISSN 1103-7008. Lumsden Kenth; Logistikens grunder. (1998) Studentlitteratur. Lund. ISBN 91-44-00424-9 Course PC Pro Course, Tradevision AB, Charlotte Wahl, Copenhagen 2000-10-09 Internet Computer Desktop Encyclopedia provided by The Computer Language Company. Available at (http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia/) 2000-10-20, 12:50 Merriam-Webster OnLine: Collegiate Dictionary. 2001. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary.htm (19 Feb. 2001).



8 Personal references Shipping Lines Poul Bjerre, IT related issues, Maersk Sealand Göran Pettersson, Logistician, Hamburg Süd Norden AB Anne-Marie Wallin, Sales Manager / Customer Service, Hamburg Süd Norden AB Freight Forwarders Ina Aas, Overseas responsible, Martens Inter Freight A/S Tommy Carlbom, Manager, Scandinavian Gateway AB Magnus Ejdervall, Sea freight responsible, ScanAm Transport AB Jan-Eric Josefsson, Wilson Logistics Sweden AB Jan Sillén, Manager, Molinuex Spedition AB Thommy Persson, MSAS Aerocar Spedman - Exel Ted Runsten, Projectleader, Wilson Logistics Holding AB Feeder Lines Jan Claesson, Sales Manager, Team Lines Sverige AB Air Cargo Johan Almkvist, Functional support, Tradevision AB and former SAS Cargo employee Robert Skoog, IT related issues, SAS Cargo EDI Message Development Ger Endenburg, Secretary of SMDG and Managing Director of Copas B.V. Liner Agencies Staffan Lennquist, Manager, Overseas Liner Agencies Sea Freight Consultant J. Arne Sandevärn, Master mariner, author, professional educator and consultant in sea freight. Tradevision Business References Claes Borglin, CEO Per Hansson, Vice President, Product Development & Delivery Allan Harsbo, Senior Vice President, Marketing & Sales Jan Markill, Sales Manager Denmark & Southern Sweden and former Maersk Logistics employee



Appendix 1. Sea freight industry glossary From “Dictionary of shipping international business trade terms and abbreviations”, Alan E. Branch – 4th edition, ISBN 1 85609 086 8, Witherby & Co. Ltd, London 1995. Bill of Lading A receipt of goods shipped on board a ship signed by the person (or his agent) who contracts to carry them, and stating the terms on which the goods are carried. It is required by the importer to clear the goods at the port of destination. The Letter of Credit will specify what type of Bill of Lading is required. The Bill of Lading information includes 1. the name of the shipping company; the name of the shipper (usually the exporter) 2. the name and address of the importer (consignee) or orderer 3. the name and address of the notify party (the person to be notified on arrival of the shipment usually the importer) 4. the name of the carrying vessel 5. the names of the ports of shipment and discharge 6. the marks and numbers identifying the goods 7. a brief description of the goods (possibly including weights and dimensions) 8. the number of packages 9. whether freight is payable or has been paid 10. the number of originals in the set 11. the signature of the ship’s master or his agent 12. the date on which the goods were received for shipment and/or loaded on the vessel (this must not be later than the shipment date indicated in the credit) 13. and the signature of the exporter (or his agent). Bills of Lading are usually made out in signed sets of two or three original copies known as negotiable copies, any one of which can give title to the goods. The number of copies in a set is shown on each copy. There may also be non-negotiable (unsigned) copies which are not documents of title and are normally used for record purposes. The credit will indicate how the various copies of the Bill of Lading are to be distributed. The reverse of the Bill of Lading bears the terms and conditions of the contract of carriage. The clauses on most Bills of Lading will be similar in effect if not in wording. A Bill of Lading should be ‘clean’, i.e. contain no superimposed clause recording a defective condition of the goods or the packing.



The goods can be consigned ‘to order’ which means the importer can authorise someone to collect the goods on his behalf. In this case the Bill of Lading will be indorsed, normally on the reverse side, by the exporter. If the importer (consignee) is named, the goods will only be released to him, unless he transfers his right by endorsement. The Bill of Lading must, however, provide for this. Bulk cargo Cargo usually a homogeneous raw material shipped in bulk i.e. complete shipments. Carrier The operator company / entity who contracts to provide the transport service which may be by rail, road, ship, air, hovercraft or canal. For example it includes the air carrier issuing the Air Waybill and all air carriers that carry or undertake to carry the cargo; thereunder or to perform any other services related to such air carriage. Certificate of Origin Specific form identifying the goods, in which the authority empowered to issue it certificates expressly that the goods to which the certificate relates originates in a specific country. It thereby usually enables the importer to obtain concessionary import duties. The certificate may also include a declaration by the manufacturer, producer, supplier, exporter or other competent person. A certificate of origin will normally give the following details; the name and address of the exporter; the name and address of the importer; a description of the goods; the country of origin of the goods; the signature and seal or stamp of the certifying body. Charter party A contract whereby a ship owner agrees to place his ship or part of it at the disposal of a merchant or other person (known as a charterer) for the carriage of goods from one port to another on being paid freight or to let his ship for a specified period, his remuneration being known as hire money. Also applies to aircraft. Collect charges Those charges raised by the carrier to collect the goods / merchandise / shipment from the consignee.



