Page 21 - Port Of Hamburg Magazine 01.2018

50 YEARS OF CONTAINERS IN HAMBURG ■
BOOKING DO’S AND DON’TS
Be precise: Book only for the container volumes that are really required for that day.
Be dutiful: Only repeat advance bookings on the expiry of the time window, i.e., push these into the next vacant time window. Keep to the plan: Only book when a tour has been finally included in your plan.
Be punctual: Book at least four hours in advance.
Be reliable: Use all the slots booked – and avoid changing and cancelling bookings. But, if there’s no alternative: Do cancel and change bookings in good time.
admits Bernd Mau, Program Manager with HHLA’S HPC consultancy subsidiary. “We have received nu- merous constructive comments and are checking these to further improve slot booking in operation. One essential for the system is that slot utilization becomes more dependable,” says Mau.
So far, more slots have obviously been booked than were required. That has caused blockage of clearance capacities, preventing their use by other truckers. Im- provement is needed on this. Mau therefore needs the earliest and most reliable possible bookings from truck- ers. If they observe the code of behaviour (see box), that will help all those involved.
Drivers are not out on their own here: “We monitor the system continuously, talk to some selected users and if required, will resort to suitable measures to ensure correct usage,” stresses Ingo Witte, Managing Direc- tor of Container Terminal Altenwerder (CTA) and re- sponsible at HHLA for the introduction of slot booking.
TR02 and SBV enable truckers to avoid wasted tours, and terminal operators to plan better. Similar systems to coordinate clearance are in use at other major con-
tainer ports such as Antwerp and New York. Digital solutions of this kind are simplifying the complex logis- tics process there. Trucker Samir Dedic confirms this: “The app is constantly running in the background and conveying relevant details to me. Previously I had to print out and present container and release numbers for each tour. Now everything runs on my cellphone, no paperwork required.” That saves time and money. And in the end both terminal operators and truckers profit. ■
Port of Hamburg Magazine | March 2018 | 21