Better Exchange of Data and Coordinated Forecasts Raise Transport Chain Efficiencies

Logistics Insight Asia - Top Story, 21/7/2008

Decision-makers from the seaport sector meet in Potsdam for Third Northern Ports Conference.

Sea terminals, shipping lines, freight forwarders, operators and shippers aim to improve the flow of information among themselves and boost the efficiency of resources along the transport chain by coordinating their forecasts. These are the first results of the third Northern Ports Conference held earlier this month in Potsdam. Says Dr. Sebastian Jürgens, Head of the Intermodal Business Unit: “Together with the Berlin Technical University (TU), we established the Ports Conference forum in 2006 so we could work together with decision-makers in the seaport sector to develop interdisciplinary solutions. As the last link in the chain, DB Intermodal has a clear view of the coordination problems that exist among the involved players. The success of the Ports Conference was driven by the active involvement of Mr. Aden and Dr. Behn in providing their experience, and their willingness to look at new solutions, and by Prof. Straube defining focal points.”

Forecasts call for the volume of containers handled by the German North Sea ports to double again by 2015, with seaport hinterland services by rail growing at double-digit rates. According to Detthold Aden, President of the Association of German Seaport Operators ZDS: “The capabilities of the hinterland connections are increasingly defining the limits of growth for seaports, and good rail connections are key. Already today, 70 percent of the containers traveling to destinations over 200 kilometers from the Port of Hamburg leave via train.”

An early exchange of information among the involved parties plays an important role in enhancing the efficiency of the transport chain to and from the ports. Dr. Stefan Behn, member of the executive board of Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG says: “In a pilot project we were able to demonstrate that process improvements between the players across the entire transport chain led to significant increases in reliability and efficiency.”

In addition, coordinated forecast planning between the players is also important. A bottleneck is formed if only one link in the chain fails to adjust its capacities in time, leading to a deceleration in the flow of freight along the entire transport chain. The TU Berlin was responsible for processing the related data on an anonymous basis. Prof. Frank Straube, Head of the Logistics Department at the TU Berlin, noted: “A valid forecast always has to be founded on a broad base of know-how submitted by involved persons. Our working group provides the individual players reliable and neutral orientation to assist them in planning their capacities and capital expenditures. Furthermore, this also helps prevent the formation of bottlenecks in the transport network due to differing assessments by the various market players.”

Deutsche Bahn AG, www.db.de