Container A container is a transportable unit permitting intermodal unitised merchandise distribution which may be national or international. This may be involved on FCL or LCL type of consignment. Most container types are built to ISO standards. The usual container modular size is 2,45m x 2,45m with a varying length of 3,05m, 6,10m, 9,15m or 12,20m. A wide variety of containers exist including covered dry, top loader, bulk liquid, bulk powder, bin type, skeleton, refrigerated and so on. Deadweight Vessel carrying capacity viz. fuel, stores, water, crew, based on 1,000 kgs to deadweight ton. Feeder vessel The ship that carries the containers to and from the mother vessel. Freight Freight is the reward payable to the carrier for the carriage and arrival of goods in a mercantile or recognised condition, ready to be delivered to the merchant; or cargo other than mail. Full container load A container stuffed or stripped under responsibility and for account of the shipper or the consignee; or for operational purposes a container to which no cargo can be added during the time it is transported under full container load conditions, and the container is stuffed or stripped under the responsibility and for the account of the shipper or consignee. House Bill of Lading A document of carriage issued by a Freight Forwarder to his principal. Less than container load A container which is filled with consignments of cargo for more than one consignee or from more than one shipper. Overall it is a parcel of cargo too small to fill a container which is grouped by the carrier at a consolidation site with other compatible cargo for the same region. Letter of Credit A Letter of Credit is an instrument by which a bank undertakes to pay the seller (exporter) for his goods providing he complies with the conditions laid down in the credit. Whilst ensuring that the exporter receives payment for his goods it



also gives the importer (buyer) the confirmation that he will not have to part with his money until he is presented with documents evidencing that the stipulated conditions have been fulfilled. The credit specifies when payment is to be made. Usually this is either: when the documents are presented to the paying bank or at some future date, usually within 180 days of receipt of the documents by the paying bank. Such a method of payment is common in export sales contracts. Overall it is a letter issued by a Bank authorising credit to a correspondent. Lift on / Lift off vessels Usually cellular vessels which are loaded or unloaded with containers by means of a gantry crane, over the ship’s side. Liner A vessel habitually employed on a regular schedule and loading and discharging at specific ports. It may be under Liner Conference conditions. Liner Conference Voluntary organization whereby a number of shipowners – often of different nationality – offer their regulatory services to a series of ports on a given sea route on conditions agreed by the members. Manifest Inventory of cargo on board a ship/aircraft, or list of passangers which is usually termed passenger list. Manifest, cargo A list of cargo to be dispatched by a particular flight or sailing. Manifest of cargo A summary of cargo loaded on a ship. This would include its weight / measurement, freight details and total amount – whether prepaid or payable at the destination, port of departure and destination; nature of cargo and so on. Such a manifest is usually termed a freight manifest. Mother vessel A vessel travelling in liner traffic between the main ports of the world. The mother vessel call at main ports where it is supplied by smaller vessels and also offloads cargo which is placed on another smaller vessel for shipment to an out port. The smaller vessel is called a feeder vessel.



Packing List In some trades the packing list document is used. This provides a list of the contents of a package/consignment(s). In particular it will include the number and kind of packages, their contents, overall net and gross weight usually in kilograms, the dimension(s) of the package(s) including length, width and height, and finally, the cube of the package(s). The document is often referred to as ‘packing not’ and may feature the package marking. Pre paid charges The process of entering charges on the consignment note for payment by the Shipper. Roll on / Roll off vessel A vehicular ferry onto which wheeled cargo is conveyed and transhipped by being driven on/off the ship via a ramp. Shipment One or more pieces of goods accepted by the carrier from one shipper at one time and at one address, receipted for in one lot and moving on one B/L to one consignee at one destination address. Shipping Line A shipowner offering regular sailings for cargo and / or passengers involving specified ports. Stripping The process of unpacking a container. Stuffing The process of loading a container. Tanker A steamer or motor vessel in which for example oils; molasses; or chemicals are transported in bulk. TEU Twenty foot equivalent unit. Technique of quantifying ISO containers i.e. 1 * 40 ft = 2 TEU; 1 * 20 ft = 1 TEU. Vessel A ship.



