LOGISTICS
own organisation , is no walk in the park . An example : since June in the US , ocean carriers have been adapting to the demurrage invoicing requirements of the newly-passed federal legislation , the Ocean Shipping Reform Act .
One newly required data element that we must report to customers when invoicing these container port storage fees is ‘ freight available date ’. But what is the definition of this ? The ocean port , ocean carrier , rail terminal , and truckers all down the line have varying degrees of understanding in what it is .
For instance , an imported ocean container may be unloaded from the ship and the carrier says it ’ s available , yet there ’ s no chassis , which is a type of semi-trailer designed to securely carry an intermodal container . The port will say chassis availability is not its responsibility , and the result is that the lingering container will at some point become subject to port storage ( demurrage ).
So , in the eyes of the importer , the container wasn ’ t ever truly available though the port says it was . This is why a clear and succinct definition of each data element is so important .
JV : The amount of industry data generated and collected has increased exponentially over the past decade . This information spans vessel performance data to commercial data on current and future vessel location . The sheer volume of data within organisations is often overwhelming , and leaves businesses unsure of how to even begin deriving meaningful insights .
Similarly , standards can only be adopted if they are universal and yet first need to be widely accepted before they can become universal . This will require significant change management within those organisations that adopt them .
64 October 2022