2008-01: Inland Waterway Workshop in Dresden on Project Cargo Management

The partners of Case F-Elbe organized this discussion on the concept of an “information management platform” in order to guide further development within the business case. In addition to the project partners (Deutsche Binnenreederei, Sächsische Binnehäfen Oberelbe, Wallman Terminal, Sequoyah, LogIT and BMT) the workshop was also attended by representatives of the shipper (Siemens) and the overseas shipping company (Rickmers). During the discussion Siemens took the view that the present processes for contracting transport services were sufficient and considered that there was no “market” for a new tool which would only be used for a small part of the transport activities in Siemens. It was not possible to discuss a more generally applied tool without starting a much more complicated process within the whole Siemens Group. ickmers saw the need, but considered the scope too limited and proposed a more global approach including import flows. Being a global player themselves, they would like to see all the parties involved from door to door. They agreed that they often had considerable problems with managing information and coordinating multiple shipments containing several items, arriving from different manufacturers. However, the ad-hoc character of project cargo transport with changing constellations of partners makes it difficult to invest in IT-solutions for intercompany information exchange, even if the dominating use of fax means a considerable workload and introduces an (unnecessary) source of error. DBR and SBO pointed out that other manufacturers than those present and their agents were considerably less structured in their transport management and that much work could be saved and transport quality improved with a more structured approach. A general comment was that the need for improvement was judged differently by different partners. Transport costs represent only 2-5% of the business of the shipper, which of course impacts on the importance given to improvements in transport processes. To the carrier or the integrator, transport is the business and improved efficiency improvements have a direct effect on the bottom line. Advantages and disadvantages with the proposed concept?

• A complete list of items to be shipped is available to all parties from the beginning
• The items are well defined with regard to weight and measurements at every stage (important for stowage planning for barge as well overseas vessel)
• A well structured and documented commissioning process (RfQ-Q-O) facilitates life for carriers and terminals
• The planning and the execution process can be followed by all parties with access rights
• A planned schedule makes it possible to automatically detect deviations

Weak points with the proposed concept

• The concept relies heavily on commitments by all the parties involved. The transport chain view is lost or at least reduced to cover only a part if the responsibilities are not well defined.
• Cost/benefit ratio will be weak when several of the chain partners are not participating.