Appendix 2. Interview summary Responses to EDI usage in the transportation industry From Freight Forwarders Wilson Logistics • Today it is possible to acquire status on cargo shipped with Wilson on their

web site. These statuses are inputted manually by Wilson after researching using regular phone calls.

• Wilson uses only one EDI message for sea freight; for the House Bill of Lading. This message has at some occasions also been sent to Shipping Lines as a shipping instruction.

Martens Interfreight A/S • In the freight managing computer system for Hapaq-Lloyd, which Martens

accesses as a Hapaq-Lloyd Liner Agent, it is possible to view all details of the shipment; tariffs, status information, tracing and there is also a booking function through their common e-mail system.

• Lately, there has been an increase in Express B/L, meaning that no physical B/L is needed for the transportation. Instead, the Shipper receives a receipt of dispatch and the shipment is registered in the Shipping Line computer system. The receiver then only has to identify himself for picking up the cargo at the port of destination.

MSAS Aerocar Spedman - Exel • Status information can be found in the in-house freight forwarding computer

system. It is faster to look it up in the physical papers though. • Sometimes Express Bills of Lading are used. Molinuex Spedition • There exist two systems for B/L; Express B/L and the traditional involving a

physical document. From Shipping Line Hamburg Süd Norden • There are Shipping Lines that have linked to their most important customers

with EDI. Hamburg Süd is though not one of them. • The cargo booking request function on the web site is rather a contact

service to get in touch with appropriate Liner Agent or office for a specific region.

From Air Cargo resources Johan Almkvist



• Before Cargo-Imp was implemented, cargo status information was obtained by calling to different parts of the world searching for shipments. The EDI usage made it possible to cut personnel in the booking department and to close the information, booking and registry departments. Now the data comes from the source and the minimisation of number of times the data is entered has lead to fewer errors. Since all information is available from the start it has also speeded up the handling process.

• Airfreight bookings can be of type allotment bookings, that is booking on a reserved space on a specific flight every week. Tradevision supports electronic allotment bookings, but the Airlines that can recognise such use it sparsely.

• Tradevision’s PC Pro allows a Freight Forwarder to book cargo space on board a flight using EDI.

• Reimbursement payment is sometimes used for goods carried by airfreight. This means that the bank document have to match the AWB exactly in order for the shipper to receive payment. This complicates Tradevision’s processing since PC Pro creates a standard AWB for print out and electronic transmitting. In the electronic version is some characters are not allowed and are automatically truncated. The solution was to allow any text on the printed version of the AWB in order to match the bank document.

SAS Cargo • The potential gain of implementing EDI in the air cargo industry has yet to

be seen. Even though Scandinavia is in the front-line of EDI usage in airfreight administration, cut downs in the booking department has not been possible to do. Neither has it meant fewer manual registrations or errors since the Air Waybills still has to be validated for being correctly filled out.

• The system developers can also interpret the standardised messages a bit different so errors may occur within the system as well.

• Positive effects of airfreight EDI usage will be showing as soon as the total percentage of customers using EDI are reaching around 80. Today, 40 - 45% of AWBs coming from Sweden are sent through EDI. But SAS Cargo also deals with countries that are far behind in this area, so the total is far from 80% usage. And not until the percentage is near 100%, it will be lucrative to do airfreight business with the use of EDI. This will take time, knowing that in many places of the world the technical resources are very limited. Some places might not even have a PC.

• The EDI issue receives too little attention at many companies. The management often sees it as a technical issue for technicians and doesn’t realise the business benefits it brings.



• The EDI usage has been encouraged by offering discounted electronic AWBs or extra fast handling service for bar coded cargo. This has though not had any effect. People’s habits are hard to change.

From sea freight consultant • The special treatment customers using EDI gets in the airfreight industry

can not directly be applied to the sea freight industry. All cargo shall not be unloaded when arriving in a port and also cargo is stacked on top of each other. Thus, all cargo from EDI using customers can not be placed on top for fastest service.

From EDI message developer SMDG • Mostly, EDI messages used in ports are sent over the Internet. Usually as an

e-mail attachment. Responses on technical resources in the sea freight industry From Freight Forwarders Wilson Logistics • Wilson’s logistic management system Wiltrack, will be able to handle XML

files. EDIFACT will though still be the foundation. • Stevedore companies have systems for registering incoming and outgoing

containers. Martens Interfreight A/S • Martens is doing business both as a Freight Forwarder and as a Liner Agent

for Hapaq-Lloyd and ZIM. For the freight forwarding business, an AS400 system is used which also can manage sea freight shipments. Another system is allowing direct access to the Hapaq-Lloyd global cargo system. This means that shipments for Hapaq-Lloyd are entered in the system twice.

• B/L for Hapaq-Lloyd is printed out locally on a laser printer. For other Shipping Lines, the B/L is received by regular mail.

• A booking on a Hapaq-Lloyd vessel is faxed to the central office in Oslo, who enters this in the system. The Bergen office can then see if the booking is confirmed or placed on the waiting list in the system.

• Status queries to Shipping Lines for cargo is done by phone, except for Hapaq-Lloyd, where all statuses are visible.

• Customer’s status queries to Martens is done by phone or e-mail. MSAS Aerocar Spedman - Exel • An in-house freight forwarding system is linked to all offices around the

world.



• MSAS uses Tradevision’s services for airfreight. No electronic connections exist towards Shipping Lines.

• The B/L is received by regular mail. • Status information to customers is carried out through e-mail dialogue. Molineux Spedition • All communication with sea freight actors are carried out through phone,

fax and e-mail. • There is no internal freight forwarding computer system for shipment

management. Everything is done manually and each assignment is numbered.

• In the office, there is a PC connected to the Internet on a modem. Internet is used to send booking requests to certain Shipping Line’s web sites, tracking delayed shipments, finding presumptive partners on freight forwarding portals, paying freight through the Internet banks and sending e-mail.

• A booking is first screened for available vessels and schedules through the phone and then faxed or e-mailed to the Liner Agent which confirms the booking by fax or e-mail.

ScanAm Transport • The in-house freight forwarding system Uniteam is used. It is used by

several other Swedish freight forwarders and can manage to handle both air and sea freight.

• No direct connection exists to either airlines or shipping lines. The homepage linked to airlines’ and shipping lines’ web site tracking functions, which is also used by them.

• Today the communication methods include telephone, fax and e-mail. The phone is most used for communication with airlines and for sea freight fax.

Scandinavian Gateway • Their freight forwarding system that was referred to was a system of

routines and procedures, not a computer system. • Lots of things are done by e-mail towards the Shipping Lines. Booking

requests are sent through the Shipping Lines’ web sites or by e-mail. • Phone, fax and e-mail are usual communication methods to Shipping Lines. Jan Markill • There hardly exists any EDI usage for cargo management at Maersk

SeaLand. From Shipping Line Hamburg Süd Norden • The correspondence with customers is mainly managed by e-mail and

sometimes fax.



• After the container is sent out from the container terminal, the container number is faxed to the Shipping Line.

From Liner Agent Overseas Liner Agencies • There is no common computer system for freight managing with the

Shipping Line, only a common container tracking system and an e-mail system somewhat like cc-mail.

• Communication with customers is done by phone and e-mail. To communicate with the container terminal, fax and phone is used.

• Customers are preferably directed to Shipping Lines web sites for status information on cargo. Vessel whereabouts is continuously reported to the Liner Agent, which then notifies the customers of any delays by e-mail.

• One of the reasons why many agents are not directly connected to Shipping Lines are that you don’t want to buy a specific system for every Shipping Line represented due to the high cost. Thereby, Liner Agents serves as an obstacle in electronic sea freight communication.

From sea freight consultant • In sea freight, several different cargo systems are used. One controls the

position of the vessel and expected arrival times, another keep track of how the vessel is stuffed and yet another manages what cargo should be unloaded and where in the vessel newly loaded cargo should be placed.

Responses interesting for development of an electronic sea freight system From Freight Forwarders Wilson Logistics • It is not of importance to create electronic B/L in the system. • There is no need of routing and tariff information in the system since this

information already is gathered in the in-house freight forwarding system, which can be accessed from every office.

• There is a need of knowing what type of container will be used in order to send appropriate trailer to pick it up. This information is also vital to the Shipping Lines for container stacking planning.

• EDI cargo bookings on vessels are of interest. • It is of interest to know when import containers are available from container

terminals. Therefore, it might be a good idea to incorporate stevedore companies in the system.

• If several containers arrive that are holding a split shipment, the Consignee would like to know in which container a specific item is located.



• First priority functionality is being able to send status queries on cargo to the system and receive an answer.

• Second priority functionality is to be able to send instructions to the Shipping Line.

• Third priority functionality is to receive issued B/L electronically from the Shipping Line based on the previous send instruction.

• The tariff is negotiated for each customer individually which makes having access to this unnecessary since this information is obtainable in the in-house system.

• Sending electronic Letters of Credit is of no interest. • Exchanging cargo information with feeder traffic would be of interest,

especially when the feeder carries the cargo the last leg of the voyage. • Requirements for the system interface is to receive EDIFACT messages into

their own tracking engine Wiltrack. • Web queries for status information is not of interest. This can just as well be

done on specific Shipping Line web site. • Bookings should be able to be done within the in-house system. • It is important to find a unique reference to use towards the Shipping Lines. Martens Interfreight A/S • Expected waiting time for a status query is within one hour. • A booking request includes port and time of departure, port and time of

destination, weight, type of goods, type and number of containers. • It is preferred to access services from the system in the in-house system. MSAS Aerocar Spedman – Exel • The exporter is not interested in knowing cargo status after the vessel has

departured. • Cargo booking procedure is handicraft work, why it will be hard to translate

to a computer system. • It would be good to be given notice from the container terminal when

incoming goods are ready for pick up. Molineux Spedition • Shipping Lines used are mostly; MSC, Hamburg Süd, Evergreen and P&O

NedLloyd. • Electronic cargo booking on Shipping Line vessels could be interesting,

even though it is not an apparent need. More interesting would be to automatically be notified of delays and other events affecting the shipment delivery.

• It would be good to receive all B/L electronically. Electronic B/L would probably only work in the industrialised countries. But if the B/L involved a L/C it would not work anyway.



• Status information is just as important on export and import cargo. ScanAm Transport • It would be interesting to access notices of delayed vessels in the computer

system instead of fax. The cost of having this electronic service needs though to be weighted to the occurrence frequency of shipment delays.

• Status information on import goods is of most importance, but all status information is interesting since being the party having the information first is always good.

• An electronic B/L would not make things easier, since all information still needs to be registered manually.

• Interesting features in a sea freight messaging system was to book cargo space directly to the Shipping Line, receive an instant booking confirmation. This would mean independence from Liner Agents office hours. The cost would be decisive for if this feature would be used though. Probably, the bigger freight forwarders have more resources to use this.

Scandinavian Gateway • The exporter is always interested in how the transportation is coming along,

since they are required to submit schedules to the importer. From Harbour personnel Ger Endenburg, Copas B.V. • Stevedore companies would like to know when the receiving truck arrives to

pick up the import container in order to prepare for faster service. From Shipping Line Hamburg Süd Norden AB • No express B/L can be used for transportation to South America, due to

severe bureaucracy in the customs in general. • The customer receives three reference numbers for a shipment; container

number, B/L number and booking reference number. • An incoming booking request is confirmed after checking price and

profitability for the transportation. The confirmation includes time of departure and arrival, vessel name. These details are later supplemented with shipping instructions sent by fax from the booking party. The computer system does not indicate if a vessel is full, which means that the booking party can not be sure of that the shipment is carried by mentioned ship. To be sure, the local Hamburg personnel need to confer with the central booking office, where bookings are weighted against each other. If the vessel is full, less prioritised customers are taken off the list.

• When a booking request is send to the Shipping Line, the customer do not know what container number the cargo will be carried on. Therefore the B/L



can not be created at the moment the B/L arrives. When a booking has occurred, the Shipping Line asks the container terminal to prepare a container from the Shipping Line’s stock for release to the booking customer. The customer uses the booking reference number to pick up the ordered container type in the container terminal. When the container has been picked up, the container terminal faxes the container number to the Shipping Line. After this information is input manually in the freight system, the B/L can be issued. As a double check, the customer also reports picked up container number.

• There is no interest in knowing a container exact whereabouts. • No allotment bookings are used. • As a member of INTTRA, they think that the Liner Agent’s importance will

decrease. INTTRA’s pilot customers are Shippers, not Freight Forwarders. From Liner Agent Overseas Liner Agencies • Overseas was aware of INTTRA’s plans and realises that the Liner Agent

role will change with this and business opportunities will decrease. From INTTRA • INTTRA would like Tradevision to generate EDI traffic to INTTRA. From EDI message development Ger Endenburg, SMDG • It is not desirable to incorporate Freight Forwarders in the EDI network of

seaports. No party would benefit from that. From Tradevision AB Product Development Department • Tradevision has both small and large Freight Forwarders as customers. In

Sweden there is few small Freight Forwarders in difference to the rest of Scandinavia. Small customers usually have PC Pro and almost always only deals with airfreight. Of course, a sea shipment job is not denied, but quantities are too small to be worth developing PC Pro to also be able to handle sea freight. Cost has to be compared to expected proceeds. It is just as easy for the user to switch application. Also, shipments are rarely transported on both air and sea on the same voyage. Therefore, it might even be an advantage to keep the two transportation modes separated.

• Large Freight Forwarders operating both air and sea transportation, usually do not use the same people for managing the two transportation modes.



Therefore, the system could work also for large Freight Forwarders having the transportation modes separated.

• INTTRA says they can process FCL shipments as of now, but not LCL. Technically, LCL would be an easier case, since FCLs might mean multiple containers for one shipment, which means that a container then becomes a part shipment. An LCL container is placed in only one container.

• The purchase order for manufactured goods to the consignee from the shipper is out of the systems boundary, but a shipment should be able to be identified in the system using the product purchase order number.

• The more standards supported, the larger development costs for the system and more extensive system maintenance.

• There has to be an FSR functionality for sea freight. • Initially, only messages between the Freight Forwarder and Shipping Line

are of interest to support. The Shipper may exchange status information as well with the system.

• An Internet solution would mean that one solution has to be developed. • An in-house interface solution could mean 10-20 different solutions. • A web site solution with connections to other portals would from the

development point of view be the best solution. The question would though then be why customers should choose Tradevision when only INTTRA was available, instead of choosing INTTRA directly.

Marketing and Sales Department • Tradevision’s three-year business plan approved by Nocom, states that

Tradevision shall expand its business in air, sea and truck business segments.

• “We want to be the first one offering simple CCS-services for the sea freight industry.”

• The primary system customers are the Shipping Lines. Freight Forwarders will be the cash cows, regardless of who is paying for the messages. There always need to exist Freight Forwarders in the system.

• Shipping Lines will benefit most from using electronic documents. Freight Forwarder’s may improve quality and customer service, but this is not incitement enough to actively implement this system.

• Services available in the system should be the same as for airfreight. No sea freight specific modifications have to be made. The challenge lies in structuring an EDI network for sea freight.

• In Norway and Denmark a rewarding strategy is employed on airfreight customers sending bookings over EDI. This should be considered for Tradevision’s sea freight business.



• One advantage over the competitor Oceanwide.com is that Tradevision’s system does not rely solely on web browsers even though it is using the Internet for communication. TDV I/S is implemented in the customer’s in-house computer system as an own module. TDV I/S sends the message over TCP/IP to the message hub, where it is converted to appropriate format. Oceanwide.com do not seem to have ambitions to approach a global market. Neither seems they interested to find a common sea freight messaging standard for all Shipping Lines.

• To implement electronic L/C seems virtually impossible. Even if it in theory would be possible to use such in Scandinavia, it would not work in other parts of the world. Therefore electronic L/C should not be researched. For reimburse situations in airfreight, original documents are sent together with the cargo.

• All sea freight companies is of Tradevision’s interest, no matter how small they are.

• Tradevision strengths: - Has access to over 5 000 Freight Forwarders electronic documents and

can therefore generate EDI traffic from day one to Shipping Lines. - Software independent - Has an existing product with customers

• Tradevision weaknesses: - Small organisation – small resources - No consensus on how this should be done - Knowledge in transportation operations mainly for airfreight

• Tradevision can later become independent from partners but initially a co-operation with INTTRA would be of importance.

• Today, INTTRA only offers a service similar to a typewriter function on their web site. Here Tradevision could help out on further development, which would result in a win-win situation.

• In informal talks with INTTRA 3 SEK / Bill of Lading has been found a reasonable price level.

• Tradevision should not limit their business to INTTRA. Other portals has other large Shipping Lines, but the service provider signing a deal with Maersk SeaLand will win the respect of the rest of the market.

• GF-X.com is another competitor regarding EDI traffic to INTTRA. GF-X has though no customers to generate traffic from yet.

• Yet another competitor is Celarix.com which can be said to be an e-based Tradevision.

• Tradevision would like to exchange EDI traffic with INTTRA.



• The shipping Line NOL has initiated an INTTRA resembling concept for Shipping Lines in Southeast Asia. Probably, these two portals will be competitors, which would be positive for Tradevision. This provides the opportunity to exchange EDI messages with both portals and thereby being able to offer a wider range of linking possibilities than the individual portals. This will be a competitive advantage when potential customers are looking to electronically connect to the industry.

• A one-minute waiting time for an answer to a status query will not matter since the voyage might take weeks.

• PC Pro for AS 400 a product that is easy to sell.

Agents

Tradevision CCS-switch(EDI-converter)

Freight Forwarder

Freight forwardingsystem TDV I/S

CCS-UK

CGN

CCS-CH

Traxon

CSNSingapore

BCSEmergies

CIL

Brucargo (BCS)

El-Al

Martin Air

Lufthansa Air France Cyprus AirlinesFinnair CargoLux Japan Airlines Korean Air …

British Airways KLM Swissair American Airlines…

OAG

SingaporeAirlines

Delta

Agents

Agents

Agents

Agents

Agents

Agents

Agents

Agents

SAS

Database

Appendix 3. Tradevision’s airfreight CCS-switch SITA-lines

TCP / IP X25 – connection



Appendix 4. Main Container Types Length: 20 or 40 ft (sometimes also 45 ft) Material: Steel or aluminium Standard Container Stuffing through doors on the short side Open Top Container Used for extra large or high shipments Loaded through doors on the short side or from above Flat Rack Container Used for heavy or extra wide shipments Platform Used for heavy or extra wide shipments Bulk Container Used for bulk cargo in homogeneous form i.e. crops, gravel Loading through hatches on top Refrigerated Container Also known as Reefer Used for cargo demanding constant low temperatures

Tank and Gas Container Used for fluids or gas form goods



Appendix 5. Description of activities in figure 3 Goods and information flow in the sea freight industry with the assistance of a freight forwarder. Information flow in order of occurrence; 1. Information: Booking

Direction: Exporting Freight Forwarder → Liner Agent / Liner Office The Freight Forwarder books cargo carrying capacity a few weeks in advance on board a vessel. Freight forwarders frequently using the same Shipping Line and route may have an agreement of a specific cargo capacity is allotted every week. Such an agreement is normally object for negotiation every three months. If a Freight Forwarder is unable to fill up the allotted capacity, the remaining space is returned to the Liner Agent. When no weekly capacity allotment exists, the Freight Forwarder books cargo space by phoning, faxing or e-mailing the Liner Agent. A booking request is not a booking until the Liner Agent has confirmed it. Recently, Shipping Lines has introduced the possibility of sending booking request over the Web, but this procedure is still overshadowed by the prevailing booking routines.

2. Information: Booking Confirmation (Allocation) Direction: Liner Agent / Liner Office → Exporting Freight Forwarder When no weekly allotment agreement exists, the Liner Agent returns a booking confirmation, sometimes named Allocation. The Freight Forwarder receives the confirmation by phone, e-mail or fax. Information: Purchase Order (Not shown in Figure 3) Direction: Consignee → Shipper Usually, but not always, the transportation of goods is initiated by the Consignee’s purchase order.

3. Information: Booking Request Direction: Shipper → Exporting Freight Forwarder The Shipper makes a booking request to the Freight Forwarder over the phone, by e-mail or fax. The Freight Forwarder registers the booking internally before forwarding it to the Shipping Line in order to keep track of bookings versus cargo space on board vessels. A booking request contains the following information:

4. Information: Booking Confirmation

Direction: Freight Forwarder → Shipper



The Freight Forwarder confirms the booking request if space is available for that particular cargo and container type.

5. Information: Shipping Instructions Direction: Shipper → Exporting Freight Forwarder The Shipper may already have given all required shipping information at the time of the booking request. However, the information submittal can also be divided in two separate occasions. At this point the Shipper completes the information necessary for the Shipping Line to transport the goods.

6. Information: Shipping Instructions Direction: Exporting Freight Forwarder → Liner Agent / Office The Freight Forwarder forwards the instructions to supplement earlier given shipping information.

7. Information: Feeder vessel and Container booking Direction: Exporting Liner Agent / Office → feeder vessel and port of destination Container Terminal At this point, the Liner Agent has sufficient information to ask the Container terminal to release needed containers for pick up from the Shipping Line’s stock of empty containers. The order is labelled with a reference number.

8. Information: Container storing area and feeder vessel booking Direction: Liner Agent / Office → feeder vessel and port of departure Container Terminal The Liner Agent at the port of destination is responsible to reserve an area in the Container Terminal to place the containers after discharge.

9. Information: Instructions Direction: Exporting Freight Forwarder → Trucker The party picking up the container can be a local road transportation company, the Shipper or the Freight Forwarder. The Freight Forwarder provides that party with sufficient information to facilitate choosing the appropriate pick up device and loading the correct container. The instructions consist of; container type, reference number, time and place for loading of the cargo and possible additional instructions. At this stage in time, the Freight Forwarder does not know the container number.



10. Information: Container number reporting Direction: Port of departure Container Terminal → Liner Agent / Office At the time of empty container pick up, the corresponding unique container number is noted. The container terminal is daily submitting a list of container numbers handed out and their related reference numbers to the Liner Agent.

11. Information: Forwarder’s Cargo Receipt

Direction: Exporting Freight Forwarder → Shipper Some Freight Forwarders, as for example Maersk Logistics, use FCR, Forwarder’s Cargo Receipt, as a proof of that goods has been dispatched. Most Freight Forwarders do not give any receipt for dispatched goods though.

12. Information: Bill of Lading Direction: Liner Agent / Office → Freight Forwarder The B/L is almost without exception issued by the Liner Agent. The B/L form is different for every Shipping Line, although the same information is being transferred.

13. Information: House Bill of Lading, Packing List, Pre-Advice, Bill of Lading Direction: Exporting Freight Forwarder → Importing Freight Forwarder The Exporting Freight Forwarder may arrange all transportation from Shipper to Consignee, but an easier way is to cooperate with a party located closer to the Consignee. This party can be a local office of the Exporting Freight Forwarder or a partner Freight Forwarder. To be able to overtake the arrangements from the Exporting Freight Forwarder, some necessary information needs to be transferred. 1) The packing list, serving as a manifest, lists all the Freight Forwarders cargo on board a specific vessel. 2) Pre-Advice states when and where the vessel will arrive and what containers are discharged. 3) House B/L or B/L: Freight Forwarder can use an own internal B/L, called H B/L. On this note the original Shipper and Consignee is shown. On the Shipping Line’s B/L the Freight Forwarding offices may appear as Shipper and Consignee.

14. Information: House Bill of Lading Direction: Exporting Freight Forwarder → Shipper The Shipper receives the consignment note, which in most cases is the H B/L, but could also be the legal B/L.



15. Information: Notice of Arrival Direction: Importing Liner Agent / Office → Importing Freight Forwarder The Importer (Freight Forwarder or Consignee) receives information of that a vessel is arriving some days in beforehand.

16. Information: Instructions Direction: Importing Freight Forwarder → Trucker The Freight Forwarder gives information about container type, where to pick up and deliver and possible other necessary information for road haulage to consolidation site or end receiver.

Activities occurring after completed transportation 17. Information: Freight invoice

Description: Trucker → Exporting Freight Forwarder The trucker charges the freight forwarder for the road transportation.

18. Information: Freight invoice Description: Trucker → Importing Freight Forwarder The trucker charges the freight forwarder for the road transportation.

19. Information: Freight invoice Direction: Liner Agent / Office → Exporting Freight Forwarder The Liner Agent charges the Freight Forwarder on behalf of the Shipping Line.

20. Information: Freight invoice Direction: Exporting Freight Forwarder → Shipper Finally the Freight Forwarder charges the Shipper (or Consignee) for all transportation process costs.

21. Information: Invoice to split profit Direction: Exporting Freight Forwarder → Importing Freight Forwarder Usually the two involved Freight Forwarder splits the profit after deducting local charges and costs. This is carried out by exchanging an invoice.

Information flow occurring at any stage in transportation:

a. Information: Status Query Direction: Consignee → Importing Freight Forwarder



The Consignee turns to his Freight Forwarder regarding questions on cargo statuses. The Shipper might also have interest in this information and could just as well be the asking party.

b. Information: Status Query Direction: Importing Freight Forwarder → Importing Liner Agent / Office The Freight Forwarder then contacts the Shipping Line’s Agent to acquire this information. Unsolicited (not asked for) status information can be sent out regarding delays and discrepancies.

c. Information: Status Information Direction: Liner Agent / Office → Importing Freight Forwarder After checking with the Shipping Line, either by phone or logging on to the internal freight computer system, the Liner Agent returns a status report.

d. Information: Status Information Direction: Importing Freight Forwarder → Consignee The Freight Forwarder forwards the information to the party making the query.

Cargo moving activities in order of occurrence

A. Activity: Road transportation of empty Container

Time window in information flow: After (9.) Before (11.) Direction: Container Terminal → Shipper or loading site

B. Activity: Stuffing cargo into container

Time window in information flow: After (11.) Before (12.) Location: Loading site or Shipper’s location

C. Activity: Road transportation of non-containerised cargo

Time window in information flow: After (11.) Before (12.) Direction: Shipper to consolidation site For occasions Shipper Transportation of not yet containerised cargo

D. Activity: Road transportation of containerised cargo

Time window in information flow: After (11.) Before (12.) Direction: Shipper’s location or consolidation site to Container Terminal



D1 - D3: For shipments in need of a Feeder Line connection, cargo is loaded in an out port on board a feeder vessel. The vessel travels to the main port where cargo is transhipped to the mother vessel. E. Activity: Stuffing container onto mother vessel

Time window in information flow: After (11.) Before (12.) Location: Main exporting port Container Terminal

F. Activity: Mother vessel departing from port of departure

Time window in information flow: After (11.) Before (12.) Location: Main exporting port

G. Activity: Mother vessel arriving in port of destination

Time window in information flow: After (16.) Before (18.) Location: Main importing port

H. Activity: Discharging containers from mother vessel

Time window in information flow: After (16.) Before (18.) Location: Main importing port Container Terminal

I. Activity: Road Transportation of container

Time window in information flow: After (16.) Before (18.) Direction: Main importing port Container Terminal to Consignee or consolidation site

I1 - I3: For shipments in need of a Feeder Line connection, cargo is loaded on board a feeder vessel and taken to an out port Container Terminal.

J. Activity: Stripping container Time window in information flow: After (16.) Before (18.) Location: Stripping site or Consignee’s location

K. Activity: Returning empty container

Time window in information flow: After (16.) Before (18.) Direction: Consignee or stripping site to importing Container Terminal